DVD regions?

Wooster · Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:21 am Post Subject: DVD regions?

Hi

Just bought an LG DTR389 DVD recorder - works perfectly. I've read through the confusing instruction booklet, but it doesn't answer this. (LG don't respond to emails either!)

If I record something from the TV onto a DVD an post it to my nephew in Australia - will he be able to play it?

Region Codes are (sometimes?) applied to bought (film type) DVD's. But will my DVD recorder put a region code onto the disc?

Grateful for your thoughts.

Regards

gblades · Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:52 pm Post Subject:

The recording should be region 0 which means that it should work on all players.
Australia also uses the PAL format which the US uses so that wont be an issue either.

ninjacat · Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:05 pm Post Subject:

gblades wrote:

Australia also uses the PAL format which the US uses so that wont be an issue either.

US = NTSC (never twice same colour)

gblades · Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:43 pm Post Subject:

Oops I meant that australia uses the same format as the UK

Wooster · Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:24 pm Post Subject:

gblades wrote:

The recording should be region 0 which means that it should work on all players.
Australia also uses the PAL format which the US uses so that wont be an issue either.

The PAL / NTSC variation doesn't apply. Where ever the DVD player is sold, it will 'transmit' down the SCART lead in the format the TV set needs.

But, if my DVD recorder is set to Region 0, all will be OK. (Region 0 will playback anywhere.) Is there any way I can confirm my machine is Region 0, or is common knowledge that all personal DVD Recorders are Region 0 ?

Regards to all.

gblades · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:37 pm Post Subject:

Quote:

The PAL / NTSC variation doesn't apply. Where ever the DVD player is sold, it will 'transmit' down the SCART lead in the format the TV set needs.

Thats incorrect. In the UK since region 2 covers areas which use PAL and NTSC the players need to be capable of playing both formats. It is not so much as the PAL/NTSC format that causes the problems but more so the 50/60Hz frame rate.
When a UK player plays a NTSC 60Hz source it will normally outputs it in the PAL format. However the frame rate can still be the original 60Hz which some televisions wont display. Many better DVD players have an option when playing a NTSC DVD as to whether you want the output in NTSC, PAL60 or PAL50.
If you buy a DVD player in the USA for example then you will most likely find that it is only capable of playing NTSC discs.

Region coding is used by film distributers to enable them to sell DVDs in some regions and stop people being able to view them elsewhere where the film may still be in the cinemas.
There is no reason why a personal dvd recording device would impose a region code in the same way that they dont use CSS anti copying technology either.

If you have a PC with a DVD-ROM drive in it then download a 14 day eval copy of DVDInfo from http://www.dvdinfopro.com/ and it will show you any region encoding present on any discs.

Wooster · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:09 pm Post Subject:

gblades - thanks for that. I have done as you suggested - and my recorded DVD's are Region 0. so they should work fine in Australia. Many thanks to all who responded.