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[NekoFever]

I have a US PS3 as well, and my Doctor Who discs (which I ripped to be region free) WILL NOT WORK because "PAL broadcasts are not supported".

The best part? Take one of the .VOBs and put it on a memstick and OH LOOK IT PLAYS. Seriously idiotic.

Yeah, this is what I was talking about. Since the support for PAL MPEG-2 video in a VOB container is in there, for some reason there's been a conscious effort to block playback of region 0 PAL DVDs. The only reason I can think of is as a way to discourage what you did with your DVDs, but considering that the PS3 plays XviD files - not exactly known for its number of legitimate applications - it seems like a waste to do that.

 

[StuBurns]

here is a better question than yours .

why there is " DVD" region code on PS3 game Blu-ray case's spine anyway ?

they should use blu-ray region A or B right ? like this

they are Blu-ray discs not DVDs

Yeah, BluRay games use DVD region codes (despite not being region coded).

I know it's very unlikely. But I'd like to know if the region-locked Uncharted demo ran on Japanese PS3s.

 

[lherre]

Stupid american software/hardware laws! I'll check my friend's EU PS3 is region locked. If it is.....

@lherre
Why can't I play DVDs from the US then ?

Sorry I wanted to say ps2 and x360, not ps3 :lol

 

[lherre]

Yeah, BluRay games use DVD region codes (despite not being region coded).

I know it's very unlikely. But I'd like to know if the region-locked Uncharted demo ran on Japanese PS3s.

No, doesn't run until they patched. I have a japanese ps3.

 

[StuBurns]

No, doesn't run until they patched. I have a japanese ps3.

So the region locking that's in place is even the same as DVD. Strange.

Thanks for posting, I've been wondering about that for a while, didn't think anyone would have tried it in time.

 

[fronn]

Could you elaborate a bit and explain why 360/PS3 are bad against anything else out there?

I have a Phillips DVD player hooked to my HDTV via HDMI it upscales to 1080p and I really don't se much difference between that and my 360 or PS3 when I had one.

To clarify: the 360 is bad compared to most things out there, the PS3 is better than most things out there.

I added the edit because I imagine for most people a 360 or anything else would be good enough.

The differences come with color reproduction and clarity/sharpness/detail of the video. The differences tend to come in what may seem like nit picky areas. The reality of the situation is that most any player, upscaling or not, will get you 90% there on a 1080p TV these days.

 

[Spasm]

I challenge Extreme Tech to do a NEW HQV test... One that isn't more than 2 years old, and stuck firmly at 480i 480p.

The 360 is a great upscaling DVD player. Certainly light years ahead of the OP's other option for multi-region DVDs, the PS2. I see no difference between the PS3 and the 360 on my calibrated setup. I prefer the 360 simply for the fact that I have a Harmony remote.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

The 360 is a terrible DVD player, my sub-$100 upscaling Samsung DVD player has better video quality than it. Plus extremetech already noted that upscaling really didn't fix much of the issues highlighted in the article when they tried.

 

[ichigo kurosaki]

What? Why shouldn't it be? As far as I know all regular DVD players are region locked... It's like buying a toaster and complaining for it not frying eggs (well, not exactly, but you get the point). Unless DVD players in Denmark are usually region free, but I don't know about that. It's part of the EU so they shouldn't be, right?

 

[decon]

What? Why shouldn't it be? As far as I know all regular DVD players are region locked... It's like buying a toaster and complaining for it not frying eggs (well, not exactly, but you get the point). Unless DVD players in Denmark are usually region free, but I don't know about that. It's part of the EU so they shouldn't be, right?

Because the PS2 wasn't and it goes against Sony's own idea of the PS3 being a media hub.

How do you make a region DVD? I've done some googling in the past but I never found anything useful :/

 

[Fewr]

A better question is: why won't a US PS3 play region free PAL discs, like pretty much any other goddamned DVD player out there?

I have a US PS3 as well, and my Doctor Who discs (which I ripped to be region free) WILL NOT WORK because "PAL broadcasts are not supported".

The best part? Take one of the .VOBs and put it on a memstick and OH LOOK IT PLAYS. Seriously idiotic.

Oh well, at least the 360 HD-DVD player that I got for 10$ likes them just fine.

I'm also a bit worried about the Being Human Bluray coming my way. I've had some "Region B" discs actually not have a region coding flag enabled, but I'm worried that this (and therefore Series 5 Doctor Who) will. That means I'm going to have to get an external Bluray drive and rip, remove region coding and then reburn them.

In sum: Region codes are fucking retarded.

I'm in a similar situation. I bought some Mighty Boosh dvds, and while my blu ray player refuses to play them, my 360 has got no qualms about it.
The DVD region is the same (4) for the blu ray player, the 360, and the dvds.

 

[Lain]

Because the PS2 wasn't and it goes against Sony's own idea of the PS3 being a media hub.

The PS2 has always been region locked. My PAL PS2 is region locked. What kind of special PS2 do you have?

 

[WiCkEd_Co]

Denmark huh, I just saw a Volbeat show and they are from there.

 

[Duracelllll]

I asked the same thing when I got mine. Here in Australia all DVD players have to be region free, or come with an unlock code. It was a competition ruling a few years ago. How Sony gets around this would be interesting to know.

This is interesting because apparently it doesn't apply to laptops. Every laptop our company has (400+) are all region locked and we get many complaints from people who go to play their DVDs in their drives and they won't work because they're region locked...

 

[hirokazu]

I asked the same thing when I got mine. Here in Australia all DVD players have to be region free, or come with an unlock code. It was a competition ruling a few years ago. How Sony gets around this would be interesting to know.

No, I'm pretty sure they didn't HAVE to be region-free in Australia, they just made it so that it wasn't required for them to be region-locked, and if they are, that it wasn't illegal for consumers to unlock them by any means.

Given that choice, I think it made more sense for manufacturers to just do region-free, because that would obviously be regarded as a valuable feature to many.

The PS2's DVD playback wasn't region-free, of course there's a little confusion sometimes about what parts of the PS3 are region-free and what aren't, but I think this makes perfect sense, given that PS3's Blu-ray, just like every other BD player, is also not region free.

 

[Quasar]

There might be issues with an unlocked PS3. I'm in the UK with a US PS3 and it won't play PAL DVDs, even if they're region 0. It gives an error message about playing DVDs in PAL format when there's absolutely no technical reason for it not to do so, given that it can play any random PAL video that you copy to the hard drive.

Which is fucked up I have the same problem with my Japanese PS3. Can't play a PAL DVD, but I can rip and play them just fine. This and region locks for PS2 games is exactly what I hoped mods would solve. Sadly none have appeared.

 

[wsippel]

Region-free players are technically violating their licensing agreement, at least in the US. They exist of course, and sometimes they are even sold in large retailers, but don't expect a company like Sony to make them.

Sony actually makes a few, and they are sold in the US as far as I know. DVP-CX985 for example.

 

[manzo]

Denmark huh, I just saw a Volbeat show and they are from there.

VOLBEAT FUCK YEAH

Best thing ever to come out from Denmark.

 

[hirokazu]

Which is fucked up I have the same problem with my Japanese PS3. Can't play a PAL DVD, but I can rip and play them just fine. This and region locks for PS2 games is exactly what I hoped mods would solve. Sadly none have appeared.

I think the whole NTSC PS3s can't output PAL format DVDs (incl. region free) thing is just so that NTSC Region 2 (Japan) can't play any discs from PAL Region 2 (Europe), but built into all NTSC machines just because it's easier to standardise things.

Remember, this EXACT same restriction is on all Japanese DVD players. I'm a bit angry at this silly restriction too.

 

[Dead Man]

This is interesting because apparently it doesn't apply to laptops. Every laptop our company has (400+) are all region locked and we get many complaints from people who go to play their DVDs in their drives and they won't work because they're region locked...

Yeah, my laptop too. It's weird, I think they get around it by saying they are not hardware region locked, you just need to change the region of the drive.

From the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code

Older DVD drives use RPC-1 ("Regional Playback Control") firmware, which means the drive allows DVDs from any region to play. Newer drives use RPC-2 firmware, which enforces the DVD region coding at the hardware level. These drives can often be reflashed or hacked with Australia and New Zealand (hardware region coding prohibited by law in these countries) RPC-1 firmware, effectively making the drive region-free. However, this usually voids the warranty.

