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Post by GhostLiger on May 11, 2008 15:28:12 GMT -5
So, some of you may be thinking "Okay, I'd like to own some Zoids DVDs, but I can't get them in my own country... what do I need to know before I import them?" Well, firstly you need to know that the DVD will work on your player. That is, you need to get around the region coding and the NTSC/PAL system. For instance, a Japanese DVD is Region 2 NTSC, for someone in the US or Canada (Which uses Region 1 NTSC) they will only have to find a way to get around the Region, and someone in the UK (Which uses Region 2 PAL) will only need to find a way around the NTSC system. But... Someone in Australia or New Zealand (Which is region 4 Pal) will have to somehow find a way around both region and system! It's interesting to note that Computers do not have an NTSC/PAL setting so if you intend to use it on your computer you will only have the region code to worry about. This can also be easily sorted by downloading VLC Player which is a good solid regionless media player. Some other facts that it's important to know before going to import a DVD:Japanese DVDs do not have English subtitles! The English version of Zoids Fuzors is only avaliable on Australian/New Zealand Region 4 Pal DVD, and is said to have quality no better than that of a VHS  If I've missed anything or you have any questions, just let me know. |
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Post by La Volpe on May 21, 2008 9:42:33 GMT -5
Shall I add that even if you hack DVD player's region coding, it will cut their operation life to roughly 6 months according to Ghostie.
In my patrol of DVD players on ebay, some regionless players are a fair bit pricey.
So you're better off either using VLC (so you don't have to bother with region code switching on your player which is dumb) on the computer or save up to get a regionless player.
What I've discovered today is one of the cheap player in my house got a PAL/NSTC/Multi option. AND it played a R1 DVD despite the player being strictly R4. The brand is 'Sonwa' IIRC So if you do get those brands, they don't cost much.
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Post by Blaze on Aug 17, 2008 17:13:32 GMT -5
Or legally download them... tee hee  Though for me, that was about the only way I could see Genesis after they took it off youtube. I remember taping a lot of Zoids NC on VHS when it was on. |
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Post by La Volpe on Aug 19, 2008 7:49:04 GMT -5
I remember taping a lot of Zoids NC on VHS when it was on. I did the same with NC and CC ;D |
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Post by Comrade itman496 on Sept 13, 2009 1:07:02 GMT -5
Most DVD players have a button combo you can enter in to unlock the regions. I remember I entered something along the lines of setting setting setting play play stop play 1 2 3 play, and that unlocked it. Its different for every player, but if its popular, google should help... and it does NOT change its operating life to 6 months, as I hacked my home theater system to region-less about 4 years ago when I got a dvd from England, and I use the thing every day to this day, in fact, its being used right now XD
Unless you mean going in there and messing with a chip, then I dunno, 6 months if you mess up the thermal paste on the main chip sounds about right
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Post by Comrade Tilly on Sept 13, 2009 12:29:31 GMT -5
Just be warned, there's still PAL -> NTSC issues with the Fuzors discs, which may matter with sucky players (like my parents') and/or older TVs. Japanese Zoids stuff is NTSC, though, and NTSC -> PAL is less often a problem. I've played NTSC VHS on UK TVs I've encountered, anyway. And yeah, the 6 months thing is probably FUD perpetuated by places that want to keep region lock going, at least for the code method. Actually messing with the guts I could see it, but my regular DVD player has been working for years set to all regions with a code... |
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Post by Blaze on Sept 14, 2009 0:58:17 GMT -5
They just can't make things easy and make a universal standard... "WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?!" lol
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Post by Comrade Tilly on Sept 14, 2009 1:44:42 GMT -5
They're hangovers from the age of analog TV (warning, article eats brains), when they were trying to figure out ways to cram color in broadcast signals. PAL/NTSC in DVDs is more digital video mimicking the number of lines/frames per second of the old signals to get along with TVs, as I understand it...and computers don't care about that, that's why they can play anything. Region codes, on the other hand, were added simply as an obnoxious way to try and control DVD distribution and make more money. Ew. |
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Post by Comrade itman496 on Sept 14, 2009 5:20:26 GMT -5
Yeah, stupid money things... XD
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Post by GhostLiger on Sept 14, 2009 8:34:17 GMT -5
Most DVD players have a button combo you can enter in to unlock the regions. I remember I entered something along the lines of setting setting setting play play stop play 1 2 3 play, and that unlocked it. Its different for every player, but if its popular, google should help... and it does NOT change its operating life to 6 months, as I hacked my home theater system to region-less about 4 years ago when I got a dvd from England, and I use the thing every day to this day, in fact, its being used right now XD Unless you mean going in there and messing with a chip, then I dunno, 6 months if you mess up the thermal paste on the main chip sounds about right You must've got lucky then, cuz every DVD player I try that with dies after 6 months. I found another way around it now. If I purchase a foreign DVD I can use DVD Decryptor, DVD Shrink and Img Burn to copy and burn onto a Region 2 disc. |
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Post by Comrade Tilly on Sept 14, 2009 14:32:04 GMT -5
That is freaky. Then agan, they're now trying crap like "if you don't have an approved TV, your blu-rays play like regular DVDs ha ha haaaa" on people...I wonder if newer DVD players have issues? What brands/models were they?
DVD Decrypter is one of my favorite programs ever. (Anyone trying to run it in Wine, try setting it to run as Windows NT 4 before you try more complex stuff.)
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Post by Comrade itman496 on Sept 14, 2009 15:17:14 GMT -5
oh yeah, I love dvd decrypter ^^
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Post by GhostLiger on Sept 15, 2009 13:25:51 GMT -5
That is freaky. Then agan, they're now trying crap like "if you don't have an approved TV, your blu-rays play like regular DVDs ha ha haaaa" on people...I wonder if newer DVD players have issues? What brands/models were they? DVD Decrypter is one of my favorite programs ever. (Anyone trying to run it in Wine, try setting it to run as Windows NT 4 before you try more complex stuff.) It was a while ago, so I forget which makes they were. I know one was a cheapy thing from Tesco, but all of them just... stopped turning on one day! But I didn't know that about Blu-rays! And wasn't there a thing where all Wiis are regionless except those released in the UK? Decrypter is awesome! I really gotta re-install it on this thing since Dad has a movie he wants that's not available on R2. |
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Though for me, that was about the only way I could see Genesis after they took it off youtube.
