Buying On Amazon

[emmie]

does anyone find it irritating that you look for a tv series or films that have been shown on UK TV, one such is Lost Letter Mysteries and i wanted to buy the entire series but find that its only USA that has them and they can't be played on UK DVD players, or so i found out to my cost when i
purchased something else and found they wouldn't play. Surely it should come with a warning they says not for use in UK>

[THECORBYLOON]

You can get multi-region DVD players such as this on Amazon

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[davebro]

many DVD players are not region-specific & those that are can often be made multi-region if you know which buttons to push - but it's not always easy to find this out.

[emmie]

davebro
don't think mine is, though it's relatively new.

[The Builder]

Failing that, you can change any DVD to "region-free" with the right (free) software.

[emmie]

thanks for the link, its something to think about.

[The Builder]

Incidentally Emmie, I just Googled that series, and it has a different name in the UK.
They all seem to be available for UK

[jno]

google the name of your player and "multi-region hack" or some such phrase. It typically involves pushing buttons on the remote. It's not always possible, though.

[emmie]

the builder, have you a link, i only know it by that name, its a series of great films, not to everyone's taste perhaps but i have watched a few of them of loved everyone.

[The Builder]

Amazon.com User Recommendation

[The Builder]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signed,_Sealed,_Delivered_(TV_series)

[emmie]

Dispatched from and sold by RAREWAVES USA.
is what i keep on getting so not suitable for most dvd players in UK>

[The Builder]

Ahhh........... Yes, I see. Just goes to show how ridiculous all that "region" nonsense is.

So, you either need a "region-free hack" as jno suggests, or the software to actually make the DVDs region-free.

Sad, isn't it? You'd think they didn't want your money!

[Old_Geezer]

They want to charge more from nations they reckon they could rip off the citizens, and less where the citizens can't afford too much more than a fair price. Thus regions.

[hc4361]

You're right, emmie, the listing should state Region 1

[hc4361]

It's very little to do with that. OG. The same film could be owned by different copyright holders depending on the country it is being shown in - this makes sure they get their fair share of royalties.
Cinema release dates still vary across the globe and the regional barriers on dvds are supposed to ensure you can't watch a film at home before it's released in your local cinema.
Of course pricing does come in to it but it's not the main purpose.

[Buenchico]

>>> many DVD players are not region-specific & those that are can often be made multi-region if you know which buttons to push - but it's not always easy to find this out

Not any longer. At one time all DVD players were manufactured as 'region free', with the region coding only added to them at the very end of the process. That could be undone by a fairly simple process (which often involved nothing more than opening the disc drawer and entering a code via the remote control).

However the movie distribution companies saw that as a breach of the licensing rights to produce DVD players (which required them to all be coded for use in a specific region), So they've forced the manufacturers to make DVD players that are, from the very beginning of the manufacture process, coded for use in one region only.

While there are still a few 'region-free' DVD players available online, it's no longer possible to remove the region coding from a standard DVD player.

[emmie]

so no way to buy these films, oh well, thanks for the input, very helpful.