Region 2 DVDs

[zahc]

Anyone ever buy them? I'm thinking about buying some Studio Ghibli films, but I'm thinking of getting a DVD player that is region free or can be made region free, and just buying the R2 versions. Is this technically legal?

Why? Well, the R1 versions usually have worse cover art, and I don't care to pay the liscensing company for an english dub I'm not going to watch anyway. Is there a problem buying DVDs from different regions that might be PAL?

[Manedwolf]

Anyone ever buy them? I'm thinking about buying some Studio Ghibli films, but I'm thinking of getting a DVD player that is region free or can be made region free, and just buying the R2 versions. Is this technically legal?

Why? Well, the R1 versions usually have worse cover art, and I don't care to pay the liscensing company for an english dub I'm not going to watch anyway. Is there a problem buying DVDs from different regions that might be PAL?

It's completely legal. Region encoding is not anything to do with any law.

It's just a marketing/distribution agreement by DVD producers to prevent legal grey market sales outside of the intended market areas, because it screws up their pricing schemes.

And nope, no problem with the players. I use all sorts of region DVDs on a region-free player off eBay. One of the first things I did with my Macbook was disable the region locks via a firmware change.

I'll be getting the UK version of Ghibli's "Gedo Senki" tales from Earthsea in a month or so, since the Region 1 version won't be out till 2009 due to SciFi channel not releasing the name rights. They made a halfassed version of the story, and thus hold the name. 

[zahc]

There's one Ghibli movie that disney bought the rights to but refuses to bring to R1 DVD because of something about it doesn't fit their image. 

[Manedwolf]

There's one Ghibli movie that disney bought the rights to but refuses to bring to R1 DVD because of something about it doesn't fit their image. 

Pon Poko? You can get it at a lot of stores. Costs a bit more. I'm not sure who released it, but it's out.

It's because some of the characters are tanukis, and yes, they do the...um...drum thing.

[BakerMikeRomeo]

" In Studio Ghibli's film Pom Poko the shapeshifting tanuki are fighting construction workers, who are destroying their habitat, with use of their illusion powers and large scrotums. Some viewers were surprised at the depiction of giant animal testes (called "pouches" in the American version) in the film when it was imported to the United States and distributed by Disney. 'Tanuki' was translated as 'raccoon' for both the English subtitles and the English dub of the film."

*cough* Eek.

~GnSx

[JimMarch]

As a Linux user I've been wrestling with this.

Basically, there's a program out there called "libdvdcss" of questionable legality.  It's distributed by VLC and works with the excellent VLC media player:

http://www.videolan.org

Here's the US legal problem in a nutshell:

libdvdcss is GREAT at reading DVDs.  It's doesn't give a dang about region codes or copy protection.  So it's *part* of a system for beating copy protection - and any complete copy protection beating system runs afoul of the DMCA.

Beating just the region coding does NOT, as near as I can tell.

So reading DVDs by way of VLC and libdvdcss should be no problem under US law - EXCEPT that VLC is so advanced, it's also got DVD "ripping" features.

Which means the combo on a Windows (or Linux) system is basically as illegal as an unregistered full-auto.

Odds of being prosecuted is low, UNLESS you plan on doing installations for other people, and you do politically unpopular stuff like I do...in other words, I won't be installing that combo on Linux systems any time soon.

Now.  Under Linux, libdvdcss can be used with other movie players that don't have ripping capabilities.  I have libdvdcss working with the Totem movie player, with no DVD rippers installed in my system.  I've got region codes beat cold, but near as I can tell I'm clean under the DMCA.

I don't know of any video players under Windows that work purely as a reader with libdvdcss.  That's not to say none exist, I just haven't looked.  You may be able to duplicate my setup under Windows - otherwise, consider dual-booting and adding Linux to your system - I'll get you my recipe if you need it.  Getting libdvdcss is a tad tricky because most in the US consider it legally iffy.  There's a smaller group of us taking the position that libdvdcss is only part of a legal problem, if combined with a ripper.  This is akin to "don't have a full-auto sear in the house if you also own a legal semi-auto AR15" due to BATF's views on the matter...

[zahc]

I absolutely have the capability of ripping and making movies region free now. It's just that if I was going to buy the DVD, for packrat/pride of ownership/desire to support studio reasons, I'd just as soon buy the R2 which is closer to the 'real' thing. I think I'd need a DVD player that does NTSC->PAL for material from Europe unless my Sony can do the conversion itself.

*cough* Eek.

That's not the movie I was talking about.

[Vodka7]

If you're looking for recommendations, I've got an old Philips DVP-642 I picked up years ago that plays all regions and also plays DivX and XviD files burnt as data to DVDR or CDR.  They've got updated models now with HDMI and whatnot if you're looking for some future-proofing.  Mine was like $60, I think you can get the better model for $70 or less.

[Cromlech]

So reading DVDs by way of VLC and libdvdcss should be no problem under US law - EXCEPT that VLC is so advanced, it's also got DVD "ripping" features.

Which means the combo on a Windows (or Linux) system is basically as illegal as an unregistered full-auto.

Odds of being prosecuted is low, UNLESS you plan on doing installations for other people, and you do politically unpopular stuff like I do...in other words, I won't be installing that combo on Linux systems any time soon.

Now.  Under Linux, libdvdcss can be used with other movie players that don't have ripping capabilities.  I have libdvdcss working with the Totem movie player, with no DVD rippers installed in my system.  I've got region codes beat cold, but near as I can tell I'm clean under the DMCA.

I don't know of any video players under Windows that work purely as a reader with libdvdcss.  That's not to say none exist, I just haven't looked.  You may be able to duplicate my setup under Windows - otherwise, consider dual-booting and adding Linux to your system - I'll get you my recipe if you need it.  Getting libdvdcss is a tad tricky because most in the US consider it legally iffy.  There's a smaller group of us taking the position that libdvdcss is only part of a legal problem, if combined with a ripper.  This is akin to "don't have a full-auto sear in the house if you also own a legal semi-auto AR15" due to BATF's views on the matter...

Dude, seriously? DVD ripping software and the like is fine here in the U.K (fair use covers the ability to back up your own DVD collection, for example), so long as you are not involved in video piracy (selling ripped copies, for example).

[RevDisk]

Dude, seriously? DVD ripping software and the like is fine here in the U.K (fair use covers the ability to back up your own DVD collection, for example), so long as you are not involved in video piracy (selling ripped copies, for example).

The legal argument according to the MPAA is that in the US, you technically are not buying a product.  You're buying a license to view a product, and must argee to provisions of the license.  They want you to buy a new copy for every format change.  The courts have been dubious of such "licensing" and have ruled that copying for personal use (ie, ripping a cassette to CD for your car) is legal. 

However, this don't stop the MPAA or RIAA from bribing politicians to pass laws like the DMCA.  The DMCA is a pretty hideous piece of law.  I personally saw the FBI arrest a guy at Defcon back in 2001 for discussing methods of breaking copy protection.  Was a bit creepy.  I remember pondering that the FBI motto must be "We were following orders" rather than "This we'll defend."

Still, the whole thing is very legally muddled.  Fair Use is a legal doctrine here, but not as strong as it once was.

[Bogie]

Well, I have a friend who has been copying a LOT of movies lately... blank DVDs are cheap, and recorded DVDs are expensive...
 
Now, before you have a cow...
 
There are an eleven year old and a seven year old in the equation. The "real" disk goes in his cabinet, and the burned disk is used as a frisbee, coaster, peanut-butter-scraper, and maybe is even viewed... And when the screaming starts, time to copy another one...
 
I think that some of the software he uses will remove or change the region stuff...
 
I've been wondering if I could set up a similar thingie for just playing directly from a computer - and that way I could replace the lead-in trailer with a short (like my new WWII VD film!), and have the flick just play with all the right settings, rather than have to mess with a menu.

[mtnbkr]

Bogie, I've considered doing the same thing for some of my daughter's favorite DVDs, but I also wouldn't mind seeing some of them go away.

For a 3yo, she's pretty careful with them though.  She knows how to hold them and that they're not toys.

Chris

[Manedwolf]

Well, I have a friend who has been copying a LOT of movies lately... blank DVDs are cheap, and recorded DVDs are expensive...
 
Now, before you have a cow...
 
There are an eleven year old and a seven year old in the equation. The "real" disk goes in his cabinet, and the burned disk is used as a frisbee, coaster, peanut-butter-scraper, and maybe is even viewed... And when the screaming starts, time to copy another one...
 
I think that some of the software he uses will remove or change the region stuff...
 
I've been wondering if I could set up a similar thingie for just playing directly from a computer - and that way I could replace the lead-in trailer with a short (like my new WWII VD film!), and have the flick just play with all the right settings, rather than have to mess with a menu.

Keep in mind that a single-layer DVD-R is a lot less capacity than a dual-layer DVD, and most of those "home DVD copy" software packages actually compress the video with degradation of image quality to make it fit. Double-layer burners and discs exist, but it's not something that comes with most "home PC" computers.

[Bogie]

I don't think the kids are all that concerned with picture quality.

[Cromlech]

Kids probably are not, but I am a real sucker for nice visuals. All of my DVDs that I have backed up are stored as full size ISO images. Then again, with 2.2 Tera bytes of storage space, I can afford to do so.

[zahc]

It's completely not worth pirating movies on dual layer discs, because the discs are several dollars a piece. Me, I would just buy the real DVDs at that.

Despite owning hundreds of CDs, I don't have a CD player, and I don't want one. I have all my music ripped, labeled, and cataloged on my computer, which I use with a dedicated 2 channel DAC hooked up to my stereo system.  I think CDs became obsolete the day hard drive space got cheap enough to make ripping practical. Now, since I own the CDs it's not piracy...I don't pirate music at all (anymore). Just used CDs and cheap vinyl for me.

I had originally intended to follow a similar model with my DVDs, but DVDs are orders of magnitude larger than losslessly compressed CDs, and the logistics of hooking up my computer to my home theater and stereo got to me. I gave up when I realized my computer wouldn't output direct SPDIF to my surround reciever. It has a Toslink connector, but I don't know what one would use it for . So now I'm thinking about getting a decent DVD player and staying with the 'spin the disc' model.

[Cromlech]

Despite owning hundreds of CDs, I don't have a CD player, and I don't want one. I have all my music ripped, labeled, and cataloged on my computer, which I use with a dedicated 2 channel DAC hooked up to my stereo system.  I think CDs became obsolete the day hard drive space got cheap enough to make ripping practical. Now, since I own the CDs it's not piracy...I don't pirate music at all (anymore). Just used CDs and cheap vinyl for me.

I do not use my hi-fi system anymore, as I have an X-Fi Fatality series soundcard with all the gubbins, and a nice creative 5:1 speaker system (stereo upmixed to surround actually sounds pretty cool, as I am just doubling it up, to the rear speakers). I have about 38Gb of music currently on my computer, which is about 8000 songs. It keeps me happy. 

[BakerMikeRomeo]

That's not the movie I was talking about.

[Dick Solomon] DAMN! [/Dick Solomon]

Note: My apologies if my "eek" conveys any sort of condescension or negative feeling toward you or the film in question, that's not my intention (and I preemptively apologize because I know how infuriating it can be when some moron gives someone *expletive deleted*it for liking something the moron doesn't), and the eek bit was a joke.

Ha ha! Squeaky.

~GnSx