DVDIntroductionWhen the DVD technology was introduced, it was a perfect opportunity to provide compatibility in communication for the entire world. CDs were the first format to boast this kind of compatibility. A CD is a CD anywhere in the world. It was such a good format, that despite not being able to record them, they are the major music format. Video has been dragging behind. When video first came out, there were two competing formats – VHS and Betamax. Unfortunately, the cheaper and shoddier format, VHS won out, but will forever be limited by the incompatibility of the European and Japanese PAL VHS format, and the American NTSC VHS format. The tapes are the same size, but you cannot watch a PAL tape on a normal NTSC one. IBM did a lot for compatibility when they introduced the IBM PC format. A few years ago, some PCs proudly stated 100% IBM pc compatibility. Some did not, and were doomed to second line ranges. To come back to DVDs, even though they are not yet affordably recordable in the home, the standard is so good that they will take over from VHS in the way that CD took over from tape. However, because of the film industry and its desire to maintain a tight reign on their income, they decided to introduce a limiting factor into the medium of DVD – region coding. Whilst being inherently compatible in technology, the imposed region coding means USA discs will not run on an English player, unless you pay much more to get a multi region DVD player. It is essential a means of raking in more money from the public. It makes me furious. Unfortunately, the companies know that Joe Public has a very short attention span, and his focus is on the price sticker on the DVD he is looking at, not at the larger issues of world compatibility. They also know that DVDs are cheaper to produce outside of America, and since the format is strongly American developed, they want to maximize USA profit by stopping Taiwanese imports. It is all about money, and world domination, at the expense of the ordinary punter. It is a classic example of the same isolated, anti-social behaviour that sank America into their great depression last century, and kept the Cold War going for so long. It scares me. It is dangerous. DVD-ROM drives for the PC, and getting round region codingWhen I bought a DVD-ROM drive earlier this year, I assumed correctly that it would be compatible with all DVD-video regions. However, when I used a Region 1 (USA) DVD, the drive became locked in that setting, meaning I could not watch my normal Region 2 (Europe) discs. I was told that I had to return the drive to the manufacturer where they would reset it at a cost. My research revealed that most DVD-Rom drives manufactured after Jan 1st 2000 are set up as 'RPC2'. This means that after 5 changes in region code, the DVD-Rom drive itself becomes hardware locked (into the 5th region) - even formatting your Hard Disc won't reset it. Older drives, using RPC1 only have a software version of this locking, which is much easier to overcome. My drive was RPC2 and so in order to fix it, I had to download a Firmware update from the internet which enabled me to downgrade my drive to RPC1 (it is rather like flashing the BIOS on your motherboard or graphics card). Then a free piece of software called DVD Genie enabled me to not only unlimitedly reset the region code, but prevent it from ever locking up again. Unfortunately, because all drives are different, no single firmware can be produced and not all drives have had these firmware updates written for them by other internet users. Inmatrix.com - superb general DVD info page. A link to download DVD-Genie is at the bottom of the page through the link Drive info checker - a small program that will tell you whether your drive is RPC1 or 2 http://www.inmatrix.com/files/drvinf_download.html Firmware page - downloads + instructions for updating most DVD drives Anamorphic DVDs versus Letterbox DVDsFilms in the cinema are recorded with a much wider picture than it is high (i.e. widescreen 16:9). Our televisions, however, are more or less square (4:3 ratio) and so typically, videos are produced in what is called Pan & Scan. A 4:3 box is dragged back and forth across the original widescreen footage following the action, and inevitably not reproducing nearly 50% of the picture. The interim solution has been videos produced in “Letterbox” format whereby a 4:3 image is produced by adding big black chunks at the top and bottom, with a small 16:9 ratio picture in the middle. On a 4:3 television, we see big black boxes. If you buy a widescreen television, and play a letterboxed video (or DVD), the player notices this, and zooms in, cutting out the black chunks, making the picture fill the screen. Anamorphic DVDs are not letterboxed. They contain the picture only, in its original 16:9 sizing, with no black strips to the top and bottom. It is designed for widescreen TVs. Because the picture has not been shrunk and then zoomed out again, it is of a higher quality to a letterboxed version. Why are they producing letterboxed versions of films on DVD? Because most people have 4:3 TVs and so the picture would appear distorted. However, DVD players can be set to modify the output signal and add in black strips top and bottom if you do, so there is no problem with anamorphic DVDs. The chances are that you will have a widescreen TV in the future, so it is worth spending the 5 or 10% extra to buy it in anamorphic. It is a better, neater format. For a comprehensive description of this issue, go to the link below. They also have good pictures illustrating the key points. BUY ANAMOPRHIC! http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/index.html |