Blu-ray To Have Region Codes
On the positive side, instead of dividing the World into eight regions that often didn't make sense, Blu-ray region coding will only consist of three regions:
Region 1 will consist of the U.S., Japan, Latin America, and East Asia (except for China).
Region 2 will consist of Europe and Africa
Region 3 will consist of China, Russia, and all remaining countries not already included in the first two regions.
My take: Although the announced Blu-ray Region Coding scheme is an improvement over the chaotic DVD system, it still serves to restrict the easy-flow of DVD programming between the continents. So far, the HD-DVD camp has not announced a region coding system for that format - if they are smart, they won't. Not having region coding for HD-DVD would certainly gain it some favor with many consumers, based on that issue alone.
For more details on Blu-ray Region Codes, check out the report from CDR Info.
Comments
Once again, us in the UK and Ireland get shafted. We will once again have to resort to making our players region free (for BluRay) at least in order to watch imported US films.
And Australia + New Zealand are lost in the shuffle again?
Australia and New Zealand are in Region #2 - The Same as the UK and Europe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Region_codes
Let me know if this info helps.
Robert Silva
hometheater.guide@about.com
http://hometheater.about.com
About.com is a part of the New York Times Company
“Australia and New Zealand are in Region #2 - The Same as the UK and Europe” Amazing that you can lose an entire continent in your original article.
You have a good point - however, if you click on the CDRinfo link at the end of the blog article you will notice I was referencing their report at the time the blog was written.
Robert Silva
hometheater.guide@about.com
http://hometheater.about.com
About.com is a part of the New York Times Company