region code and amazon.com

This forum is for questions/discussions about the now sold out first DVD box set by BMG / AnotherUniverse.
Post Reply
starcrazy
Frozen Embryo
Posts: 3
Joined: Oct 14th 2002, 4:19 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

region code and amazon.com

Post by starcrazy » Oct 14th 2002, 4:22 am

hi! i know that this question had been answered in the faq, but i am still not quite sure what to believe:
i have a huge problem with the dvd: i live and germany and thus cannot play dvd's with the same region code as in the US. i read somewhere on the mscl website that the oncoming mscl dvd will have region code 0 (international). as the dvd is not available in germany (amazon.de), i ordered at amazon.com althought it is written there that the region code was #1. somewhere else on the mscl site (faq) it is sad that amazon made a mistake at this point and that it is actually region 0, just like with anotheruniverse. however, i contacted the customer service and asked and they answered the following:

Greetings from Amazon.com.

There are presently 6 global regions that identify where specific DVDs
are compatible with the players typically sold in that region.

The majority of all current titles play only in *one* specific region
unless otherwise noted. Most of the DVDs sold by Amazon.com are
encoded for Region 1 (U.S. and Canada) only and may not work on DVD
players in other countries. According to the information from our
suppliers, the DVD "My So-Called Life (Complete Series)" is also
Region 1 encoded.

The following are the six regions and their corresponding numerical
equivalent:

1 - U.S., U.S. Territories, and Canada
2 - Japan, Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East, including Egypt
3 - Southeast Asia, East Asia, including Hong Kong
4 - Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Mexico, Central America,
South America, and the Caribbean
5 - Former Soviet Union, Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and
Mongolia
6 - China

If you're interested in buying DVDs from other regions, try our
partner sites:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dvd/
http://www.amazon.de/dvd/
http://www.amazon.fr/dvd/
http://www.amazon.co.jp (Japanese-language site)

Please note that Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, and Amazon.co.jp
are separate sites from Amazon.com, and items purchased from these
sites will be shipped from distribution centers in the U.K., Germany,
France, and Japan, respectively.

I hope that this information helps you with your purchase, and thanks
for shopping at Amazon.com.


Best regards,

Jon Donaghy
Amazon.com
Earth's Biggest Selection
http://www.amazon.com
=====================

please tell me who's right and who's wrong, so that i can cancel my order in time before shipping. i am very much confused now and don't know what to believe!

thanks,
silke

User avatar
Sascha
MSCL.com Team
MSCL.com Team
Posts: 1562
Joined: Jun 10th 1999, 5:20 pm
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

Post by Sascha » Oct 14th 2002, 4:50 am

What you received from Amazon.com is just a standard answer letter about Region Codes.

The first disc from 2000 (Eps 1-3) was also Region Code 0 (I ordered it from amazon.com too back then) and Amazon.com still prints today "Region Code 1" on their page.

As long as their distributor (Ventura) doesn't get his information sorted, they will report the new boxset discs as Region Code 1. Jason has confirmed many times that the discs are Region Code 0.


What annoys me more is the fact that some retailers (like cduniverse.com) actually promote the product with the following lines:
www.cduniverse.com wrote: Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary -
1. Cast & Crew
Production Interview -
1. Cast & Crew
This could bring them into trouble with their customers as this "additional material" (let alone "audio commentary" - there exists none) will not be included on the version they sell. (But on the other hand, this project had *so* many (bad) surprises in the past months.... :-( )

So-Called Angel
Three Rivers Resident
Posts: 66
Joined: Oct 7th 2002, 6:12 am
Location: Australia

Post by So-Called Angel » Oct 14th 2002, 5:12 am

O.K, I'll tell you what I know.

I live in Australia and Australia is Region 4.

Now, the DVD I'm going to tell you about IS NOT the boxed set with the 19 episodes on but the single DVD that came out a couple of years ago with just the first 3 episodes on it.

Anyway, I saw this particular DVD for sale on e-bay Australia. The person listing the DVD said that it was Region 1. So, I went to amazon.com to double-check the coding and it, too, said it was Region 1.

A few days later I was browsing MSCL sites and came across an MSCL site (not sure which one) where they said that amazon.com was wrong and that in fact the DVD was not coded - Region 0.
So, I decided to take a chance and I bought it. At that stage, I wasn't sure if I'd get the boxed set from AU since it would cost me $250 (Australian).

To cut a long story a tiny bit shorter, the DVD played on my Region 4 DVD player. And yes, I'm sure it's not a multi-region player - I read the instruction book and the player has a sticker with a big 4 on the back which means Region 4. Also, the DVD case has no Region code on the back or anywhere else.

The quality is pretty good. "The Pilot" is a bit washed out but Jason has told me that that is what "The Pilot" is like, and he also told me that something happens to the colour red when it's transferred to DVD, or something. The other 2 episodes are really good, at first it sometimes looked like it moved in sort of slow motion but now I can't see that anymore. The sound is great.

So, with the boxed set, AU say it's Region 0 an amazon say it's Region 1.
As far as I know, they are coming from the same place, and amazon.com have been wrong before so I'm going to take my chances. But please don't take my word for it - I could be wrong.

Hope this helps,
Miochelle
"See, I have this philosophy......."

viper1701
Frozen Embryo
Posts: 1
Joined: Oct 14th 2002, 9:41 am

Europe and region

Post by viper1701 » Oct 14th 2002, 9:48 am

There is a thing i don't quite understand. Here in France, 90 % of the DVD player are zone free. People want to be able to play american DVD, australian DVD, chinese DVD, so we don't buy a player if it is not region free.

Don't you German do the same ?
Do you know that many player can become zone free simply by using your remote control ?

User avatar
Sascha
MSCL.com Team
MSCL.com Team
Posts: 1562
Joined: Jun 10th 1999, 5:20 pm
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

Re: Europe and region

Post by Sascha » Oct 14th 2002, 10:13 am

viper1701 wrote:Don't you German do the same ?
Do you know that many player can become zone free simply by using your remote control ?
It's a little bit harder in Germany to get region code free players. The entertainment industry is trying everything to prohibit retailers from selling modified players or even RC1 discs.

But it's not very complicated to get a region free player if you really want one. The standard customer just doesn't care.

starcrazy
Frozen Embryo
Posts: 3
Joined: Oct 14th 2002, 4:19 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

... to be continued

Post by starcrazy » Oct 15th 2002, 4:54 am

if you want to be a region-free dvd player in germany you have to spend much more money, and for people who usually don't go and buy dvd's it wouldn't make sense actually...

however, i found out that our PS2 could play dvd's from foreign regions using a special patch called action replay (which we already have at home). but the company selling them says that you still would need a tv-set which is able to play NOT pal movies. of course we don't have anything like that. another patch of the same company (i think it's called region x) doesn't seem to need a special tv.

does anybody have experience with that? is it possible that a pal tv can still interpret the american system, just with less picture and sound quality? or doesn't it work at all?

i also wrote to amazon.com again and the still insist on their claim that they would only sell region 1's without exception. they link me to other amazon's, but as you all might know, they don't sell it in france or UK, only japan, and I don't speak japanese, so won't understand the website at all.

thanks for help!
silke

User avatar
Sascha
MSCL.com Team
MSCL.com Team
Posts: 1562
Joined: Jun 10th 1999, 5:20 pm
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

Re: ... to be continued

Post by Sascha » Oct 15th 2002, 5:19 am

starcrazy wrote: does anybody have experience with that? is it possible that a pal tv can still interpret the american system, just with less picture and sound quality? or doesn't it work at all?
It will probably not work (especially with older TVs). You need a DVD player which can output a so-called "PAL60" or "QuasiPAL", that's a mixture between NTSC and PAL. But your TV has to be capable of handling 60Hz PAL instead of 50Hz PAL. If it does, you'll notice almost no difference to a "real" PAL signal.

There are also some DVD players which can transform a NTSC signal to a true PAL50 signal, but that results sometimes in jerky pictures.

As far as I know, the playstation2 can only output true PAL (RC2 discs) or NTSC (via S-Video cable, RC1 discs), it can not transform to PAL60.

http://users.argonet.co.uk/users/madoka ... c_faq.html gives some more information about PAL60/NTSC etc...

zedhead
Nicky Driscoll
Posts: 15
Joined: Oct 6th 2002, 2:56 pm
Location: nottingham, uk
Contact:

Post by zedhead » Oct 15th 2002, 5:28 am

I posted this the other day but the topic sort of slumped to the bottom of the pile so I don't know if anyone saw it, no harm in doing it again is there? I just think it's a miracle!!!!

I got a US DVD (region 1) of Swing Kids (scrummy Christian Bale) and went to play it and found out my player was region two, instead of region free like I thought it was :oops:

I got in a tizzy and then searched a bit for info and found a site with remote control hacks for different players, I just did one on my LG DVD player and now I can see Christian's lovely face.

If you fancy a go:
http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/info/mult ... ckable.asp

...and let the word of region 1/2/0 be ours! Ha ha ha ha haaaaa (evil laughter) :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
Why are you like this? Like what? Like how you are. How am I? How am I!?

starcrazy
Frozen Embryo
Posts: 3
Joined: Oct 14th 2002, 4:19 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

Post by starcrazy » Oct 15th 2002, 5:58 am

our tv is brandnew and has the color system pal/secam with pal50hz/ph60hz (that's what the manual says).

i know that PS2 won't play non-PAL DVD on it'S own. that's why I mentioned the Action Replay Patch.
this is the product we have at home:

http://www.codejunkies.com/shop/product ... untryID=GB

this is the region x-product:
http://www.codejunkies.com/shop/product ... untryID=GB

so, wat do the experts say, guys?

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests