Blu-ray players are created to play specific approved discs for a certain geographical area. Instead of giving the region codes, DVDs are recognized by letters A, B, or C or sometimes even numbers to differentiate one region from another. So, now let’s take a look at significance of these letters, and understand what region-coded and region-free players really are.
Significance of the Lettering
Users would come to know what region the player is intended to be used in, by checking the owner’s manual or viewing the bottom of the Blu-ray player. Region A would include almost all parts of South, Central, and North America, as well as Republic of China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and few other Southeast Asian nations. Region B encompasses African and European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Region C includes the remaining South Asian and central countries, and Russia.
Region-Coded and Region-Free Operation
In particular, it means that if you’ve movie disc of region A, then you should have the same region player to watch the film. The region codes are designed to let the motion picture studios, movie producers, or providers regulate release dates, contents, costs, and other things for specific region. But, while player is bound to be compatible with regional coding, the content suppliers aren’t. Movie studios have come up with latest advancement, creating region-free discs, which can be watched on any player, anywhere. Not only movie studios, like Paramount and Universal have released their region-free motion pictures, but also Warner Bros and Sony have released their movies in region- free 3d Blu-ray discs, while Walt Disney has got region coded as well as region-free movie releases. All these options are great, provided you know about certain issues as well, and of course, if you wish to enjoy the best of Blu-ray quality and 3D action, then you’d need a 3D Blu-ray player that can play 3d Blu-ray discs.
Other Issues
Most movie discs come with standard resolutions and other features like extra scenes, deleted scenes, trailers, and interviews come as optional, in either PAL or NTSC form. If you reside in NTSC-based location, you may not be able to access PAL features.
Why Should You Choose Multi-Region Players?
A multi-region blu ray player can be used across all regions and it does not need NSTC or PAL TVs to play disc movies. Any ordinary television, which has HDMI inputs, can play the picture without even the requirement of a converter. Moreover, there won’t be any problems with video standards, resolution, 56 or 60Hz frequency, voltage, and other factors.
For recording or copying DVDs, you’d need burner drive or DVD recorder on systems and such recordable DVDs are offered either in R or RW formats. The R option allows users to record only once and can be used for storing home movies. The DVD RW option can be written on, erased, and then rewritten several times. These are rewritable DVDs and are helpful to store TV shows.
Some players can also play back files, such as JPEG pictures and MP3 audios. You can use them to display pictures or play music via your home theater setup.
On the Whole
Multi-region DVD players can play discs encoded with any of the region code and are helpful if you’re looking forward to buy DVDs overseas or over web from international retailer websites, such as Amazon or eBay. These support both 2D and 3D full HD 1080p through HDMI and are compatible with Blu-ray discs, CDs, and DVDs.
This content is contributed James Clinton, who is a strategic technology consultant and loves to write articles related to music, HD TVs, and more. He constantly covers geeky topics such as multi-region blu ray player and how to enjoy 3D playback on PC using a free 3D playback program etc.