HD regions

[Olivier]

I remember reading about it in the early stages, but everything was not implemented yet, and things can always change.

Now that Blu-Ray has won, I don't know what to expect: are there, or will there be, new region codes, thus region-specific players and editions?

I understand the studios' logic in implementic it (different claendars for different regions, due to different languages and release dates), and I could accept region-coding if all the editions were the same, but the one thing which ruins it all, and makes me reject it (and quite happy that I have been able to find ways to thwarting DVD regions, through players and software), is that the releases differ widely from region to region.

[Guido Henkel]

Different versions in different territories is something you will have to live until the end of days. The reason for that is that different companies handle the various films throughout the world. While movie may be distributed here by Universal, let's say, in Europe it might be handled by Viacom instead or someone else altogether. Since these are companies that operate entirely separately they often cannot and do not wish to share content.

Blu-Ray has only 3 region codes - A - Americas and Japan / B - Europe, Africa, Australia, Greenland / C - China, Central and South Asia, including India, and Russia - not 8 or whatever DVD had. This makes things much more transparent. It is naught to worry about region codes because there's nothing you can do about it. It is not like you have an alternative.

If studios eventually decide to make use of them then there they are - same as on DVD. The only way around it will be hacked players, but for now that's not even an issue because currently no region codes are enabled. Will they be in the future? Who knows. Like you say, things can always change.

[Olivier]

Thanks, Guido!
:)

It did seem to me the codes were not in effect yet. I don't have anything DH-compatible yet, but the problem now is that, should you buy a non-coded disc produced in the US because it has more features, a firmware update might render it unplayable, based on a production code or some such thing which would tell the player the disc was not manufactured in the country you're trying to play it.

:\

As you pointed out, I won't have much choice, anyway; just buy, wait and see how things turn out, hoping there will always be some relatively easy way of going around it.


As a teacher/researcher who has often used videos in class, copy protection is also an issue-- and quite a serious one, too, since you're not obviously supposed to show videos in public anyway.

I wonder how it works in the USA, but in France, high schools and universities are supposed to order their videos from a special catalogue; this is naturally a lot more expensive, because the studios get paid for the public use.
Needless to say, we don't always do that-- availability, better features on another region's edition, budget, ...

My point being here, that I also hope some easy ways of making copies of BRs will become available, for two reasons:
- backup-- better use a copy thant your own DVD
- selection-- I have made DVD-Rs with only the one episode or the few scnes I am interested in; this saves a lot of disc-switching, loading, and searching around.
Since it will take some time for HD equipment to become the standard (though plugging an HD computer into a regular TV set will always be possible), such software should be available by then, I suppose.

[jspartan]

HD DVD does not have the option of region codes. The HD DVD forum eliminated them by majority vote. This was one of the many nails in its coffin.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Buena Vista Home Entertainment (now Walt Disney Home Entertainment) sided with Blu-ray because region codes were the icing on the cake. New Line Home Entertainment (now defunct) planned to stagger release new to home video titles on HD DVD and BD due to region coding issues. Rush Hour 3 and Shoot 'Em Up are Region A BDs...HD DVDs were planned for release in 2008 when the international distributors released their videos.

In some rare cases, WDHE does release all region BDs. Face/Off and Air Force One are a selection of them. For the most part though, they region code their BDs. A lot of this has to do with either rights issues or international marketing laws.

Ex. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Peal
Region A BD has audio commentary, Region B BD omits the commentary in favor of language tracks that can be accessed by nearly every major European country.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has no gray area. All of their titles are region coded. It seems stupid though since the same Region A BD is available in US, Canada, Japan, and Hong Kong...the only difference is the cover art. As for the Region B releases...language and cover arts are the difference, everything else remains the same.

Some companies did figure out a way to implement region codes on HD DVD..sort of. Universal Home Entertainment's Hot Fuzz HD DVD/DVD combo included a US exclusive bonus feature that was only included on the Region 1 DVD side. The HD DVD side did not have it. The UK HD DVD was not a combo disc either.

And thanks to no region coding...Ang Lee's Lust and Caution never made it to HD DVD since the film works on any HD DVD player and some countries either banned the film or edited it down severely.

[Olivier]

Thanks for the additional information!
What a sad mess... :p
(note: I didn't think the " : p " smiley would look so happy)

[Olivier]

I've only just realized I ought to have posted this in the Blu-Ray subsection to avoid confusions; sorry.
With the format war over, I read "HD-DVD" as the more general "HD DVD".

Thanks again!