No Region Codes for HD-DVD? 233
MBCook writes "According to Engadget something interesting has come out of the DVD Forum Conference 2005 in Japan. Here is the line from the post we've all been waiting for: 'But one statement from Toshiba Digital Media Networks' Hisashi Yamada was particularly intriguing: "We've gotten a variety of opinions about region controls. Even in the Steering Committee, they are extremely unpopular; we decided to not put them in. HD DVD probably won't contain any region playback controls."' Source: Japanese, English (via Google's Language Tools)."
Whoa. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Whoa. (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's hear it for marketing! Yay!
And now again for speculative opinion! Yay!
Re:Whoa. (Score:3, Insightful)
Billions of region codes!
Re:Whoa. (Score:2)
But these people are the early adopters - tech-savy users with sufficient free cash. They travel a lot. As an example, I bought my laptop while teaching in the US. I also got a few DVDs. Now I'm back in Europe. I bought a couple of DVDs. I'd like to be able to play all of the DVDs I bought on my laptop. Some of the more exotic and arty ones are Region 0, but most are not. Even DVD
Re:Whoa. (Score:2)
But these people are the early adopters - tech-savy users with sufficient free cash.
Well, not only that, but this is a very western-centric way of thinking (and more specifically, US-centric). Why should people in Japan, for example, be forced to wait 6 months for a DVD release in their "region" and then pay $60 for it, when they can buy the US disc for 11 bucks from Amazon? Regio
Finally (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder what the movie industry thinks about this.
Re:Finally (Score:2)
Let's face it, the U.S. Congress is Hollywood's bitch, and if Hollywood don't like it, I'm sure we will see some legislative action.
Re:Finally (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Finally (Score:2)
I'm sure there will be some alternative that makes up for the lack of region code here in the U.S. too.
Re:Finally (Score:2)
Recently: "We must release them at the same time already" In fact, in many cases it's been so nuts they have had the exact same release *time*. The market has spoken, and I don't know about you but I don't consider everyday consumer electronics found in major stores to be "specialized hardware". You make it sound like it was some kind of shady modchip or something.
Re:Finally (Score:2)
Re:Finally (Score:2)
In Australia the local branch of Warner Bros was trying to get the government to stop a US branch of Warner Bros from sending in region 1 DVDs of movies that had not yet seen a cinema release. Multi-region players are of course perfectly legal in Australia and perfectly legal in the countries that actually manufacture DVD players. The whole concept of region coding was a poorly thought out marketing h
ok, I like HD DVD now (Score:5, Interesting)
I hope Apple jumps on this because then they could have all they need for a video iPod
Japanese English? (Score:4, Funny)
Competition may be producing good results (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Competition may be producing good results (Score:2)
Re:Competition may be producing good results (Score:2)
In this battle the tech companies have to suck up to the content providers not the consumer. The consumer will get stuck with whoever kisses Hollywood's ass the best.
NOTE: I don't know if Blue Ray actually does have support for region codes but I'm sure someone here does.
Re:Competition may be producing good results (Score:2)
On the other hand, if there is enough confusion, consumers may not buy anything and they all lo
The real reason... (Score:5, Insightful)
Region coding worked fine before information traveled so fast and so easily. You'll also see European release dates much closer to the U.S. release dates for the same reason -- if the movie isn't in theatres in your market, just download a bootleg and see it first.
Here again is another proof that information not only wants to be free, it wants to be available to everyone at the same time.
Re:The real reason... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The real reason... (Score:2)
but in the end all infromation drawn towards becoming available for all to consume. and we are becoming adicted to information, no matter how uninformative it is.
so maybe wants isnt so bad a word for it anyways? it kinda sums it all up.
Re:The real reason... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The real reason... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The real reason... (Score:5, Funny)
I disagree it's "a philosophical statement" (Score:2)
I disagree with this. What it is, is an informal attempt to hypothesize a natural law of information escapology.
Two things that immediately occur to mind:
Makes sense.... (Score:2)
Didn't it used to be that a feature release movie in N. America took about 4-6 months before being released in Europe? The idea of region coding was that the movie could be in theatres in Europe, while already released to DVD in the U.S.
Of course, leaving t
Re:Makes sense.... (Score:2)
In the beginning, it was pretty expensive to get a dealer to mod your player to skip region encoding ($150). This was in 1997 or thereabouts and this is Norway. It's gotten a lot cheaper, but you still don't get region-free dvd players over the counter today, at least not the inexpensive varieties.
