Playing British DVD...
 

  You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more

[Closed] Playing British DVDs in USA ??

9 Posts
7 Users
0 Reactions
207 Views
 jiff
Posts: 0
Free Member
Topic starter
 

Going over to the States next week and am thinking of taking the Home Land series to watch on DVD (I get fed up of their incessant advert breaks on normal TV....).
Anyway, the question is, does anyone know if you can play DVDs bought here in the UK in American DVD players. They are not blu ray.
Is there anything I should look for on the packaging (there's nothing I can see that mentions it's compatibility abroad....).

Thanks,
J


 
Posted : 30/01/2014 2:02 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Think the DVD player needs to be multiregion


 
Posted : 30/01/2014 2:04 pm
 DezB
Posts: 54367
Free Member
 

UK = Region 2, US = Region 1.
You'll be able to play them on a multi-region player.
(Or rip them with DVD Shrink and reburn multi-region before you go.

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 30/01/2014 2:05 pm
Posts: 3131
Free Member
 

Depends on the DVD player - all but Sony can be made multi-region by entering a hack code via the handset.

(Only done it in the UK with DVDs from US/Canada. Thanks Uncle Garth!)


 
Posted : 30/01/2014 2:12 pm
 jiff
Posts: 0
Free Member
Topic starter
 

Multi region. Right, thanks all.

Will check when I get there.


 
Posted : 30/01/2014 2:16 pm
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

Your chances of it working are somewhere between slim and none.

The vast majority of discs sold in the UK are region 2 and will say [2] somewhere on the disc / packaging. Some are region 0 (ie, will play on any player) but these tend to be things other than movies / TV shows. Music videos, kids' shows, documentaries, that sort of thing.

Multi-region DVD players are relatively common in the UK, due to the ubiquity of American movies. The same is not true in the US, you will be hard pressed to find a player that isn't region 1 locked.

You could rip them, but then you've got the small issue of taking pirated DVDs through customs. If I were you, I'd probably take a laptop with me that had a DVD player in it.


 
Posted : 30/01/2014 2:20 pm
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

Oh yeah, and,

Region coding aside, the discs will be in PAL format rather than the American NTSC. Modern PAL-standard TVs will generally accept an NTSC signal, but the reverse is not true. So, even if you were to find a multi-region player, it would also have to be able to cope with a PAL source, [b]and [/b]you'd need to find a PAL-compatible TV.


 
Posted : 30/01/2014 2:27 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

DVD. SO last century...


 
Posted : 30/01/2014 2:32 pm
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

Oh hush.


 
Posted : 30/01/2014 2:40 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Take a laptop and HDMI lead?


 
Posted : 30/01/2014 3:00 pm

6 DAYS LEFT
We are currently at 95% of our target!