The death of region coding

[Ian Newson]

American film studios are rapidly learning what computer software makers found out long ago: people will always find a way to get around almost any systems put in place to restrict the copying or distributing of digital products
Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs) can store digital copies of films, and a great deal of time and money has been spent trying to devise a way to ensure their use can be controlled. A key part of this is the Region Coding system, which is designed to stop European film buffs buying DVDs in America.


Cheat codes came to light in video games

This is now on the point of being abandoned because so many DVD manufacturers have deliberately undermined the system.


For the full story look here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/2197548.stm)

[^7_of_9]

YAY!!

[Chevy_Avalanche]

Well . has this actually come true yet?

All the DVD's I'm still buying are still encoded as Region 1 (I mean the new ones that are just being pressed nowadays)

[Gservo]

the best way to prevent copying is to make the damn stuff afforable from the begining .....

[Tweety]

Amen to that...:) I wouldn't bother copying stuff If it wheren't for the fact that 5 programs or so would as much as the whole darned puter...:D

[Rids]

oh I am shocked at you Tweety, I could never do such an awful thing :halo:

[jema]

Did I mention the fact that I have just got a dvd recordable :D

it is really quite annoying that given the production cost of DVD is a fraction of VHS even with the extra mastering costs, that DVD's are so much more expensive.

jema

[Billy_Bat]

Originally posted by jema
Did I mention the fact that I have just got a dvd recordable :D

it is really quite annoying that given the production cost of DVD is a fraction of VHS even with the extra mastering costs, that DVD's are so much more expensive.

jema

lol! I had that discussion with the guy behind the counter at the video store. I asked him why it cost more to buy the DVD than the tape, because the DVD was cheaper to make, and he just stared at me with the deer in the headlight look.

I paid $329 for my first CDRW drive, (6x4x24) and was happier "putting it to the man". I would actually buy more if they weren't so "expensive"

[speculative]

I'm currently this way with music. If I find that something's good, I'll buy it, just to put some $ back into the artists' pockets. (Even though it's only like 2cents out of that $15.99 :rolleyes: ) But a lot of stuff isn't even worth the media it's printed on as far as quality of the art goes... :/

-spec

[Fizban]

I paid $329 for my first CDRW drive, (6x4x24) and was happier "putting it to the man". I would actually buy more if they weren't so "expensive"

Man I remember my first Burner, and you could only get SCSI !. (4 spped as well for 300 quid Teac ss55 or something..).

I still can't understand why anyone would spend 20 quid for a film, they're only gonna watch a few times. they should knock it down to a tenner, of a fiver for reallly old films.:p