Re: DVD Region Codes and Debian multimedia software
On 27 March 2009 17:19:35 Bret Busby wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Mar 2009, Thierry Chatelet wrote:
> > On 27 March 2009 16:45:22 Bret Busby wrote:
> >> Hello.
> >>
> >> As is shown by my signature, I am in Australia.
> >>
> >> Some of the DVD's of movies that I want to buy, are apparently available
> >> only from amazon, USA or UK.
> >>
> >> For whatever reason, multimedia DVD's have this horrid Region Code
> >> thing, apparently designed to stop Australian audiovisual DVD players
> >> from playing DVD's that are vavailable only from countries such as the
> >> USA or UK, that have Region Codes that are incompatible with DVD players
> >> for television sets.
> >>
> >>> From
> >>
> >> http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=502
> >>554 ,
> >> Region 1 - USA and Canada
> >> Region 2 - UK, Europe, Japan, South Africa and Middle East
> >> Region 4 - Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America
> >>
> >> Apparently, multimedia applications, such as Totem MPlayer, in Debian
> >> can play movies that are recorded on DVD's.
> >>
> >> Are these movie players able to read and play DVD's from any and all
> >> Region Codes, or, are they limited to particular region codes?
> >>
> >> I want to know that, before I start buying movies on DVD's from other
> >> Region Codes, so that I will not end up with movies on DVD's, that I
> >> cannot use.
> >>
> >> Thank you in anticipation.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Bret Busby
> >
> > @ftc-p01:~$ aptitude search region
> > p regionset - view and modify the region code of
> > DVD dri
> >
> > Thierry
> >
> >
> >
> >From Synaptic, for regionset;
>
> "view and modify the region code of DVD drives
> Regionset is a small utility which displays and sets
> the region/zone setting of a DVD drive, allowing it to decrypt
> the DVD's sold in this geographical zone. Hardware vendors
> often limit the number of such modifications, but it is
> necessary to set it at least once with a brand new drive.
>
> URL: http://linvdr.org/projects/regionset/";
>
> >From http://linvdr.org/projects/regionset/ ;
>
> "On delivery, most DVD drives have no region code set. The drive
> firmware allows you to change the region code, but on nearly all drives
> you are limited to five (5) changes. After the fifth change, the DVD
> drive will stay fixed on that code -- on some drives you can upgrade
> the drive firmware and have then additional five changes, on other
> drives you won't be able to change the region code any more."
>
> and
>
> "If you set a DVD drive to region code 2 (RC2), you'll only be able to
> play region-code-2-DVDs from Europe, Middle East, South Africa and
> Japan -- the drive will definitively not play any US or Canadian DVD,
> nor Austrailian or Chinese. So if you cannot play a DVD because of the
> wrong region code, there is nothing the DVD player software can do
> about but changing the region code of the drive if you have any changes
> left.
>
> So always be very very careful changing the region code, it could be
> your last try before you're forced to buy a new drive (or play foreign
> DVDs forever)."
>
> So, it appears that this proprietary and restrictive Regions Code thing
> is absolute, and cannot be got around, and I apparently just have to
> accept that the video companies don't want us to watch their DVD's here
> in Australia.
>
> Thank you, anyway.
>
> --
> Bret Busby
> Armadale
> West Australia
> ..............
>
> "So once you do know what the question actually is,
> you'll know what the answer means."
> - Deep Thought,
> Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
> "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
> A Trilogy In Four Parts",
> written by Douglas Adams,
> published by Pan Books, 1992
>
> ....................................................
Living in France, I play DVD's from Canada by changing the region set.
Thierry
Reply to: