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DVD REGION CODES:

Why are there different regions?
Motion picture studios in the USA wanted to control the release of movies around the world using DVD region codes.. Movies are released on DVD at different times around the world, typically America and Canada first, Australia and Japan 6 months later, and Europe 12 months after US release. In some instances, DVD movies are available for purchase in America and Canada before they are released in European cinemas. Due to the high quality of DVD and the movie release system used by Hollywood, 6 regions were establish to prevent people from watching Region 1 movies before they were released on Regions 2-6.
DVD Region Locking is a system used to control which DVD movies play on which DVD Players. The regions are broken down as follows:

Region 1 - The U.S., U.S. territories and Canada
Region 2 - Europe, Japan, the Middle East, Egypt, South Africa, Greenland
Region 3 - Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong
Region 4 - Mexico, South America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Caribbean
Region 5 - Russia (okay, former Russia), Eastern Europe, India, most of Africa, North Korea, Mongolia
Region 6 - China

What does this mean to the end consumer?
This means that movies from Region 1 (USA & Canada) WILL NOT play on a DVD player regions 2-6. Effectively Region 1 discs play only on Region 1 DVD players, Region 2 discs play only on Region 2 DVD players and so on.

What is RCE?
Recently, the Motion Picture Association of American (MPAA) has developed a new system called RCE (Regional Code Enhancing) which will be included on almost all new region 1 DVD releases. This new technology was created to prevent consumers with Code free DVD players from watching DVD discs purchased in North America. From now on, most region 1 DVD discs will be including this technology. As such, you may find in the future that some DVD discs bought in the United States will not work on your Code free DVD player. Currently, there is no word on whether or not this technology will be included on other regions.

VHS VIDEOCASSETTE FORMATS:

Who's Your PAL?

Despite advances in communication and transportation that bring the World together, there are still technology differences in video standards that keep us apart.

Many people around the world are confused by the topic of differing video standards that prevent viewing of video tape recorded in the U.S., for instance, on a VCR in Eastern Europe. Or, in another case, a person from the U.K. is traveling in the U.S., shooting video on their camcorder, but cannot view their recordings on a U.S. TV or copy them onto a U.S. VCR. This also affects DVDs purchased in other countries as well, although DVD standards also include a factor called region coding, which is a whole other "can-of-worms".

While radio transmission, for instance, enjoys standards that are in use everywhere in the World, television is not so fortunate. In the current state of analog television, the World is divided into three Standards that are basically incompatible: NTSC, PAL, and SECAM.

Why three standards or systems? Basically, television was "invented" at different times in various parts of the world (U.S., U.K., and France). Politics pretty much dictated at the time which system would be employed as the national standard in these countries. Also, you have to remember that there was no consideration given at the time these TV Broadcast Systems were put in place, to the rise of the "Global" age we live in today, where information can be exchanged electronically as easily as having a conversation with one's neighbor.

HELPFUL WEB PAGES:

TV SYSTEMS: A COMPARISON

WORLDWIDE VIDEO SYSTEMS CHART