I know about DVD zone locking, and I know that there are various video standards in the world.
Is it possible to make a DVD that gets around these problems? Say, completely unlocked, and with more than one version of the movie?
Are Video-CDs playable worldwide?
It certainly is possible. Region coding is only an optional part of the format. As for PAL vs NTSC, because DVDs are digitally recorded video, the digital-to-analog conversion takes place in the player hardware itself, so you only need to have the correct type of player to talk to the correct type of television.
I’ve been ploughing through the DVD FAQ, and by reading between the lines I have come to a tentative conclusion that a two-sided disc, one side with a PAL-format movie, and the other with NTSC, is needed. The zone locking is (thank the Goddess) optional.
Can anyone point to such a disc?
Playing NTSC on a PAL TV should be no problem, my humble VCR can do it fine. I mdon’t know if PAL on NTSC is so easy though as PAL has more lines.
If you wanted to make a DVD (rather than a player) that would be worldwide compatible, then the region code of the disc would have to set to 0 (region free). Unfortunately, for playback on TV, you would have to include both PAL and NTSC versions of the movie. This does not apply to playback on a PC.
I have never seen such a movie advertised for sale - this includes pirate DVDs ofered for sale on http://www.ebay.com (mainly because it is easier to the conversion on the player).
It seems to be fairly easy to make a DVD player that can play both NTSC and PAL. A few months ago, someone found a player (I think it was Apex brand) that could optionally ignore the region locking, and it had no problem playing the PAL videos from Europe. Once it’s all digital, simple stuff like the number of lines doesn’t matter that much.
While we’re on the subject…
Is anyone aware of a DVD player that works under Linux that is region free?
Kyber, unfortunately the first DVD driver for Linux, DeCSS, was declared hacker software and thus illegal by a judge bought by the film industry. The industry is currently not approving Linux DVD drivers, presumably because Linux is now the OS of choice among crackers, and they want to reduce pirating as much as possible.
I thought NTSC and PAL had different frame rates - wouldn’t that matter for digital?
A multi-regional player is much more useful than a source of unlocked discs, but that’s probably what the OP meant anyway.
Much of the more respected DVD software for the PC has been cracked, and is therefor readily available on the internet as multi-regional players.
Personally I just went to the store and bought myself a Pioneer multi-regional player (the non-software kind), they seem to be the standard here in China.
Are they less common in the states?
It would be a real bitch for someone travelling around a lot to not have such an option…
They are pretty hard to come by in the States. Why? Because everyone wants Region 1, but nobody in the vast cultural wasteland of Region 1 wants things from other regions. MUST… LEAVE… COUNTRY…
Er, no. I’m looking at this from the viewpoint of someone who want to eventually produce a DVD, and wants as wide distribution of as few versions of the disc as possible–ideally, worldwide distribution of one disc.
Which is why I also want to know about Video-CD. Lower resolution, I believe, but possibly doable with regular PC CD-recorder? Most DVD-players I’ve seen also play Video-CDs, but Video-CDs themselves do not seem to be common in my city (Toronto). But then I haven’t really started to look.
When I eventually do get a DVD-player, ideally it will be multi-regional, and will be capable of playing PAL and NTSC discs (and SECAM?), and will feed a multi-standard TV set.
I have the DVD player that will play anything. It’s the Apex AD-600A, and you had to be a real nerd to learn about its capabilities and then find it before they disappeared or later, emasculated versions replaced it. It also plays straight MP3s burned direct onto writable CDs. Nobody in a suit likes this thing.
I am one of those nerds. This review had the control settings you needed to turn off Macrovision, switch between PAL and NTSC, and disable the region codes. It has since been edited, but if you happen to have one of these little hot rods sitting on your deck, a little bit of searching will probably get you what you want to know.
I have no clue about law, but what is this hacker software category and how is it illegal. As far as I can tell, no clear decision has been made on DeCSS. If it is a violation of IP, then we should be allowed to use it now that the algorithm is common knowledge, right? IP is one of those things that once you’ve lost it, there’s no turning back…
As for Linux being the OS of choice among crackers, I find that hard to believe. Most of the software under Linux is free. You therefore can’t crack it, since it has no copy protection to remove. Windows software is far far more frequently cracked.
I think their lack of understanding of Linux causes them to be afraid of selling a player for it, since the people using the OS would actually know enough about the software to circumvent silly zones and enforced ad viewing.
However, despite the film industry’s misgivings, why haven’t any hardware manufacturers created linux dvd players? DVD players with the capability of disabling zones have already been produced by manufacturers hoping to sell out on otherwise crappy players - the Apex mentioned above for example.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Sunspace *
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Having burned a few Video CDs myself (to distribute home videos to relatives without VCRs), I’ll summarize:
Lower resolution and quality. VCDs are somewhere around 350 x 240 resolution, 29.95 fps for NTSC, 25 fps for PAL, with MPEG-1 encoding. The quality on a TV ends up being about what you’d get if you were watching a moderately noisy EP-speed VHS tape – good to look at, but nowhere near theatrical quality.
VCDs of either PAL or NTSC format can be played by a PC without any difficulty – just find the MPEG video files and fire 'em through Quicktime or Windows Media Player. Playing them on a VCD or DVD player will require correct matching of disc and player.
Most CD-burning programs will have an option to burn in the Video CD format. The only hard part is getting your clips into the required MPEG-1 format to begin with, but there are programs (some free and shareware) to do that.
Video CDs are most popular in Asia, because they’re (1) cheap and (2) easily pirated. In my last trip to mainland China, VCD players were as commonplace as VCRs in the West. You may want to check your local Chinatown or Little Tokyo for stores that sell imported VCDs (probably ethnic operas and similar fare).
Hope this helps.
Also, to add to the complexity of the whole thing, there are manufacturers who make players that will NOT recognize “Region Zero” DVD’s.
VCDs are interesting devices, most popular around Asia, and unfortunately branded as the vehicle of choice for the video pirate.
jrd
As for why a Linux DVD driver has not been approved yet, you answered your own question Kyber. The film industry is deathly terrified that someone will use it to make a Filmster.
Linux is a slimmed down version of UNIX, which for a long while was the cracker’s favorite OS. Guess what they hack into? Yup, servers and computers operating on Windows NT/9X. That is not to say that system running on a Linux or Unix OS cannot be hacked. There are volumes written about potential holes in those OSes.
JRDelirious:
Now that sucks. I gather from section 1.10 of the DVD FAQ that the “official” way to make a DVD playable in all zones is to mark it with all zones, so that it would be a “Zone 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8” disc. But what happens if subsequently the lawyers add a zone 9 (outer space, say)? Viewers in the new zone are SOL (Mir, are you reading? 
).
Better to say, “you may play this disc anywhere”. As a content creator, I should have that choice.
rjung, I found a number of Video-CD resources linked off the DVD FAQ: Russell Wvong’s Video-CD FAQ and Glenn Sanderse’s Video-CD FAQ.
Can VCDs be made branchable, with menus and such? I’m thinking of something a little like a web page with selectable program content.
Hmm. On the other hand, I could make a website disc with video and flash files, but that leaves the VCD and DVD players out in the cold.
Yes, but I believe you’ll need Video CD authoring software that specifically supports that. I don’t think your typical CD-burning program will let you add menus or branches to your video CD.