DvD regions

[Pharaoh's Fist]

So, I'm accumulating DvDs, and some of them are for different regions other than the one for the US. Will these be able to play ok on my American computer if I use a region free DvD playing software like VCL?

Also, my room mate has a PS3. Does anyone know if those are region free?

[thubby]

I'm fairly certain ps3's are not region coded. (as i recall this was a point made because xboxes are :smalltongue:)

it gets weird with computers because it's hardwired into some of the actual readers.

[Totally Guy]

I think my computer has a limited number of times I can change the region. Physically it's capable but there must be some kind of rule that puts that in place.

As well as region check PAL/NTSC compatibility.

If you were to import a Region 2 DVD from Japan it would probably be NTSC and compatible with a US TV set.

If you imported a Region 2 DVD from the UK it would be PAL and might now display properly on older US TVs or players.

Of course that's my experience going the other way. My PS2 was a PAL machine but when imported an NTSC disc I needed special software to make it show in colour.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

I had to deal with this - I play DVDs on my PC only, and have no TV. Regions on DVDs are a curse!

If you're using regionless DVD playing software on your PC, then there'll be no issues playing other regions.

It would only matter if, as other people have mentioned, you use an older NTSC TV to watch PAL stuff, or a region 1 DVD player to play other region content.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

I can't tell what region the DvDs I bought are; should I assume that it is region free?

[KuReshtin]

I can't tell what region the DvDs I bought are; should I assume that it is region free?

It should be mentioned on the DVD itself, or on the DVD box.
I would NOT assume that it's region-less just because it's not listed, though.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

There's the DVD picture with the word DVD under it, which usually has a number next to it to indicate region. It has no such number.

What I have is a Miyazaki box set, made in Japan, covered with Chinese characters which leads me to believe it was intended for a Chinese audience. Logically, this would have region 6 encoding, or region free encoding, correct?

[Atelm]

Most legal, non-bootleg, Chinese Studio Ghibli DVD releases were released by IVL in Hong Kong, and would therefore be Region 3.

If the DVDs were made in Japan though, they'd be Region 2.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

It does say GHIBLI on the box... so I can expect Region 3?

My computer can play Chinese movies (tried with a Chinese Jackie Chan movie) despite being an US computer. I tried it using VLC, a region free media player, and my computer may have a region free DVD drive.

I'd love to test out the Miyazaki box set, but it's a gift and I'm not sure if I want to destroy the plastic wrapping, open it, and do a few trial runs...

O' forum members, guide me!

[Totally Guy]

If it's a knock off it'll probably be region free. My old PS2 couldn't play pirated discs for some reason, but computers are geerally better at it.

By your description it reminds me of a bootleg anime I once bought online before I knew I was vulnerable to inadvertantly buying such goods.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

It could be bootleg, but the box looks pretty impressive, so I'm tempted to say it isn't... but I'm no judge of these things. I just know it's a shiny box that says it contains 22 Myazaki films and is made by GHIBLI.

[Atelm]

22 movie box set? Unless it is the Japanese Ghibli ga Ippai box set, or the IVL Chinese equivelant you are dealing with a bootleg.


Recent issues brought to our attention repeatedly

Do you know... If the DVD box-sets on auction sites are bootlegs?
Our reply: Yes, the "6 disc," "10 disc" or "13 disc" DVD box-sets are all bootlegs (as are most of the single movies). Please visit this page for information about "Anime Cartoon International" and other piraters.
Rule of Thumb: If you can't find the item at a reputable store it's probably a bootleg.

The packaging quality is remarkably good, but that's because the pirates are more sophisticated then in the past. Team Ghiblink strongly recommends that you bypass these bootlegged products. All Studio Ghibli films will be officially released on DVD by the end of 2003, please visit the Video Release page for details. The main video page is a good starting point for video searches.


http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/video/ghibli/ippai.html

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/video/answers.html

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/feedback/faq.html#recentissues

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Perhaps I should post pictures?

[Pharaoh's Fist]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v422/toddsun/DSCN0555.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v422/toddsun/DSCN0556.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v422/toddsun/DSCN0557.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v422/toddsun/DSCN0559.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v422/toddsun/DSCN0561.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v422/toddsun/DSCN0562.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v422/toddsun/DSCN0563.jpg



I don't see IVL anywhere. Can't tell if it's the Ghibli ga Ippai box set, but it doesn't look like it.

This is beginning to seem suspicious.

[Atelm]

Thankfully I can read Hiragana enough to tell that that is the Ghibli ga Ippai collection. Therefore it is Region 2, and perfectly legal. :smallsmile:

Edit: or at least it claims to be. I can't say for 100 % certainty.

[Arutema]

Also, my room mate has a PS3. Does anyone know if those are region free?

They are region-free for PS3 games and downloadable PS1 games only. They still enforce Blu-ray, DVD, PS1 disc and (if BC) PS2 disc regions.

[potatocubed]

Your best bet is to play the DVDs on your computer. Some DVD players are hardware-encoded to a specific region, but you can get cracks for most of them that either rewrite the firmware (dangerous!) or spoof the player into thinking the DVD is okay (I think - my grasp of the technology involved is a bit sketchy).

Another solution, if you've got as many consoles and assorted players as I have, is to designate each one to a particular region.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Thankfully I can read Hiragana enough to tell that that is the Ghibli ga Ippai collection. Therefore it is Region 2, and perfectly legal. :smallsmile:

Edit: or at least it claims to be. I can't say for 100 % certainty.

The Ghibli ga Ippai collection supposedly comes in a hinged box, which this certainly is not...

Though I guess they could have changed boxes...

So, will I have to undergo some trickery to get this to play on a Thinkpad?

[Atelm]

The DVD player on my own laptop is set automatically to Region 2, and I can only change it through the settings a limited number of times. However, I still can watch DVDs from other regions by using players such as VLC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player).

Try playing the discs using VLC on your computer, that might work.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Yay. Thanks.

[KuReshtin]

If you have a THinkpad, the DVD will lock itself to the region at the 5th region change.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Hardware issue?

[KuReshtin]

Hardware issue?

It's not so much of an issue as it is a 'feature'. It's by design on those DVD players.
It depends on what type of Thinkpad you've got though.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

It's my room mate's Thinkpad, the person I'm getting the DvDs for.

I'll mention he might have to work around region encoding and use VLC then, shall i?

[Slayn82]

I've had a similar trouble some time ago, but solved it by installing the Ubuntu Linux distribution on my PC. Since then i can play DVDs of anywhere by using the in built player, without caring about the "maximum number of zone changes" issue. Works well too as an option around Vista/ old software compatibility issues.

[Atelm]

I'll mention he might have to work around region encoding and use VLC then, shall i?

Well, in most cases with region encoded DVD players just using VLC will do the trick. If not, then it'll get more complicated; there are programs around that can trick the computer into ignoring the region encoding.

As for regular DVD players (i.e non-computer ones), googling for the specific model name + "region free" usually turns up easy instructions for making any given player region free. That's what I did with my regular DVD player, all it took was a bit of fiddling to get an otherwise hidden menu to appear and then just changing the number there from 2 to 0.

But, of cource, I picked that precise DVD player at the time of purchase because I had found clear instruction on how to do that. That, and it was cheap. :smallamused: