I am currently in Italy combining work commitments and holidays with my family. As part of my (modest because of what is called here “the American Crisis”) holiday shopping, I have decided to opt for useful gifts for my children: so books and DVDs in Italian — fundamental items for little children growing in a bilingual environment (and for anyone who wants to learn a foreign language well). Books: no problem (apart, of course, from making sure to avoid too much weight for the plane). The problems start, however, with DVDs. And here is why.
The world of DVDs and DVD players is divided into six different zones or regions, i.e. DVDs from one zone only play on certain DVDs players, also sold in the same zone, and not in the other zones (so, DVDs bought in the U.S. do not work on common DVD players in Europe). The reason for these differences (that do not apply, on the other side, to music CDs) has traditionally been control. Motion picture studios (primarily in the U.S.) wanted to control the release of movies around the world since movies were released on DVD at different times (later in Europe or Japan, for example). In order to prevent the (uncontrolled) flow (i.e., parallel imports) of DVDs from one region to another (where a certain movie, for example, was still playing in theaters), these different regions with different technical standards were created. Thus, because of different technical standards on DVD disks, users could not use DVD products freely around the world.
Much has changed, however, since the advent of DVD regions in the DVD world.
Much of this change is due to the enormous quantity of pirated DVDs (not just from China) that are available worldwide, and the growing trend towards downloading (initially primarily illegally) movies as mp3 files. To overcome this situation (and to compete with the illigal movie market), studios and the movie industry are now releasing DVDs increasingly faster in all zones. In addition, movies can be downloaded legally in most countries via the same studios or other sites under their control. Yet, this change has not extended, so far, to many “specialty” products (like my Italian DVDs for children!!!). These products, in fact, are not in sufficiently high demand in zones different from the one of their origin to justify the cost of making them available everywhere. In the past, I have tried to purchase Italian movies, documentaries, and cartoons on DVDs in the U.S. many times, but they are not available (you can find some videos in libraries, but not many, and the search can be long and difficult). Likewise, many of these videos cannot be downloaded from the Internet (they can be available on YouTube sometimes, but their quality is often not good).
So what can I do? How can I transform our TV into a learning tool for foreign languages?
The answer is: Region free DVD players, i.e., DVD players that play DVDs from all regions!
As it often happens, the need for a certain item (and many people in many countries are in my same situation) has led the industry (interestingly, often linked to the same picture studios) to develop products to satisfy this need. Now, this comes, of course, with a price tag — these players are considerably more costly than the common “one region” ones. In addition, it is not really clear that these devices are not, even incidentally, violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
So, what is the morale of this story? Anyone who has an interest in purchasing DVDs abroad can today happily shop for them, as long as her/his DVD player is a “free-zone” one. Of course, we have to pay a premium for this specialty item, but competition (many of these items are increasingly available) is driving prices down (and features and quality up). Who, in all that, is particularly happy is my son, who was very worried to have to remain without his “Barbapapà” series (in the picture) once back in the U.S.!
Thanks for the info on Region Free DVD players! I never even considered the idea of DVD players and DVDs being divided into regions until I moved to the UK,where after asking why the DVDs my parents sent to me would not play, someone explained the whole regional system. (Luckily I had a friend whose PS2 played region 1 DVDs). After two years of living in London I had built a small collection of DVDs. Believing that there had to be some type of multi-region player available at one of the major electronics chains in the U.S., I brought my collection home with me. Sadly, I was wrong, and after my search for a multi-region player proved unsuccessful, I packaged up all of my DVD’s and sent them to friends in the UK. (I probably should have done my research before I brought all of the DVDs to the U.S., only to send them back). To add insult to injury, my favorite television series (Spaced-a British comedy) is only available on Region 2, so, I have spent the last 4 years without it. But, it looks like the demand for and availability of multi-region players has increased, which is good news for your son and me!
At last, a post I can sink my teeth into! Region codes! CSS license! Anticircumvention!
In all seriousness there are a number of interesting issues here. Judging from the fact that some pretty well-known manufacturers are making region-free DVD players, I would guess that the CSS license — the license that player manufacturers have to sign in order to get the keys to decrypt pre-recorded DVDs — now permits that. (It’s amended from time to time.) Which would mean that the studios have given up on region codes. I suspect that whatever role region codes had in fighting piracy originally has evaporated with the widespread cracking of CSS. If CSS still plays some role in inhibiting infringement, and I think it does, it’s from the fact of encryption, rather than the region codes. Even if DVD release dates were still staggered worldwide, it’s hard to imagine a large grey market in non-cracked DVDs.
But suppose that region codes are still required and Pioneer et al. are in fact breaching the license by making region-free players. (That strikes me as really implausible.) The really interesting question is whether and at what point a breach of the CSS license by a manufacturer leads to circumvention of a technological measure. At the moment of breach? Only on termination of the license? And at what point does the consumer start circumventing? Perhaps I’ll post on all this later.