# DVD Regions & their video systems **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2001, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-regions-their-video-systems/52976 "2001-02-03T04:47:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wooba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@wooba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wooba)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-regions-their-video-systems/52976/1 "2001-02-03T04:47:12Z")
I’m a bit confused by the DVD regions and the video system that they output. How is is that France & Japan are in Region 2? Region 2 discs are in PAL. Yet Japan uses NTSC and France uses SECAM. Are there SECAM and NTSC region 2 dvds? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-regions-their-video-systems/52976/2 "2001-02-03T05:27:06Z")
France is relatively easy to explain. The fact that they use SECAM just doesn’t matter for the DVD’s themselves. As long as the video stream encoded on the DVD has the right number of lines and the right frame rate, the player can use electronics to take care of the rest of the incompatibilities. SECAM and PAL both use 525 lines, 50 fields per second, so they can share media. You just need a special wacky French player in France. But they would probably do that anyway, so it’s no big deal. Why Japan is in region 2 beats me though. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-regions-their-video-systems/52976/3 "2001-02-03T07:23:33Z")
The DVD regions don’t really have anything to do with video systems. Rather, they are an artificial marketing incompatibility to allow the movie stidios to stagger release dates of DVDs across the world. From the [DVD FAQ](http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html), section [1.10](http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.10): > [@](#): > > Motion picture studios want to control the home release of movies in different countries because theater releases aren’t simultaneous (a movie may come out on video in the U.S. when it’s just hitting screens in Europe). Also, studios sell distribution rights to different foreign distributors and would like to guarantee an exclusive market. Therefore they have required that the DVD standard include codes that can be used to prevent playback of certain discs in certain geographical regions. Each player is given a code for the region in which it’s sold. The player will refuse to play discs that are not allowed in that region… Regional codes are entirely optional … There’s a [map](http://www.unik.no/~robert/hifi/dvd/world.html). Notice that Zone 2 (Europe and Middle East, but also South Africa, Japan, and Greenland) contains multiple incompatible TV systems. Notice also that the NTSC TV system system is used in both North America (Zone 1) and Japan (Zone 2). Let’s encourage artists and producers to make DVDs that can be played in any zone. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-regions-their-video-systems/52976/4 "2001-11-10T03:02:12Z")
Why is China its own region?