Region 1 + Region 4 = ??? What you think about it?

[ThiagoPE]

Hi guys.

The disney company has an strategy here in latin america: release all of it dvd are multicoded for the region 4 and 1 (so if you live in america or canada and buy a dvd here, it will play very well on you unmodified dvd player).

But i always think with my self: "why they don´t unite the region 1 and 4 in just one dvd ?" (the dvds will come with 4 language tracks: english, french, latin español and brazilian portuguese)

What you think about that union?

Thiago

[Loomis]

Region 4 also covers Australia and New Zealand (and a few other places too I think, possibly Mexico). The problem is we are PAL, and you guys are NTSC. So Region 4 extends beyond South America.

Often the Region 4 discs and Region 2 discs are encoded at the same time, so you could argue the same there (we are both on PAL which helps).

I think Disney likes to stagger their releases in various markets. The world may have been divided up into DVD regions, but I think Disney has their own internal marketing divisions.

Personally, I agree with you. Except I would go so far as to say have Region 0 or uncoded players. I can't for the life of me understand the justification behind it. In New Zealand, they have just passed laws to not allow commercial import of DVDs from other Regions until 9 months after (theatrical?) release here, effectively killing the Region 1 import business in NZ. Personal use is ok...

What is the justification??

[ThiagoPE]

What is the justification??

I really don´t know.

in the cover of ours dvds it only show region 4, but if put in your dvd-rom and aks for the disc proprieties, ti show: encoded for region 1 and 4 and if you place it in a region 1 dvd player (my player is the american version of the playstation 2) it also play very well.

All latin america are NTSC for DVD, so, that union is "technicaly" possible.

OK

Thiago

[PheR]

Actually, most of the dvd players in LatinAmerica are region 1 / 4, so they could possibliy blend them or not, so the whole continent gets one only region, but I think it's a piracy thing.

[ThiagoPE]

Actually, most of the dvd players in LatinAmerica are region 1 / 4, so they could possibliy blend them or not, so the whole continent gets one only region, but I think it's a piracy thing.

That information isnot valid for brazil, here we just have player for the region 4 but who wants to play region 1 dvds, they install a modchip in the dvd player.

OK

Thiago

[2099net]

Personally, I agree with you. Except I would go so far as to say have Region 0 or uncoded players. I can't for the life of me understand the justification behind it. In New Zealand, they have just passed laws to not allow commercial import of DVDs from other Regions until 9 months after (theatrical?) release here, effectively killing the Region 1 import business in NZ. Personal use is ok...

What is the justification??

Well, business wise you can understand the justification. Much as we all like to bash the studios (including Disney) they do have a problem of not actually having anything physical to sell. All their property is concepts and ideas. They're basically selling copyright and licences, and as such I agree that there must be some way to protect them. But this means copy protection, not region lockouts.

But it's an example of technology being used to stick to an outdated business model. In this day and age, there is no excuse for staggered release dates for English speaking countries, and possibly no excuse for dubbed versions either.

They can do worldwide releases if they want to, and not just for big event pictures too. By using region encoding they have no incentive to release pictures worldwide - in fact if they had a region encoing system that did work they would have less incentive and continue to treat the rest of the world like second rate citizens passing off their damaged and dirtied film prints.

The studios have to accept the world has changed. Thanks to more travel and the internet, people know more than ever before what is happening in other countries. They know what's available and when and if they see something they want, they're going to buy it, no matter what. And if people decide to do this, they should not be treated like criminals. As I've said before, the entertainment business is the only business that seems to thrive on discouraging demand.

As for licencing issues. Who cares? Simply by not selling the discs in any affected countries they're fulfilling their licencing obligations. Some books are licenced and publised by other companies abroad, but nobody has suggested bans on book imports or self-wiping books. Coca-Cola is licenced to Schwepps in the UK, but nobody would stop me importing US cans. The licencing issue is a smokescreen.

If licencees are worried about the US releases eating into their sales, they need to arrange to release a identical disc for a similar price at the same time. If they are really worried, they need to arrange to release a superior disc for a cheaper price at the same time. That's all. It's a little thing called "competition" - something that the whole of the Western World is based upon. Apart from Hollywood movie studios apparently, who seem to have negotiated a get-out clause.

[BasilOfBakerStreet427]

There is a US R1 and 4 DVD that is NTSC:Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey:Widescreen Edition.

[2099net]

There's a lot of discs which are encoded for multi-regions. Most Disney PAL releases are R2/R4, and most Warner Catalog releases are NTSC R1, R2, R3, R4 encoded.

[Aladdin]

They should! Iw ould be in favour of that since I like my Disney DVDs to have both english and spanish tracks .... but I think all the language tracks would take up space on the disc .... and in return leave little or no room for "extras".