DVDs from different regions

sch911 wrote:
How did you come by DVD's from other regions? Region 1 is all of North America!

I buy DVDs from around the world, so can relate to the OP's situation. If doing so, you should always check the region coding, and also if the DVD is encoded in PAL. Many DVD players available in the U.S. will also play PAL. But then again, many won't.

Actually, I believe region coding has more to do with marketing territories than anything else. But the solution for desktop players is to get one that is region free as mentioned. The problem is going to be to find one that replaces the built-in Jensen.

Another solution may be to play them on your computer or notebook using something like the free VLC player, which will play all regions and both NTSC/PAL. Either connect directly to your LCD(?), HDMI would be the easiest, or use one of the available wireless streaming solutions.

Most DVD players will "lock" into the Region of the first DVD that is played on it. Sometimes you can find firmware downloads for the DVD player that will unlock the player so it can be reset on the next DVD (which can be a pain), or permanently unlock the player for any Region.

The other option can be to rip the DVD on your PC or Mac and rewrite it as a Region free DVD or as a DVD coded to the Region recognized by your DVD player. The problem with this approach is the DVD may have additional piracy prevention encoding. There is software that can get around this, but its use in the US is legally questionable. The law is a bit murky about being able to do this on CDs/DVDs that you own; it is pretty clear you can't do it on CDs/DVDs you don't own. And to make it just a little more difficult, most US sites that host downloadable software that does things like this won't have copies. You typically have to download it from a site outside the US.

Amazon.com. Type all region DVD players. There's a bunch

How did you come by DVD's from other regions? Region 1 is all of North America!

Sure. It's to prevent piracy. I "believe" you can get a player that will play from all regions, but don't ask me where you'd get it....