DVD Regions

[paint]

I wanted to purchase some comedy dvds on amazon (Brass Eye, The Day Today and others), but I was a bit unsure about whether they would be able to play or not because I live in New Zealand.
I do not really know about dvd ripping etc to get a copy on my computer off a region locked DVD, but I would much prefer to be able to play it in my DVD player without any hassle.

So basically, are they region free, and is this likely to be a problem?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I think New Zealand is Region 2 isn't it? I know Australia is and you're basically the same country, right?

Edit: I was wrong. You're Region 4.

[Stanley Turbine]

You can unlock a lot of DVD players just by entering a special code with the remote. If you search for the model of your DVD player with a few keywords like unlock or region-free you might find yours can be unlocked. I believe in Australia all DVD players are required to be unlocked before being sold to customers, it could be New Zealand has just been lumped in with Australia by distributors and yours is factory unlocked.

[alan nagsworth]

Also, the cheaper and older the model of DVD player, the more likely it is to be unlocked already. That's right, isn't it? [citation needed]

DVDs generally aren't region-free (or 'Region 0') unless they're magazine freebies orCD/DVD packages, I've found.

[Danger Man]

When I lived in New Zealand a couple of years ago I bought a Sony DVD player that had 'Region 4 only' on the box. Took it home and discovered it was unlocked.

Region 4 also covers South America, where the DVD player was made.

I remember some of the arty video stores having 'Region 2' videos for rent. Maybe the OP could try one of those in his DVD player.

(Assuming he lives in either Wellington or Auckland.....then again, he must live in one of those places if he has a fancy-pants DVD player)

[QDRPHNC]

Search for your player here to see if it can be unlocked - http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

[waste of chops]

You often find that European and Aus/NZ DVDs are dual-encoded, ie. can be played on region 2 AND region 4 DVD players. According to bbcshop.com The Day Today is one such release so you can be reasonably confident that if you order it, it'll work. As for Brass Eye, play.com list it as being "region 0" (ie. it doesn't contain any region coding) so all being well, you shouldn't have any problems with it either.

[Tbazz Why?]

You often find that European and Aus/NZ DVDs are dual-encoded, ie. can be played on region 2 AND region 4 DVD players. According to bbcshop.com The Day Today is one such release so you can be reasonably confident that if you order it, it'll work. As for Brass Eye, play.com list it as being "region 0" (ie. it doesn't contain any region coding) so all being well, you shouldn't have any problems with it either.

Agreed. I live in Oz and my Brasseye, Day Today, Jam and various other UK DVD's I got from Amazon work fine, and my DVD player is suposedly locked (I have had a couple of issues with US DVD's but I just use the computer for those).

[paint]

It turns out my DVD player is multi-region.  However, I recently rented out some DVDs and half of them didn't work.  They must have had some kind of encoding that was made to prevent even region-free devices.  They wouldn't even work on the computer using VLC player.  It just made me more apprehensive about ordering some online.

Thanks for the responses.

[Artemis]

Get yerself a bluray, son. Only, don't. It turns out bluray machines can't (currently) be unlocked to region-free. Thankfully though, the regions are less specific than on DVD, and we can watch any Australian or European release, and any Warner Bros. release from America, which are nearly always region-free, I understand.

[Consignia]

Get yerself a bluray, son. Only, don't. It turns out bluray machines can't (currently) be unlocked to region-free. Thankfully though, the regions are less specific than on DVD, and we can watch any Australian or European release, and any Warner Bros. release from America, which are nearly always region-free, I understand.

I've got a region-free blu-ray player. Irritatingly, the worst country I've encountered for enforcing regions is the UK. I think I've got like 1 Region A locked Blu-ray.

[Paaaaul]

Yep. Get Brass Eye and The Day Today on Blu-Ray. That would be your best bet.