Confused about my DVD/CR-RW drive. Can DVD be Multi Region?

[ekimr]

Hi,

Not sure when I bought my DVD drive that I specified a specific region. I am in UK and it seems my DELL plays region 1 ok - it detects a UK region 2 cd is in the drive, but tells me it can't play it.

Is this normal. How do I get a multi region drive DVD on my PC - is it hardware or software upgrade?. Is region 1 DVD normal - actually i am pleased I got region 1 although didn't specifically ask for a region 1.

Thanks for any help.

 

[bcastner]

For hardware DVD players, the region code is in ROM and cannot be altered. Your DVD player software allows you to select what region you are going to use, or defaults after 5 or so users to region 1.

 

[linney]

"Hollywood had a big impact on the development of DVD technology. Since videos are not released simultaneously everywhere in the world, DVD movies are made for particular regions; each region of the world has been assigned its own code. That way, a DVD movie can be played only in a drive configured for the same region. There are six major regions: (1) North America and Canada; (2) Europe, Middle East, Japan, and South Africa; (3) Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea; (4) Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America; (5) Africa, Russia, India, and Pakistan; and (6) China.

Older DVD-ROM drives have an embedded region code that can't be changed; you can play only DVD movies corresponding to the drive's region. Most contemporary DVD-ROM drives and DVD players are RPC II (Regional Playback Control) compliant, a mandatory requirement for units sold or manufactured after January 1, 2000. Under RPC-II, a drive's region code is not set at the time of manufacture. The first time you play a DVD movie, the drive's region code is set to the disc's code. The drive's region may be changed four more times before it is permanently locked to a region."