Region 2 DVD playback in US

[MarkA]

[bogi]

You can use all regions on your computer with the proper software. You can also get yourself a 99 dollar Daewoo DVD( I am sure there are others) and turn of region encoding by remote and disable macrovison by firmware.

Look for a Codefree JVC XV-S400 it can convert pal DVDs to NTSC.

[Mark Lamutt]

Zac - check out www.dvdtalk.com - Glen over there has a popup that lists a good all region dvd player. It's a little pricy, but certainly cheaper than buying an NTSC/PAL compatible television.

[Mark Holtz]

The CD is downloadable, and will give you NTSC output from the PAL disk.

[bogi]

Originally posted by Zac
PS, I know there's a hacked firmware for my computer's DVD drive that lets you change the region an unlimited number of times - but I'm too scared to try it!

Dont be afraid. Nothing bad will happen turst me:D

[germ17]

I am not sure about the all the Region 2 stuff but as for the bit pertaining to Harry Potter; if you buy the Canadian version of the film it is indeed entitles "Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone". It is available for $26.99($17.85 US) Canadian at http://www.dvd-plus.com but I am not sure about the shipping though I am sure it is cheaper to ship from Canada than England.

[Mark Lamutt]

Zac - here's a link to that dvd player that I was talking about:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/newsletter/playanydvd.html

The Malata one offers XY scaling so you can view PAL discs at their correct ratio on NTSC televisions.

[Martyva]

I would check those products in stores. As it is illegal sell units from a different region. i would be suprised if the JVC machine played Region 2. The reason for coding has as much to do with international law as it does with piracy.

[LadyTalia]

Possibly look into a Malata DVP-500 dvd player... ours converts ntsc/pal and plays any dvd we want. Keep in mind it's $200ish. We got discs from Hong Kong via a friend so we can see Jackie Chan & similar movies that aren't available in the US. He gave us a bunch of 'em and we found out they worked. It can play basically any dvd out there. We were just using it for the pal/ntsc conversion and found out it plays anything when our friend brought over a dvd that was region 2 and it worked. If anyone is interested, I can tell you where I got it. It's a really nice dvd player even without those features :) If you want more details on what ours can do feel free to pester me. It's a great dvd player.

How legal is it to have/play dvd's from other regions? I guess I just don't know where the laws draw the line.

There are ways to get computers to read dvds from other regions, but I don't know how legal they are- part of why I've never looked into it. I don't know the details, but it involves copying the files to a hard drive and making the computer think it's a separate drive... I don't know much about it, but I have heard people talk about it.

On another note... I hate that some movies are only available in P&S... Cats&Dogs for one. It gets frustrating!

[Martyva]

An example. In France, it is illegal to show a movie that was not produced in France, for one year. DVDs, that are produced in other countries, are usually released before one year.

[Martyva]

It does if there is a one year wait on movies released on DVD.

[Martyva]

Movies have a distribution system, world wide. Movies from region one are normally released on DVD in region one, before they are shown in theaters, in region 2.

[MarkA]

But that's not always true. Harry Potter (which is a British movie) for example. And these days the difference is rarely a year. Therefore, your arguement makes no sense. If your arguement about it being for France then there would be two regions - France and everywhere else. France would certainly have it's own region. By coincidence, it may help your cause. But that's not the point of the coding. To be honest, I seriously doubt the studios even CARE about French law. They care about the $€£¥$€£¥$€£¥$€£¥$€£¥ - that is ALL they even think about

[Martyva]

Its been several years since i read the info on DVD. Here's a link that may help.[url]http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Contrib/EuropeDVD/regional.html