

However, you might be able to unlock your DVD player, so before going any farther you might want to look into this. I tried this with my DVD player (a Samsung DVD-V1000 purchased in 2002), but was unable to get it to work. There is some discussion on the Internet about codes for "unlocking" DVD players so that they can play DVDs having other region codes. However, there may never be a North American release of less popular films, for example Das letzte U-Boot (DEFA, 1993), and if such DVDs are purchased from countries in other regions they will not play on North American video equipment.
#DVD REGION X FOR PS2 CODE#
For example, in the USA I can purchase a DVD of Das Boot (Bavaria Film, 1981) with region code "1". The reason why is that the North American market is large enough to justify a separate North American release of very popular films. There are some foreign DVDs sold in North America which have a region code of "1", including films produced in the UK that are intended for sale in North America.

For a more detailed breakdown of where these region codes are used, see the Wikipedia article DVD region code. There are also region codes "7" and "8", which have special purposes. South America, Central America, Caribbean, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea and much of Oceaniaīangladesh, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Africa (except Egypt, South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho), Central and South Asia, Mongolia, North Korea Southeast Asia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau territoriesĮurope, Middle East, Egypt, Japan, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Greenland, French Overseas departments and territories Region 0 is commonly referred to as "Region Free", especially when talking about DVD and Blu-ray Disc players. Part 2: Where DVD Region Codes Are Used? DVD Region Codeĭiscs that bear the region 0 symbol either have no flag set or have regions 1–6 flags set. An R1 dvd purchased in Canada is exactly the same as an R1 dvd purchased in the U.S., and vice versa. and CANADA share the SAME REGION CODE: Region 1. For example: Region 4 DVDs WON'T PLAY in a standard Region 1 DVD player Region 1 DVDs WON'T PLAY in a standard Region 4 DVD player. or Canada will only play DVDs that specify they are REGION 1 dvds standard DVD players purchased in New Zealand will only play DVDs that specify they are REGION 4 DVDs. For example: standard DVD players purchased in the U.S. Almost all commercial DVDs that are sold have what is called a "region code" (also called "regional code"), which only allows the DVD to be played on DVD players that have this region code, and the only DVD players that typically do have this region code are those sold in that same region. Part 3: What Is the Reason for DVD Region Code?ĭVD region code is a digital rights management technique mainly for controlling DVD content, release date and price by the distributors.Part 2: Where DVD Region Codes Are Used?.Part 1: What does DVD Region Code mean?.

("It plays some region 1 DVDs, but not all," he told me.)Īs always, you can get more (much more) information on the PlayStation 2, where else, but at IGN PS2.Click one of the links below to jump to any section of the guide: IGN's own Jeff Chen went all the way to Japan to get his PS2, thinking that it wouldn't play any Region 1 DVDs (which should tell you how bad he wanted a PS2), only to be delighted to learn that he had an almost fully functional unit. So, very similar to the recently modified Apex DVD player, there are a few lucky customers out there that got in on a good thing before it was inevitably snatched away.
#DVD REGION X FOR PS2 SOFTWARE#
Needless to say, future units will have revamped DVD software that will prevent the playing of non-region 2 discs as they're supposed to. The company has asked people to return their units through mail, or through the 8,000 7-Eleven stores (?!?) in Japan. Yes, it turns out that the PS2, which so far is available only in Japan and is thus only supposed to be able to play Region 2 DVDs, can in fact play DVDs from all regions- a big no-no, according to the rules set forth by the MPAA- prompting the recall.īut, as even Sony has acknowledged, the chances of customers returning the disc so that a feature that they probably want can be removed are slim to none. The latest in a long line of glitches and problems with the Japanese launch of the PlayStation 2, the hybrid game console and DVD player has finally resulted in a recall of the unit's utility disk by Sony.
