*Help Please* Region Codes for DVD

[Maveric]

I'm an American living down south in Houston, Texas.

A long while back I had pre-ordered the second season box set before researching alternatives and basically paid alot more ($119 not counting the $15 membership fee so I could get a discount) than I should have and didn't realize that there were other sets for other countries (regions) some of which had even more features.

Anyways, I let a friend from work (who I recently turned on to Farscape) borrow my secons season box set and she offered to buy it from me for $85 if I wanted to buy the other regional version...

I told her I'd do some researching and let her know. So, here's where I can use some help.

Which regions have which features, and or which region has the best one.

I checked to see if my DVD player would be capable of playing other regions and the instruction booklet says "The Region code for this unit is 1 (one)". I don't know the differences in regions or what the codes mean exactly. I'm kida hoping that code 1 means that I can play any region DVD but since it's a cheap model I'm assuming code one means i can only view American DVDs.

Also I have a top of the line Dell Laptop and I'm not sure if I can View all regions with it's DVD player, but it is TV out capable... i just don't know off hand, and will probably have to do alot of reading to figure that out...

any help would be appreciated :)

[dzelika]

maveric, i have a dell laptop too and you can play any region on it. you just need to re-configure your DVD player software (which is now probably set up to read region 1 coding). i hope that helps.

[grapeshot]

A region 1 DVD player means that it will play ONLY region 1 DVDs. Your player would have to be a region 0 player to play all regions.

Most laptop DVD drives can be changed to a different region. Unless it's one of the very first DVD drives, you can only do this a limited number of times. (The very earliest DVD drives were not configured for any region.) As an example, my laptop lets me change the region code 5 times.

As for your regular DVD player, you could possibly try to "hack" it. A "hack" can be done by either changing it's chipset, or reprogramming it. "Hacking" your player will void it's warranty, and some players have no "hacks". Some hacks will turn your player into a region 0 player, and others will require you to keep changing the region each time you play a different region DVD.

Alternatively, you can purchase an "all-region" DVD player. You can't do this at a "bricks and mortar" store. You have to do it via the internet.

The different region DVDs do have some different features. For example, region 2 (the UK and europe) DVDs have "Farscape Undressed" on one of them. And region 4 (Australia) DVDs have some commentaries that aren't on the region 1 or 2 DVDs. Furthermore, the entire four seasons of Farscape are available on region 2.

If you use your laptops video output to try to view the DVD on your television, you may run into a format problem. Region 2 and 4 DVDs are in PAL picture format, and MOST North American televisions can only play NTSC format. You might need a converter.

[Maveric]

ug! i just checked and i can only change my laptop's dvd player 4 times before it becomes permanently set and region code 0 is not one of the options...

i don't want to risk buying a foriegn region set and it not working on my TV through the TV out on mu laptop. i don't want to purchase a converter....

i think i'll just have to hope someone rips the foriegn regions "goodies" and puts in on Kazaa *hint* *hint* :) if not oh well. i think I'll just pre-order the regular 3rd season box set just this time i'll probably go with deepdiscount.com instead or anyplace better i see recommended here.
..,

[grapeshot]

I think a good DVD viewing program will do the converting for you. I use PowerDVD, and although I don't output to my tv with it, according to it's instructions, it looks like it can handle the conversion. Your DVD viewing program might be able to handle it too. If you're not sure, you could try e-mailing the question to your DVD viewer's help site. Or you could try buying a CHEAP region 2 DVD and checking for yourself.