Tonymclark, am I having a senior moment?

[warpig1]

Tony - I had a look at DVD player last night and managed to get one DVD playing but not another - any suggestions? My brother says it may be something to do with the region the DVD disc was made for ie UK or not UK. But don't really understand as player is brand new Sony and would have thought they would cater for most regions, also the DVD's were from Extravison and surely they would be all UK compatible or am I just thick? You are under no obligation to answer the last question!

thanks, warpig1

[Postdog]

I wasn't going answer because clearly I am not the person you aimed the question at, but just because a DVD player is new, doesn't mean it will play all regions. Some can, some can't, but the idea of regions is to protect films/stuff released in one country or area PRIOR to the official release in another area.

Anyway, in lots of cases you can hack the player to play other regions. Try googling DVD hacks, and you are bound to get some sites where all you do is enter the model number, and it gives you remote key presses to unlock the region.

[warpig1]

Thanks Postdog, sorry wasn't trying to exclude anyone its just that I had explained to Tony that I was a technophobe so he understands my problem(s). Will try the google as you suggest then hopefully get it sorted. Many thanks.

[tonymclark]

The case that the DVD is in will state on the back what region it is, you should see a number, usually in an eliptical image of the world. It will be printed in the bottom third of the back cover.
We in Britain are on Region 2. If you bought a disc from a collector's fair or specialist shop, it could be Region 1 ( American ). Region 0 should play on all machines.
If you have an old TV it may not cope with the American signal ( which is NTSC - we are on the PAL system ), or may play the picture in black and white as an old TV may not cope with the colour signal from NTSC.
Some Region 0 discs are NTSC.
Region 4 is Austalian, they, like us, are also on the PAL system, so any Region 4 disc should play fine on your machine.
I seem to think that it is still technically illigal for shops to sell multi-region machines. Though, as you guessed, most machines can play different regions.

You may need to change the region manually.
This usually involves pressing the "set up" button on your DVD remote control, and pressing a number of buttons on the machine, the sequence of which will vary from machine to machine, to find a hidden menu.
I found the code to my machine by searching the internet, a Google search for "DVD player hack" and various web sites will list different machine's codes. You just have to find the one for your machine.

Hope this helps, and not confuse you further. Good luck.

[warpig1]

Thanks Tony, will print this off and see what I can get sorted. My nephew is coming over this weekend so may try and plead ignorance to him and possibly offer him some dosh (never fails) I sure he can get it fixed. How embarrassing, he is only 12!!!