You can now buy multi-region players. There is also a technique for
jiggering with Region 1 players to get them to play multiple regions (I
haven't tried it).
Gary
At 03:01 PM 12/05/2000 -0800, you wrote:
>I have had a staff member ask me about the difference between DVD's sold in
>America and those sold in Great Britain. In particular they asked if a
>British DVD could be played without any problems on an American DVD player
>or computer with DVD capability? The person who asked the question
>mentioned 'Region 2 encoding' which is apparently for Europe, the Middle
>East, & Japan only. U.S. DVD's are listed as in a different region. I
>believe they got this information from Amazon.co.uk &/or Amazon.com.
>
>I am aware (somewhat) of the difference regarding British/European videos
>which are in the PAL format (?) and that they cannot be played on American
>video players without some kind of 'translation' (I know that is not the
>correct term but my meaning is basically the same.) We have just started
>to get into ordering DVD's here and I do not know the answer to this
>question and thought that someone out on videolib could help me.
>
>Can someone please explain the problem, if there is any, regarding playing
>a British DVD on an American PC or DVD player? Responses can be sent
>directly to me at my e-mail address below if this message, & any responses,
> will clutter up the listserv.
>
>Is this similar to the difficulty with videos in the PAL format? I'm not
>sure if I understand that one as well as I should either so any information
>on either should be useful.
>
>Many thanks in advance.
>
>Lucy M. Lockley Phone: 636/441.2300, Ext. 1563
>Collection Development Manager FAX: 636/441.3132
>St. Charles City-County Library District
>425 Spencer Road
>P.O. Box 529 e-mail: llockley@mail.win.org
>St. Peters, MO 63376-0529 Library website:
>www.win.org/library
>
> "Demons after money!?! Whatever happened to the still beating heart
> of a virgin?! No one has any standards anymore!"
> ___ Giles ('Buffy, the Vampire Slayer')
> | \
> | \
> @##########]==========================================================>
> \\ | /
> \\__/ / Touche!
> \___ __/
Gary Handman
Director
Media Resources Center
Moffitt Library
UC Berkeley 94720-6000
<http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC>http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC
"Everything wants to become television"
(Gregory Ulmer. Teletheory : Grammatology in the Age of Video)