DVD Region Encoding on Verge of Collapse?

Spudley writes "It seems like the infamous Region Encoding system used by DVD manufacturers to prevent us buying disks from overseas is about to collapse - due to widespread flaunting of the system. This article on the BBC doesn't go into much technical detail, but does include an interview with a company that manufactures DVD players ("You can find codes for more or less all brands of DVD player including ours") and some speculation on the future." It always seemed like an idea destined to fail.

Comments

Um, no, it works just fine

[gerf]

It always seemed like an idea destined to fail

No, i think it did its job spledidly. It prevented the general populace from spreading movies where they don't want, and it still does. How many people do you think buy a Gateway Computer, with DVD, tech support, ect., and don't know jack about Regional encoding. Trust me, they've done what they wanted to do, and it will still work, to a surprising degree, well into the future.

Just think how many people still can't program the time on a VCR. Do you seriously think they're going to find a go-around to Regional encoding when they're barely competent enough to wipe their own arse?

Simple solution

[rhadamanthus]

APEX AD-3201. At K-mart for about 100 bucks. Open the tray, press 8-4-2-1, and turn off region encoding and macrovision. Wonderful. Some people say the quality of the player is questionable--but it works fine for myself, and so does the one I got my dad...

this will probably be modded as offtopic--which only makes my sig more ironic than usual...

---rhad