Which region does a DVD belong to?

[tsurikov]

Hi everyone,

Is there a software solution for finding out which region a DVD belongs to?

Background: I bought two DVDs from a small theatre company in Europe; they play fine on my German laptop, but won't play on any of my US friends' DVD players. My laptop is, however, set to Region 1 - i.e., US. - and yet it also plays European CDs. I don't understand why that is, but in any case it doesn't give me a way to check the region code by seeing if a DVD plays or not. Every other site I've visited says that there should be a small icon on the DVD or packaging with the region code stamped on it. Well, there isn't... so I'm looking for a definitive answer "straight from the CD"...

Thank you for any help!
--Michael

 

[paparazi]

There is often a NON OFFICIAL firmware upgrade available for some DVDroms that will make it region free.
There is a small risk involved as with any flashing proceedure but from what I here these hacked firmware patches work well.

For your interest I posted a link to show you differant regions around the world.

http://www.high-techproductions.com/dvd_regions.htm

Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[tsurikov]

Thank you for your info, paparazi. I actually did already know about the world regions and the "hacks" for DVD-ROMs. But I'm actually not necessarily looking to make a DVD region-free! I just would like to know - OK, I have a DVD in my hand, which region does it belong to?

Basically, it's an issue with the theatre company - they shipped us 40 DVDs apparently coded for Europe without ever mentioning this and knowing full well they were destined for the US. We tested all 40 DVDs on US players (not in computers - sometimes we actually view DVDs on real TVs , and all could not be read. When we wrote the company, they responded - no, our DVDs are not region-coded, it's a problem with your players. So, we need some definitive proof!

Thanks again!
--Michael

 

[dakota81]

Some dvd players are built to refuse to play region 0 discs because the manufacturers think that if a disc is region 0 then it must be a bootleg copy.