Multi Region Portable DVD Player

Multi region DVD players allow you play movies from all over the world. Different regions in the world use different formats for DVD s. There are 6 different regions around the world and each region has their own formatting for DVD discs. This coding was put into place to allow the motion picture industry more control over price, content, and release date. When the area a DVD can be played is restricted the motion picture industry can make more money from the sales of the DVDs. For instance in India the average cost of a Disney DVD is 299 rupees which is the equivalent of $6.56 while here in America they are $20.00-$25.00. That is a good sized difference and opens up a market for cheap DVDs here, if it was not for the codes. Also our summer blockbusters are usually released in the UK at winter time. So simply mailing a copy to your English friend would spoil the profit margin for the motion picture industry.

More about regions

For instance the UK uses region 2 but they also use PAL format. Japan also is in region 2 but uses NTSC format. The US is region 1. If your portable DVD player is not a multiregional DVD player it will not play a disc from the UK. Conversely a region 2 player from Japan will not play a region 2 disc from the UK.  Confused? That is ok to solve the problem simply use a multi region DVD player and you will be able to play any DVD from anywhere in the world.  The DVD region codes are as follows:

REGION 1 -- USA, Canada
REGION 2 -- Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Greenland
REGION 3 -- S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Parts of South East Asia
REGION 4 -- Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (including Mexico)
REGION 5 -- Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Africa
REGION 6 -- China
REGION 7 -- Reserved for Unspecified Special Use
REGION 8 -- Reserved for Cruise Ships, Airlines, etc...

REGION 0 or REGION ALL -- Discs are uncoded and can be played worldwide, however, PAL discs must be played in a PAL-compatible unit and NTSC discs must be played in an NTSC-compatible unit.
What is PAL and NTSC

If you have a multi-regional DVD player you may be able to play DVDs from other regions but can you play DVDs with other formats?  Basically put television is different from one country to the next. There are three types of television and all three are incompatible with each other the different types are NTSC, PAL and SECAM. That means that even if you take your American or region 1 player and DVDs to suite it to the UK you can not use a television there to hook up to as America is not only region 1 but also NTSC while the televisions in the UK are PAL.

All this is rather confusing and the best way to combat this issue for the traveler is to simply purchase a multi-region DVD player.  It will solve the whole problem.