I'm having a DVD problem

[Mrs.Clayton]

I bought a DVD when I was in Ireland(The Electrical Storm DVD) and I safely carried it home, to find that it won't play on my american DVD player why?
I know that in Europe they use a different tape format for VCR's, but I thought DVD's were all the same.
The screen on the tv says "the disc will not play, please insert another"
does anyone know anything about this?
I don't have a DVD on my computer, so I can't try it there, I'm really bummed because there is an interview with Larry on the DVD
If you can help......

 

[HelloAngel]

Unfortunately, DVD manufacturers use Region Encoding - thereby squelching consumers' ability to purchase a DVD abroad and use it in their home country.

I had the same problem when the special edition of Eyes Wide Shut came out - the Region Encoding was for the UK, and therefore, unable to be played on my DVD player. We were able to get it to play in the DVD-ROM of our Dell computer.

I wish I could be of more help!

 

[daisybean]

Unfortunately it is the same as VHS tapes....they will not work on machines made in different countries.

 

[Mrs.Clayton]

Oh well, at least it didn't cost a lot....
thanks for the info.

P.S.
That is stupid stupid stupid

 

[zoomerang II]

My understanding is this:

With VHS there were two basic systems:

1. nth america/japan (ntsc)
2. restofworld (pal)

this came about because the two systems had physically different numbers of dot dimensions on the tvs *i think

with dvd however:

there a SIX different zones purely to give grief to consumers and enlarge the profits of movie houses. (the arguement was so as to follow the different release dates for movies around the world and reduce piracy).

there are however two ways to get round this:

1. purchase a dvd player to allow it to play dvds from all regions or modify your exisiting one to do the same.
2. Purchase dvd discs that are not region specific. From what i can tell, most new music dvds are now being sold as regionless.

When it comes to U2, i think all the atyclb dvd singles and boston are regionless. Rattle and Hum the movie however was a full film release and is always regionally encoded.

the disc you purchased in the UK will be region 2 whereas in north america you are region 1. hence you will have to find a mechanism in order to play dvds from region 2 in order to watch it.

I am quite surprised that the ES DVD is encoded to area 2: i have the elevation & walk on one and they appeared not to be.

We need a list of all U2 dvd releases and what are regionless and what are not! It would be a good idea to have it somewhere IMO to aid consumers!

 

[U2Lynne]

Pssst . There are region hacks for some DVD players. Go to: http://vcdhelp.com/dvdplayershack I've never used one of my player , but I do know that people do them.

 

[dizzy]

My understanding is this:

With VHS there were two basic systems:

1. nth america/japan (ntsc)
2. restofworld (pal)

There's also the SECAM system used in France. Another one is MESECAM, but I'm not that sure where it's used, or if it's any different from SECAM.

If you buy a code-free/region-free dvd player, you can play a disc from anywhere in the world. Region 3 (used in Hong Kong) can be played on any DVD player, region-free or not, as the discs themselves are code-free.

Oh and you can only adjust the region settings on your PC about 4-5 times when playing DVDs. After that, it gets locked or something.