Re:Makes sense.... (Score:4, Informative)
Lots of examples of how easy it is are available here http://www.dvdexploder.com/multihacks.htm [dvdexploder.com]
Avtar
About region codes (Score:5, Insightful)
The theater release date argument toward zoning is not good because more and more of the most anticipated movies have worldwide release, and also because then why would zoning apply to old classics and other pre-dvd era movies that are still to be released ?
Re:About region codes (Score:5, Informative)
But that is not how it works for the big guys. A European company will not release an all-region DVD (unless they are a small niche company), they will try to find someone to purchase the North American rights to the film, and manufacutre and market it for North America.
Re:About region codes (Score:2)
Yesterday I was ina camera store, two girls from Brazil were about to buy a camera. I had to laugh, because I remember b
Re:About region codes (Score:3, Informative)
However, with DVDs and their optionnal subtitling capability, there was a huge opportunity to open the American market at
Re:Look carefully before you buy a DVD player (Score:3, Informative)
And the people rejoiced. (Score:4, Funny)
And the movie industry rejected HD-DVD.
unpopular but creates PROFIT (Score:5, Insightful)
Region codes may seem ridiculous and bothersome to the consumer, but it prevents us from ordering movies and games from less well off places where they're sold for maybe $2 instead of paying $10-$20 here. Unless the studios are willing to release material with a global price of 20 US dollars it's not going to happen. Or maybe they'll just change the name, it won't be called "region codes" by name but there will be something in place to restrict the playing of foreign movies and games. There's just too much money involved to scrap it.
Re:unpopular but creates PROFIT (Score:2)
I would imagine if there are places where people are paying $1 or $2 for movies or games, they are bootleg in the first place. I agree that region encoding was always about screwing the consumer, but I don't think your logic is correct. I'm sure there will be something to offset the benefits of no region codes. I'm betting Hollywood will buy some ill-conceived, indefen
Re:unpopular but creates PROFIT (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:unpopular but creates PROFIT (Score:2, Insightful)
So why can employers get away with paying employees $2 an hour in other countries, instead of being made to pay $20 an hour here?
I'm not bashing outsourcing, I'm just curious what the difference is...
Re:unpopular but creates PROFIT (Score:4, Interesting)
Moreover, the European market is further artificially segmented into separate markets because different editions of the same movies will have different dubbing and subtitles available.
You know? (Score:5, Insightful)
Obviously, it could just be a case of HDDVD seeing how unpopular they are and making some changes to their strategy late in the day to get some support which they wouldn't have done if we hadn't originally shunned them.
Re:You know? (Score:2)
Of course, they could both fall flat on their faces. While DVD's pr
Re:You know? (Score:2)
they both use the same laser frequency, they're both using blue lasers as well. they also use the same codecs (avc, vc-1,mpeg4)
there to my knowledge isn't anything more to warrant an "etc" in your post.
unless i'm mistaken...
Re:You know? (Score:2)
Well, it's at least preferable to see they fighting over pleasing consumers rather than pleasing copyright holders for a change. Whether or not this ia a big change can also be discussed, since there are zone-free players sold in pretty much all zones except the US. I'm sure it has caused mor
Region code purpose (Score:2)
Re:Region code purpose (Score:5, Informative)
already redundant given purchaser's SS# on disk... (Score:2, Funny)
All I Want for Christmas... (Score:4, Interesting)
What I want in a DVD player (or any movie player):
I managed to get a DVD player that can do the first two (it also does PAL->NTSC conversion), but not the last (and I actually have an old TV with only coax input, so I must run the DVD (at the time, the DVD only had RCA analog out) through a VHS player which doesn't work due to Macrovision; I've been bitten and I wasn't even trying to copy... luckily I also have an old VHS player that doesn't have auto-tracking, woohoo).
I absolutely abhor shopping for these things because it's such an effort to do the research and find something that works how I want it to. It's tough being a discerning shopper. Is there a DVD player that can skip "non-skippable" things? Can I do this from Linux (in which case, is there a DVD drive that is region free? I assume Macrovision isn't an issue... even if I were to record analog with a VHS deck...).
So, yay to no region codes, but to the current DVD player shopping: AAAAAAAAAAAH!! #%$@!
Re:All I Want for Christmas... (Score:2)
Re:All I Want for Christmas... (Score:2)
The firmware in my DVDROM driver is supposed to be region-locked, but I've never found a DVD that won't play.
Re:All I Want for Christmas... (Score:2)
The firmware in my DVDROM driver is supposed to be region-locked, but I've never found a DVD that won't play.
Same here under FreeBSD.
Plus: using vobcopy + DeCSS to dump the encrypted .VOB files to disk, speeding up playback AND reducing the strain on the DVDROM as well. The best MPlayer feature though is that you can skip by tiny amounts (10 secs, 1 minute, ...), not by whole big "scene" or "chapter" chunks that are being forced on the rest of the world.
Re:All I Want for Christmas... (Score:4, Informative)
http://mtz.softpedia.com/index.php?option=com_web
And you can do all that you want.
(The region-free part is actually in the standard firmware, you just need to activate it with some sort of IR signal (the guy who sold me one did it with a Palm Vx). But the Mtz firmware does all that and more, so just use it)
Re:All I Want for Christmas... (Score:2)
Auto-tracking is to do with the alignment of the heads with the video tape. I doubt it comes into play when all you're doing is using your video recorder as an RF modulator.
Its the auto-gain-control that Macrovision messes with, and that's been standard in video recorders for a lot longer than auto-tracking.
Re:All I Want for Christmas... (Score:4, Informative)
Broadband, Hollywood and Standards (Score:2)
1) The "big selling season" for movies has been spreading across the calendar - it may be that we're heading toward a year-round market. (Obviously there are movies all year, but the big summer and winter seasons are no longer
Very telling (Score:2)
Region codes was a bad idea to start off with. There are a lot of DVDs released that get region coding that will never ever be released for the remaining regions, thus cutting themselfs out of a huge market. All DVDs produced here in sweden inevitably get a region 2 coding, although they will never be released outside of europe. This means that I can never buy any of these DVDs for my friends in the US, even though they put en
Territoriality in music licensing (Score:2)
(Separate reply for separate issue.)
And it seems like the DVD producers have realized this since they are asking for regions to be removed for HDDVD. However, they are not smart enough to stop using region codes on normal DVDs!
Actually there's a good reason. Music licensing contracts for current films often specify a territory because the DVD format allows enforcement of such contracts. This entices the music publishers and record labels to offer less expensive licenses for single-territory use than
Blu-Ray Will NEVER Do This (Score:3, Interesting)
I was rooting for Blu-Ray, on the simple basis of higher technical standards. But now HD-DVD is offering me a lot more choice, and most likely lower cost imports. I've just been converted to the HD-DVD camp and all it took was one press release.
See Sony. Consumers like it when you don't cripple their hardware with restrictions.
Re:Blu-Ray Will NEVER Do This (Score:2)
Next slashdot Headline... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Next slashdot Headline... (Score:5, Funny)
In other news... MPAA sues RIAA for infringing on the MPAA's patent to sue their own customers/companies/etc.
Re:Next slashdot Headline... (Score:2)
Don't see how it creates profits (Score:2)
I was so dissapointed. What a bummer. What good did this do any
Re:Don't see how it creates profits (Score:3, Informative)
As far as I can tell from this discussion, this region coding crap is still enforced in the US. But it is certainly not enforced over here.
Re:Don't see how it creates profits (Score:2)
Re:Don't see how it creates profits (Score:2)
Re:Don't see how it creates profits (Score:2)
That has to be a joke or do people actually spellcheck their slashdot posts? On a global forum spellchecking is fairly irrelevant anyway - I once had some loser attempt to correct my spelling of Aluminium because he had no idea that it was spelt differently elsewhere.
If someone has something interesting to say don't let their bad grammar or spelling get in your way. Most high school students have this obsession for correcting other peoples spel
How region codes should work... (Score:3, Insightful)
Worse is that if I would ask around where to make my American DVD player region free they wouldn't help me due to the DMCA.
Region codes were flawed from the start: It's not the discs that should be region locked, it ought be the DVD player. And it's not the DVD player that you should have changeable regions, it ought be the discs. We'd still have regions just like the movie companies want us to have -- but at least we'd be able to move from one continent to another and still use our completely legitimately purchased wares.
But alas, since this is impossible due to obvious technological limitations, we ended up with this half-assed excuse we have today.
Re:How region codes should work... (Score:2)
You're obviously one of those skilled workers with skills that americans are too stupid to lea
Re:How region codes should work... (Score:3, Informative)
If that's the case: wow, what a backwards, insular country...
These things are pretty much standard in the rest of the world - any TV less than 10 years old is almost sure to natively handle PAL/SECAM & NTSC. And if you can't walk into a major retailer and buy a decent name-brand D
Re:How region codes should work... (Score:2)
Re:How region codes should work... (Score:2)
Read the manual for your TV set or check the details on the manufacturers web site - it may allready be a dual format TV.
The other less convenient way to do PalNTSC is with a computer, TV-out on a graphics card and a long cable to the TV.
Hurry up and release it, Central Committee (Score:2)
difference between hardware and software (Score:2)
The software companies had different motivations at first becau
More than pointless (Score:2, Interesting)
In actuality, neither of the above two have actually occured for the following reasons:
The majority of the people that compl
Nail in HD-DVD's Coffin (Score:3, Insightful)
Melissa
Not necessarily... (Score:3, Insightful)
It solved a problem that didn't really exsist and probably actually ended up costing the studios in lost revenue for potential niche markets.
This only means... (Score:2)
** Spoiler Warning for The Ring **
I was just watching The Ring yesterday, and it occured to me that these days, if the MIAA got their wish, everybody would be dead, because nobody would be able to make a copy of the tape. In fact, the whole film wouldn't even work if the MIAA hat their say, because the audience would be going Make a copy? But nobody can do that! And it's illegal!
Of course it might get r
Re:This only means... (Score:4, Funny)
What about internet distribution? Does copying a DivX file grant you immunity? Do the router owner's between you and another computer gain immunity, even though they are not aware of the copy.
Somebody needs to do their Ph.D. dissertation on this subject.
Mod Chips (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This is GREAT, but it's not that huge a deal (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sorry buddy but you're wrong (Score:2)
Re:Sorry buddy but you're wrong (Score:2)
(Watermarks will still be preserved if you re-record the music and re-encode it.)
Re:Sorry buddy but you're wrong (Score:2)
If i can capture both, the image and audio stream output from a media playing device, then re-encoding it will pretty definetly loose all the watermarks
i guess you can't really ever protect the media. if you want someone to see it/hear it, then it can be captured, and with appropriate equipment, the quality wont suffer much and the people who are accepting pirated products, can handle the few percentages of quality loss
Re:Sorry buddy but you're wrong (Score:2)
I fully expect at some point in time every disc you buy will have a unique watermark and will be somehow attached to your credit card at purchase so that the only way to get around it is to buy in cash or shoplift, even then theyll still know which disk it originated from a
Re:Sorry buddy but you're wrong (Score:2, Informative)
That must be why films shown in theatres have red dots [hometheaterforum.com] all over the print-- because recording them with a camcorder and encoding as XviD just makes them magically disappear.
I hope that answers your question.
Re:Sorry buddy but you're wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sorry buddy but you're wrong (Score:2)
Any solution that involves the word "hack" is not a solution. People don't mess with there stuff or look for work arounds. They want it to just work.
Re:This is GREAT, but it's not that huge a deal (Score:5, Insightful)
Who is this 'most of us'? Last time I checked only an extreme minority 'hacked' anything electronic.
Where have you been, buddy? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Where have you been, buddy? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:This is GREAT, but it's not that huge a deal (Score:2)
My dvd player had a manual section that contained a 3 digid code to be entered via the remote while in the setup-menue, which unlocks the region code.
No need to even look in the web to do it....
Publically accepted hacking and THEIR alternatives (Score:2, Informative)
Re:This is GREAT, but it's not that huge a deal (Score:5, Funny)
Jon, is that your work account? (see nick)
Re:Wonderful, now can they just play the movie? (Score:2)
Re:What a shame (Score:3, Interesting)
that's about all it has less than bluray.
both formats are anti-"consumer" and not worth buying into in the long run.
any format where the user/customer/owner doesn't have full access isn't worth the atoms it's made out of.
Re:Want full access? Make your own. (Score:2)
Re:So how do I know whether my own music is origin (Score:2)
doesn't matter i said to create your own patch sets specifically to avoid issues of wave data ownership, though it is likely that the data which comes on a synth would be licensed for royalty free use in final productions because the manufacturer wants people to buy and use their product
the other issue is just an asinine abuse of copyright law, hire a hit man to off the tosser who accuses you.
Re:Implied region coding and $money$ (Score:3, Insightful)
Or in the USA for $20 and in the UK for £20 ($38).
The problem is, a lot of people travel between regions, and when their DVD player wont play the DVDs they bought somewhere else, they complain to the drive manufacturer and the disk seller.
Its beginning to dawn on some people that slapping your customer round the face with a wet fish is not good business practice.
Have you explained regio
OT: Fish (Score:2)
Let me guess... you hang out quite a bit on IRC?
Re:HD-DVD and Bluray are both Betamax (Score:2)