[OT] DVDs: Does "region zero" work in reverse?

[Ben Scott]

On 4/9/07, David Ecklein <dave at diacad.com> wrote:
> And this forum is as good a place to ask as any I know,
> considering the available savvy freely and eloquently exercised here!

  Ahhh, flattery will get you everywhere.  ;-)

> Many of these devices let you play (or presumably record) any region DVD,
> but then "lock in" automatically on one region after 3 or 4 changes.

  Drives typically come with no region set.  Before you read a
region-coded disc, you have to set the region on the drive to match
the disc.  You can set (or re-set) the region on the drive up to five
times.  You cannot set it any more after that.

> Presumably this is an industry-mandated observance of the absurd (IMHO)
> division of the world into "regions" capable of playing only DVDs in those
> markets.

  Yup.  Apparently, the markets are complicated, with all kinds of
political and economic fingers getting stuck into the pie.  The result
is that, in some areas, there is considerable incentive for people to
"import" discs from other areas of the world.  In standard media
cartel fashion, rather than trying to compete on a level playing
field, they attempted to just cut out that part of the market.

> Suppose your fourth choice (or whichever one locks in the region code) is
> "region zero".

 Nominally, I don't think you are "supposed" to be able to set a
*drive* to region zero.  Not usefully, anyway -- the DVD cartel might
be okay with you having a drive that cannot play *any* region coded
discs, I suppose, but that's even less useful than a drive locked to a
particular region.

  Now, I've heard there are ways to get around the region limitations
on some hardware.  Apparently some hardware just never enforces it
anyway, and other stuff can be "modified" or "hacked".  I dunno if
it's a software hack or a hardware hack or a firmware hack or what.
I'm sure you can find information on the 'net if you go looking for
it.

  We don't want to get into specifics in a public forum like this one.
 The media cartels have a nasty policy of pursuing legal action
against anyone who publishes information on how to circumvent their
restrictions, and they've even bought legislation (the evil DMCA) to
give some supposed credibility to their actions.  If this bothers you,
I suggest you write your government representatives and protest that
the content industry has been given your rights.

  (For the record, bypassing region restrictions supposedly doesn't
actually violate any law -- just the CSS licensing agreement, which I
certainly never signed.  But there's no need to attract attention with
*public* email in *this forum*.)

> DVDs coded region zero play anywhere - it is a wild card

  There are "all-region" discs.  You see, a disc can be coded for
multiple regions (e.g., a disc can be coded to play in regions 1 and
2).  That includes the option of coding a disc to play in all the
regions (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, explicitly).  This seems to be
the predominate usage of the term "region 0" when applied to discs.

  I've read in one place that there is actually a difference between
"all-region" and "region 0", but I suspect that may have been
misinformation, and wouldn't put much stock in it.  In any event, I
try to be clear, and use the term "all-region" when talking about
discs.

  I've also seen the term "region 0" applied to equipment
(drives/players) which does not honor the region restrictions.  See
above.

> And burn region zero DVDs?

  I believe (and I could easily be wrong on this) that region coding
is determined by the content author, and not the drive.  In other
words, when I burn a disc, I get to choose what region codes get
applied to the disc.  So I can burn an all-region disc, or just region
1, or even a region I can't play.

-- Ben