No, I'm pretty sure they didn't HAVE to be region-free in Australia, they just made it so that it wasn't required for them to be region-locked, and if they are, that it wasn't illegal for consumers to unlock them by any means.

Given that choice, I think it made more sense for manufacturers to just do region-free, because that would obviously be regarded as a valuable feature to many.

My understanding of the ruling was that it was illegal to sell a DVD player that enforced the region coding. Again from the wiki:

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned that DVD players that enforce region coding may violate their Trade Practices Act.

Region-free players are DVD players shipped without the ability to enforce regional lockout (usually by means of a chip that ignores any region coding), or without this flag set. This was partly a result of a landmark ACCC case in which the High Court of Australia ruled that region lockouts breached fair trade and market competition practices

Here's a link to the ruling, I suck at reading these things though, so I have no idea what it says!
http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/HCA/2005/58.html

 

[Haunted]

The region-locking bullshit has to stop.

For Games, DVDs, Blu-Rays.

 

[Stumpokapow]

What? Why shouldn't it be? As far as I know all regular DVD players are region locked... It's like buying a toaster and complaining for it not frying eggs (well, not exactly, but you get the point). Unless DVD players in Denmark are usually region free, but I don't know about that. It's part of the EU so they shouldn't be, right?

Terrible analogy, because toasters don't have a switch inside them that can be a flicked to enable them to fry eggs or not. Region coding is an artificial proprietary limit on the progress of technology.

 

[ichigo kurosaki]

Terrible analogy, because toasters don't have a switch inside them that can be a flicked to enable them to fry eggs or not. Region coding is an artificial proprietary limit on the progress of technology.

I wasn't meaning to make a good analogy, just to point out what I though was common knowledge (I assumed that at least among people in these forums, usually aware of this techy stuff). My bad.

 

[hirokazu]

Yeah, my laptop too. It's weird, I think they get around it by saying they are not hardware region locked, you just need to change the region of the drive.

From the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code





My understanding of the ruling was that it was illegal to sell a DVD player that enforced the region coding. Again from the wiki:





Here's a link to the ruling, I suck at reading these things though, so I have no idea what it says!
http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/HCA/2005/58.html

Yeah, that High Court ruling was over the whole PS2 modchip for piracy or for imports debacle, and the ruling was that it was legal to install modchips for the purpose of playing imports.

I didn't read the actual ruling document because it's a legal lingo nightmare, but the ACCC releases seem to state that the region-locking restrictions were suspect and possibly in breach of laws and they would investigate further, but it stopped short of saying that region-locking is actually illegal.

The accuracy of the Wikipedia article is pretty suspect in saying that it's illegal to region-lock in Australia and that PC DVD drive RPCs are region-free in Australia and New Zealand - they're not.

If it really were illegal to sell region-locked DVD players in Australia, then this ruling would easily apply to PC DVD drives, as well as Blu-ray players, as well as all console games because the anti-competitive reasoning would also apply for all of these.

But we're not seeing this in reality - I've had to flash the RPC for several PC DVD drives I own, and the drives built into iMacs and MacBooks CANNOT be made region-free (or no one's put enough effort into it). There are ways to watch other region discs on Macs, for example with VLC, but the drives are locked and you can't use the built-in DVD Player software for region-free. And, of course, all our consoles remain region-locked, bar PS3 when playing PS3 games.

 

[pseudocaesar]

Well im in Australia, and I can confirm my PS3 is NOT region unlocked for DVD. Every DVD player however, is.

 

[Koren]

Not only is it region-locked, a US or JP PS3 will also only output NTSC.
So you can't even play a region-free (region 0) PAL dvd.

This is a thing I really don't understand, and it bothers me a lot.

Worse is that I'm pretty sure that it's just a firmware issue, and that they could allow it as soon as they want.

And as far as I know, the opposite is wrong (you CAN play NTSC Zone 2 DVD on a PAL PS3)

 

[iceatcs]

That's weird, I just put my first time region 1 - Hellboy on my PAL PS3 to see what the error look like. And it seem working :/ maybe it is disc not my PS3. I dunno I need get more region 1 DVD movie, but I can confirm PS2 region 1 won't work cos I have tried once.