The Medusa Fora

At risk of sounding completely thick I wonder if someone might be able to offer some advice. I bought the said DVD whilst in London a couple of years ago. Got home and was disappointed to find my DVD player would not play it. I got the impression from the instructions manual and the error message given that the DVD was somehow incompatible with my player. A few months later whilst in another city I saw the same DVD with different packaging. Figuring I had just been unlucky before I bought this one and was gutted to find I had the same problem. I have now worked out that both DVDs are designated as Region O and this is obviously where the problem lies. I have been seriously considering getting a new DVD player just to be able to see the DVD but this seems a bit extreme, and from what I can gather it is not easy to find ones that play Region O anyway. Does anyone know if this DVD is available in a format more suited to playing in the UK. Also, any ideas what to do with 2 redundant copies!

sentinel wrote:At risk of sounding completely thick I wonder if someone might be able to offer some advice. I bought the said DVD whilst in London a couple of years ago. Got home and was disappointed to find my DVD player would not play it. I got the impression from the instructions manual and the error message given that the DVD was somehow incompatible with my player. A few months later whilst in another city I saw the same DVD with different packaging. Figuring I had just been unlucky before I bought this one and was gutted to find I had the same problem. I have now worked out that both DVDs are designated as Region O and this is obviously where the problem lies. I have been seriously considering getting a new DVD player just to be able to see the DVD but this seems a bit extreme, and from what I can gather it is not easy to find ones that play Region O anyway. Does anyone know if this DVD is available in a format more suited to playing in the UK. Also, any ideas what to do with 2 redundant copies!

I'm no expert, but I always understood Region 0 to mean "Region Free", that is to say it should play on all international systems.

You could try this website to see if there's a way to change regions on your player
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks

Cheers
Øyvind

aparently there's also something else besides region...not sure what it's called but region zeros can either be PAL or NTSC
the dvd you have is probably PAL, usually, for me at least, PAL doesn't work in my dvd players but they work on my computer...and they might work on some US dvd players.

i've asked the same question many times so don't feel thick...it's SO confusing and i really don't understand why dvds can't just all be the same...if cd's are you would think dvd's could be too...
i'm not sure if my fall from grace is PAL or not....and i'm pretty sure my copy of rude boy which i got in london is PAL...

also there's something you can do to your dvd player to make it play other regions but i dunno if that's the same the the PAL/NTSC, and you can like only do it a certain amount of times...you can probably find directions online somewhere, i think you do it with your remote...it's all really weird...

Thanks to Philip and Karen for your helpful advice, provided so quickly. Well, you were both right. Region O was a red herring and not the source of the problem. It did indeed lay with the PAL/non PAL setting. I was prompted to delve into the furthest recesses of the instruction manual for the DVD and discovered a setting not previously known that allowed recognition of the disc. After what must be nearly two years I have finally managed to watch the DVD! Well worth the wait. So, the Pogues Forum proves itself as the emergency service for Pogues fans! Thanks again.

karen wrote:aparently there's also something else besides region...not sure what it's called but region zeros can either be PAL or NTSC
the dvd you have is probably PAL, usually, for me at least, PAL doesn't work in my dvd players but they work on my computer...and they might work on some US dvd players.

i've asked the same question many times so don't feel thick...it's SO confusing and i really don't understand why dvds can't just all be the same...if cd's are you would think dvd's could be too...
i'm not sure if my fall from grace is PAL or not....and i'm pretty sure my copy of rude boy which i got in london is PAL...

also there's something you can do to your dvd player to make it play other regions but i dunno if that's the same the the PAL/NTSC, and you can like only do it a certain amount of times...you can probably find directions online somewhere, i think you do it with your remote...it's all really weird...

I think the Region system was introduced to protect movies from piracy in markets where they have not yet been released. But this is rapidly becoming a false security, as increasingly, in these days of cheap digital prints, new movies are released all around the world on the same day. As ever, the consumer will rule in the end but yes, it is intensely irritating in the meantime, trying to remember which DVD plays in which player. I will no longer buy a player, on principle, if it is fussy about Regions. Capitalist bullshit.

Ironically it's usually the cheapest players that do not care about regional issues.

thanks for the link, worked a treat n my dvd player, shame i had just bought codes from some bollocks on e-bay right before i discovered this though and ended up not needing the ones i bought

I have this DVD as well and i believe you need both your TV and DVD player to be NTSC compatable.

When i play this on my TV & DVD player it all works ok, if i take my DVD player downsatairs on my mothers TV then it will only play in black and White.