How to watch a Region 0 DVD on my DVD player?

[DefyingGravity]

I am not that familiar with DVD players and all of the mods and such that are out there to enable them to do various things, so please forgive my lack of technical knowledge in this area. My problem is simple:

I want to see "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" on DVD following the sad demise of my much-watched VHS version of it after too much watching. I have since found that although this movie was released in the UK (and presumably, the rest of the world) in 2003, there is no US version of it in release (and no plans to do so). I have a plain old, entry level Pioneer DVD player.

I also have a Playstation 2. After much Googling it seems like there are products out there that will let me watch other region DVDs on my Playstation. The DVD I want to watch is "Region 0" and is "PAL" format.

Can someone help? I miss this movie a lot. Why the heck can't they just release it here, besides some money-making reason? It's not like it swept the nation like Titanic and they're holding it back for some grand re-release.

Thank you oh wise ones. I am new so please be kind.

Karen

(enough sucking up? ) :)

[Q.E.D.]

Region 0 is the default region-free assignment. It should, as such, play on any DVD player, regardless of its region setting. The problem you're going to have, however, is the PAL format. Here in the US, the output of VCRs, video games and DVD players is NTSC. You would need to purchase (or rent) a multisystem DVD player which would be capable of reading the PAL DVD and playing the output to your NTSC TV.

[asterion]

The Region 0 will pose no problem. That is the same as no region encoding at all. A region 0 DVD will play on any player in the world.

The PAL, however, is more troublesome. Unless you have a TV that allows you to select between PAL and NTSC (US standard) or a PAL to NTSC converter, you're hosed for watching it on your TV. You'll need to buy one of those two. OR, you could hook it into your computer monitor. You'll need to get an adapter to go from the RCA plugs to the correct configuration for the monitor, unless your monitor already happens to have handy-dandy RCA jacks. OR, if you've got a DVD-ROM drive, pop it in there and watch it on your computer.

One other option would be to see if there has been a Region 0 release in Japan or South America. Japan uses NTSC as well, so you then wouldn't have any problems, except for maybe everything in the user interface being Japanese. Same for South America, I believe. (You can generally guess at the standard being used by looking at the older spheres of influence.)

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Why the heck can't they just release it here, besides some money-making reason? It's not like it swept the nation like Titanic and they're holding it back for some grand re-release.


Welcome aboard!

Some thoughts as to why they don't release it here:

1. Rights to the film could in some sort of legal mess (supposedly, this is why we haven't gotten a special edition of Bladerunner)
2. They're planning to do so, just not right now. Maybe they're planning a "special edition" and want to do it right
3. Lack of demand

[DefyingGravity]

Thanks for the responses; I know I'm pretty much out of luck without putting forth a lot of effort to make it work on my crummy DVD player (won as a door prize by my husband, he is wounded that I would criticize it in any way.)

However, I should have made the title "Can I make it play on my Playstation 2?" Are those software packages I see out there for real? Such as "DVD Region-Free" or "DVD Region-X"? And how does the PAL/NTSC part factor into the Playstation 2 part?

Thanks so much,
Karen

(2 posts! Woo...)

[Q.E.D.]

The replies above pertain equally to both your DVD player and your PS2. If the DVD is Region 0, then you don't need any software hacks. The PS2 will be in NTSC format, the same as your DVD player.