Will these DVD's play in my equipment ?
Will these DVD's play in my equipment ?Excellent question !
SHORTCUT FOR USA CUSTOMERS - If you successfully perform the following test, you can ignore the rest of this article ! The easiest way to find out if your machine is multi-zone is to borrow a "region 2" or "region 4" DVD from a friend or a video library and see if it works. This method not only tests for regions but also tests for PAL.
No luck ? Okay you need to keep reading. Printing this page is a good idea.
I often get asked, "Can USA DVD players play Australian discs?"
The problem is that DVD players are not all the same as each other. Each brand in the USA has a different policy about compatibility, so they have different capabilities, even though they are all being sold in the USA. Some brands will play everything from overseas, some brands are region locked but can be unlocked easily, and the rest will only play USA discs.
I wish it was as simple as just listing which brands are not compatible with Australian discs, but within each brand some models can be unlocked and some can't !
Whatever country you are from, there are 2 compatibility issues to consider with DVD's. BOTH conditions need to be satisfied for the disc to play !
The first is REGIONS (or zones).
Your DVD manual will tell you what region your machine is. Many
machines also have a region logo at the back.
If your DVD player is multi-zone, congratulations, it will play all
discs from all countries. Multi-zone is also known as "region zero".
However, if your machine is region locked,it can ONLY play discs
with that particular region code. If the regions don't match, the
disc won't play. This can only happen if you buy DVD's from another
country.
There is an important exception to this rule - some DVD's
are released as "region zero" or "region-free"or "all-regions".
These DVD's will play fine in any region -locked machine.
In a nutshell, if either the disc OR the player is region zero, the disc will play. It may be confusing, but if you can understand the concept, you are way ahead of most people.
The most common locked regions are region 1 (USA), or region 2 (UK-
Europe) or region 4 (Australia).
About half of all locked DVD players can be permanently unlocked via
the remote control.
If you have any questions about this issue email me at
powerplay@gamebox.net
The SECOND compatibility issue with DVD's is the TV signal.
The DVD player generates a signal and sends it to your TV set.
.
PAL and NTSC are 2 types of TV signal.
Japan and the USA use NTSC signals.
The PAL system is used by Australia, the UK and Europe. These
signals were decided upon by governments 50 years ago.
Practically all PAL and NTSC DVD's will play fine throughout
Australia, UK and Europe. This is because the DVD's and TV sets sold
throughout these countries are dual PAL and NTSC compatible.
THE PAL-NTSC issue is really only an issue for USA and Canada
customers.
Certain brands of TV set and DVD players within the USA do not
handle PAL signals at all, while others handle it badly (eg black
and white image). While it's not possible to permanently convert a TV from NTSC to PAL, a PAL disc can still be played on a NTSC TV by changing some settings in the DVD player, provided the DVD player is dual PAL-NTSC.
Most USA customers will successfully play a PAL disc just fine, but
about 20% will not. For example, USA customers with a Panasonic, Sony, Emerson, Sylvania, or Quazer DVD player absolutely cannot play PAL discs (UNLESS it has been specifically sold to you as a CHIPPED MULTIZONE unit. For example, Amazon.com are selling chipped Sony machines, this means they actually opened up the machines and added computer chips to force it to be PAL and multizone compatible.)
Check your manual for your DVD player to confirm it mentions PAL. If you don't have the manual, check the onscreen menus. Go to OUTPUT SETTINGS to see if your machine has a choice of PAL, NTSC and AUTO. If not, your machine can't play PAL discs.
The most practical solution for a DVD player is to buy a cheap multizone, dual PAL- NTSC player from Wal-Mart !
Suitable machines are also available on the internet, but cost a bit more. The following are some places you might try. We are not affiliated in any way with these links, due diligence is your responsibility. Some internet sellers are outside your country, be sure the unit has the correct electrical plug for your country !
http://www.regionfreedvd.net/
http://www.world-import.com/dvd.htm
http://www.220-electronics.com/dvd/dvdorig.htm
ebay.com search for dvd player multizone pal (and place a tick in the "search all text box") or search for dvd player region free pal
As an example, CYBERHOME DVD players are dual PAL-NTSC, they are sold locked to region 1 but then most models can be easily unlocked to multizone.
If you have any questions about this issue email me at
powerplay@gamebox.net
Playstations and X-Boxes generally will not play foreign discs and
have limited capabilities. We do not consider them to be proper DVD
players.
USA customers - If you know someone with a DVD burner on their computer, ask if they can convert a region 4 PAL DVD to a region-free NTSC disc. A lot of available software can do this.
BUY WITH CONFIDENCE -
If the DVD you purchase does not play in your equipment, you may
return it for a refund of the purchase price. The refund is conditional that you answer a couple of simple questions about your DVD player, eg brand and model, before returning any item, because often incompatibility is fixable ! Please note that we do not refund postage costs for compatibility returns.
Is multi-format the same as multi-region ?
No.
A lot of catalogue descriptions will say the unit is "multi-format", but this just means the unit can play regular audio CD's, discs with MP3 (music) files and disc with JPG (picture) files.
All DVD players have such capabilities these days.
If your DVD player is region-locked to code "1", it won't play DVD movies locked to region "4". So having a multizone machine is great because it will play any DVD movie regardless of the movie's region number.
Depending on the brand and model of your DVD player, it is often possible to quickly and permanently unlock your region coding to become "multizone".
How much is postage ?
The postage cost is US$7 for ANY QUANTITY for AIRMAIL worldwide.
Compare this price to other sellers !
Save heaps on postage by adding more DVD's to your order.
How long does delivery take ?
All items are despatched by airmail from Australia within 1 working day of payment, unless the item description says otherwise. 99% of orders are despatched within 1 week.
Most customers receive their items in about 2 weeks. Sometimes there are delays in the international postal system, please allow for this.
In order to minimise postage costs, tracking, insurance and signature services are not available.
Beware of other sellers who send internationally by surface mail, such orders take up to 3 months.
Will you protect my privacy ?
We will not sell your email address or any other details to anyone. We are in the business of selling DVD's, not personal information.
After your transaction you will not receive any advertising from us. You will only hear from us in DIRECT relation to your CURRENT transaction.
Your credit card details are sent over a secure connection - during the shopping cart process you will notice a yellow padlock down the bottom of your browser, this means the data was encrypted.
