Comments on: 34 - The 6 Regions of Movie Viewing http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/ collecting cartographic curiosa Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:37:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU hourly 1 By: James http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-74321 James Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:09:59 +0000 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-74321 Don't even bother with trying to switch your dvd player to region-free. Just go out and buy one that was made that way. They aren't much more expensive and a lot harder to mess up by pushing the wrong button. Don’t even bother with trying to switch your dvd player to region-free. Just go out and buy one that was made that way. They aren’t much more expensive and a lot harder to mess up by pushing the wrong button.

]]> By: Vic http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-74312 Vic Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:00:41 +0000 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-74312 Regarding the switching between regions on your DVD player... DON'T DO IT!!! Region-free DVD's are not a problem, but for whatever reason (I have not been able to figure it out yet) most DVD players are intentionally designed to allow you to change regions THREE (3) times, and then they PERMANENTLY DISABLE THEMSELVES - meaning they will no longer work!!! Most players state this in their manual when they talk about the DVD regions, but no explainations are given.... my guess is to sell more DVD players. The formatting is different between USA (NTSC), Europe (PAL), and Japan (NTSC-JP)[I don't know about the other three regions, I suspect the logic is similar]- but most, if not all DVD players can intrepret this in their software. The main difference is in video frame rates and screen scan rates, which in the "old days" was due to the use of 50Hz (PAL) and 60Hz (NTSC) AC household current supplies for TV sets. Now, all the new "flat screen" (LCD and plasma) sets rely on their own internal DC supplies and do not even make use of the AC frequency supplied from the wall socket to control electronic scanning of the picture. Perhaps when we go worldwide with 100% digital, all this region BS will go away... maybe even BlueRay does away with it... I have not read up on that yet.... Regarding the switching between regions on your DVD player… DON’T DO IT!!!

Region-free DVD’s are not a problem, but for whatever reason (I have not been able to figure it out yet) most DVD players are intentionally designed to allow you to change regions THREE (3) times, and then they PERMANENTLY DISABLE THEMSELVES - meaning they will no longer work!!!

Most players state this in their manual when they talk about the DVD regions, but no explainations are given…. my guess is to sell more DVD players.

The formatting is different between USA (NTSC), Europe (PAL), and Japan (NTSC-JP)[I don't know about the other three regions, I suspect the logic is similar]- but most, if not all DVD players can intrepret this in their software.

The main difference is in video frame rates and screen scan rates, which in the “old days” was due to the use of 50Hz (PAL) and 60Hz (NTSC) AC household current supplies for TV sets.

Now, all the new “flat screen” (LCD and plasma) sets rely on their own internal DC supplies and do not even make use of the AC frequency supplied from the wall socket to control electronic scanning of the picture.

Perhaps when we go worldwide with 100% digital, all this region BS will go away… maybe even BlueRay does away with it… I have not read up on that yet….

]]> By: Hiram Abiff http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-15663 Hiram Abiff Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:56:19 +0000 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-15663 French Guyana is politically a part of Europe, so I guess it'd be difficult to put them in a different region. Not that the makers of this map seem to have bothered too much about these things.. French Guyana is politically a part of Europe, so I guess it’d be difficult to put them in a different region. Not that the makers of this map seem to have bothered too much about these things..

]]> By: Robert http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-3393 Robert Sun, 11 Mar 2007 05:32:05 +0000 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-3393 I hope you're right Saturn5 re: googling the model of a DVD player. Thanks for the tip ! It's really quite aggravating that I can't send overseas friends DVDs which are locally produced/sold. I hope you’re right Saturn5 re: googling the model of a DVD player. Thanks for the tip ! It’s really quite aggravating that I can’t send overseas friends DVDs which are locally produced/sold.

]]> By: Aaron http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-2800 Aaron Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:06:45 +0000 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-2800 Laptop users: download "VLC Media Player". A region-free player that also automatically solves many codecs (something to do with synchronizing video and audio, I believe) problems with downloaded media. Laptop users: download “VLC Media Player”. A region-free player that also automatically solves many codecs (something to do with synchronizing video and audio, I believe) problems with downloaded media.

]]> By: zuuk http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-1968 zuuk Sat, 10 Feb 2007 18:21:22 +0000 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-1968 Interesting website, interesting post. This map offers a possible explanation for all the "Regions 2 and 4" DVDs I've been seeing in (European) shops lately: Seems almost like the publishers produce one US and one non-US release. Interesting website, interesting post.

This map offers a possible explanation for all the “Regions 2 and 4″ DVDs I’ve been seeing in (European) shops lately: Seems almost like the publishers produce one US and one non-US release.

]]> By: Jon http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-1214 Jon Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:57:55 +0000 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-1214 Not to be pedantic, but it's now officially "Digital Versatile Disc", not "Digital Video Disc". But there are probably only like 3 people in the world who really care, and I'm not one of them. Love your blog - keep the maps coming! Not to be pedantic, but it’s now officially “Digital Versatile Disc”, not “Digital Video Disc”. But there are probably only like 3 people in the world who really care, and I’m not one of them.
Love your blog - keep the maps coming!

]]> By: Anton Sherwood http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-209 Anton Sherwood Fri, 24 Nov 2006 07:00:28 +0000 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-209 Before Guyana became independent all three were spelled with <i>i</i>. Before Guyana became independent all three were spelled with i.

]]> By: saturn5 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-193 saturn5 Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:46:46 +0000 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-193 Guyana/French Guyana - my mistake. I didn't know there were two Guyanas. You learn something new... Guyana/French Guyana - my mistake. I didn’t know there were two Guyanas. You learn something new…

]]> By: extrapolater http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-184 extrapolater Mon, 20 Nov 2006 23:31:20 +0000 http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/34-the-6-regions-of-movie-viewing/#comment-184 I am getting seriously sick of all this attitude from Greenland. I guess they're just too good to be part of our DVD region. I am getting seriously sick of all this attitude from Greenland. I guess they’re just too good to be part of our DVD region.

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