DVDs

[Johannas]

I'm starting to think that i'm a little behind on technology.

 

All good questions start with a story...

 

I'm hooked on the series Dexter. I live in the UK (region 2) so all DVDs come out much later than they do in the USA. When i discovered Dexter season 1 and 2 were already released, and so i waited to buy season 3 until the UK release date.

 

But for season 4 i'm already impatient and want it now. I just need it to play on my DVD player (which isn't multi regional) which means buying a region 1 DVD.

 

So i'm drawn to this ebay advertisement (click here)

 

"PLEASE NOTE THIS IS FOR UK RESIDENTS ONLY.

THESE DVDS SAY REGION 1, BUT WILL WORK ON

ANY UK DVD PLAYER PUCHASED FROM 2004 ONWARDS,

XBOX 360, PLAYSTATION2 + 3, LAPTOPS ETC."

 

How can he say 2004 onwards? As far as i was concerned DVD players had to be microchipped in order to play multi region DVDs, they don't just enhance with time - however i'm led to believe either something can be done to the discs now to enable them to work or this is just another brainless idiot on ebay with an empty promise.

 

My DVD player is post - 2004 so if i buy it will it play? It's not alot of money to find out but i'm trying to be more cautious and not throw my money around.

 

Any insight into the subject would be great, i'm quite interested in the topic and would like to be more knowledgeable....

(Please don't tell me to buy a better DVD player or wait...)

[lordkafei]

It's possible to make most any DVD player region free with a few hidden menu commands. I will personally vouch for this working for my parent's DVD player - I was able to play my region 2 DVD of Battlestar Galactica this way.

 

The directory of codes is on videohelp.com. Search for your player.

 

I can't comment at all on the eBay ad you mention. I don't know enough about the UK electronics market to comment. But I'd be skeptical of anyone who misspelled "fourth" in his listing title. :grin:

 

I am told that this will void your warranty in most cases, but if you have a DVD player, it's probably fallen out of warranty anyways. <_<

[Corvus]

Yeah, most modern dvd players have hidden commands that can override the region codes, however one thing you may want to check is does your DVD player support NTSC (they generally do, but probably a good idea to check because if it doesn't then the dvds wont work)

[OldJoe]

Yeah, most modern dvd players have hidden commands that can override the region codes, however one thing you may want to check is does your DVD player support NTSC (they generally do, but probably a good idea to check because if it doesn't then the dvds wont work)

Ah yes.

I got a music dvd in present a couple of christmas' back and it's NTSC. First played it on my own dvd, and nada, zero, zilch! Then i tried the one in our livingroom and it worked on that one (funnily enough, an older dvd player - altho more expensive).