Slashdot Mirror
No Region Codes for HD-DVD?
MBCook writes "According to Engadget something interesting has come out of the DVD Forum Conference 2005 in Japan. Here is the line from the post we've all been waiting for: 'But one statement from Toshiba Digital Media Networks' Hisashi Yamada was particularly intriguing: "We've gotten a variety of opinions about region controls. Even in the Steering Committee, they are extremely unpopular; we decided to not put them in. HD DVD probably won't contain any region playback controls."' Source: Japanese, English (via Google's Language Tools)."
Although many people point to release dates and argue that regions were to prevent someone from importing a movie that was still in local theatres, I think a much larger factor was the general standard of living. Region coding allowed the studios to charge higher prices in regions that had higher standards of living without pricing themselves out of the market in economically depressed regions.
Most DVD players in the Uk (especially the cheap ones) do not ship region free, but there is normally a very easy way (if you can find it) to make it region free. My DVD player can be made region free (or any other region) by using a hidden menu which is accessed by pressing 7 when the tray is open.
Lots of examples of how easy it is are available here http://www.dvdexploder.com/multihacks.htm
Avtar
The lack of Zone 1 DVDs from Europe is the result of the European distributors wanting to get licencing fees from U.S. distributers. It is possible to manufacture your DVDs as region 0 (all regions). The company I used to work for manufactured all it's DVDs that way, because they couldn't afford to create versions for each market. It doesn't cost a penny extra to make your DVD for all regions. And you can sell directly to the U.S. consumer via Amazon and Netflix who have no qualms about selling/renting obscure or foriegn titles.
But that is not how it works for the big guys. A European company will not release an all-region DVD (unless they are a small niche company), they will try to find someone to purchase the North American rights to the film, and manufacutre and market it for North America.