Ask John: Where Can I Get a Region 2 DVD Player?

Question:
Is there a place on the internet where you can legitimately buy a Region 2 DVD player?

Answer:
In an effort to curb video piracy, the international video entertainment industry established and adheres to guidelines regarding the DVD video format including “region encoding.” The world is divided into 6 DVD “regions” or zones, and DVDs encoded for compatibility in a particular zone will only play on DVD players designed to register and recognize that particular region identification. However, to circumvent this purely commercial segregation, many individuals have discovered how to disable or remove the DVD region recognition function from DVD players to allow film fans internationally to enjoy the DVD format regardless of national or arbitrarily determined commercial boundaries. This is particularly noteworthy to American anime fans that want to import Japanese DVDs. While North America is DVD Region 1, Japan is classified as DVD Region 2, thus Japanese DVDs will not play on standard American DVD players, and American Region 1 encoded DVDs will not play on Japanese DVD players.

In practical terms, there’s no such thing as a “legitimate” region free DVD player. All companies involved in the DVD industry are supposed to agree to the conventions of DVD standards, including region encoding. However, there are DVD players that are unusually easy to modify or convert, as well as retailers that will sell pre-modified “region free” DVD players. Computer DVD-ROM drives usually allow a user to change the drive’s default region recognition setting a limited number of times. There are “hacks” available for many computer DVD-ROM drives that will either disable this function or routinely reset the drive’s counter, allowing for unlimited changes to the DVD drive’s region setting.

If you’re interested in buying an inexpensive DVD player and modifying it yourself to remove its region recognition function, you can find a long list of DVD player “hacks” at VCDhelp.com. In most cases, modifying your DVD player in this way will void your product warranty and eliminate your right to free or reduced cost repairs or replacement, but if you don’t anticipate needing to repair or replace your DVD player, voiding your warranty may not be a significant sacrifice. A similar list of hacks for computer DVD-ROM drives can be found at the appropriately named DVD Region Patches website, or through a thorough internet search.

If you’d prefer the convenience of buying a DVD player that’s already modified or region-free, you’ll find that many retailers will guarantee their players and offer a warranty comparable to that of the original manufacturer. However, depending on where you shop and what quality of DVD player you’re looking for, a ready-to-go region-free DVD player can range from very reasonably priced to quite expensive. Area 450 and Code Free DVD are both good places to start in a search for a pre-modified region-free DVD player.

Make sure that you’re aware of a few additional things. DVD Region encoding is entirely separate from DVD copy protection and Macrovision encoding. Many DVDs utilize copy protection features that prevent the video image on a DVD from copying correctly onto VHS. This requires a totally different type of “hack” to disable, which I won’t discuss here as circumventing copy protection is not related to actually viewing so much as it is to bootlegging. Furthermore, watching foreign DVDs also entails being aware of international television broadcast signal formats that pre-date the DVD medium. North America and Japan uses the NTSC format video signal that displays 29.97 frames per second at 525 scan line resolution. Europe and Australia, for example, use the PAL format video signal that displays 25 frames per second at 625 scan line resolution. These video formats are standards that extend beyond the DVD medium to your television set. Even a region free or “Region 0” PAL format DVD will not display its image correctly on an NTSC format television, and vice versa. So while the UK and Japan are both DVD Region 2, the UK is PAL format DVD Region 2 and Japan is NTSC format DVD Region 2. Luckily for European anime fans, televisions and DVD players capable of supporting both the NTSC and PAL video signals are easily available in Europe, and in America there are DVD players that offer the ability select and switch between display in NTSC and PAL video signals. An American anime fan wishing to watch imported Japanese DVDs need only acquire a region free DVD player. A European fan is already in the same DVD region as Japan and need only be able to view an NTSC video signal to watch imported Japanese DVDs.