High definition BLU-RAY (also known as BLURAY) players are not the same all over the world. In fact, a BLU-RAY disc from one of the three REGIONS will normally not play on players from the other two regions.
What are these regions and why are they? See below.
But is there such a thing as a MULTI-REGION BLU-RAY player, and if so, will you need a special multi-system TV?
Yes, MULTIREGION BLU-RAY players exist today and no, you don’t need a PAL-NTSC TV to display BLURAY movies. Any TV that works with HDMI input will work fine.
BLU-RAY REGIONS A and B and C and DVD REGIONS 1 and 2 will be available around March 1, 2008.
What are BLU-RAY “Region Codes”? Country codes? “Areas”? and will they affect you and me?
Hollywood producers want to control the home release of movies in different countries because theatrical releases often have different dates than a movie’s world premiere.
A movie may be released on Blu-ray Disc in the US when it has just hit the screens in Europe to prevent various regions of the world from purchasing BLU-RAY movies before they are released in theaters, reducing well the box office sales of those movies and certainly the eventual BLU-RAY DVD release of those movies as well, there are devices created to stop the viewing of new movies on television.
In addition to being able to watch movies before their approved release dates, many movies come out in multiple edited versions. Some have deleted or augmented scenes in multiple versions, but if you want the full, raw version of your favorite movie and it’s not available in your country, you may not have a way to watch it unless you’re traveling to a country that has its version available. . . But just because you can watch it in that country doesn’t mean you can take it home with you and watch it on your player and on your TV. Quite the opposite. That’s where a multi-region BLU-RAY DVD player comes into play.
To block your studio, it requires that the Blu-ray standard include codes to prevent the playback of certain discs in certain geographic regions. Each player receives a code for the region in which it is sold. The player will refuse to play discs that are not coded for your region. This means that a disc purchased in one country may not play on a player purchased in another country and even if it could, the VIDEO STANDARD issue needs to be addressed. There are two standards on regular DVD and two on BLU-RAY (please read more about this below as there are actually NO video standards on HDMI) and they are NTSC and PAL. These alone make it impossible to watch a standard disc on a non-standard TV, even if you have a MULTI-REGION BLU-RAY DVD player. TV must match (unless you have a BLU-RAY disc playing on a MULTI-REGION PLAYER via HDMI output)!
These televisions exist and come in all video standards, formats (CRT-LCD-PLASMA tuning type, etc.), sizes, and voltages. Or you can buy a quality DIGITAL VIDEO STANDARDS converter like TENLAB and just use any working TV in the world to watch your movies.
But keep in mind:
If you stream a BLU-RAY movie via HMDI cable to an HMDI TV of any standard (PAL, NTSC, SECAM, etc.), you will see a perfect picture, as BLU-RAY and HDMI have done away with traditional video standards like PAL. , NTSC, etc.
If you have a region C BLU-RAY disc, it will play on all BLU-RAY players in the world, as they are REGION-free.
So any BLU-RAY region free for Regions A and B or any non-multi-region BLU-RAY player will play all BLU-RAY REGION C discs on any TV with HDMI input.
Miracle, the era of having to deal with unsupported video standards is over. Only REGIONS A and B remain incompatible and with a MULTI-REGION player (also known as MULTI-REGION, MULTI-REGION, etc.) one can watch ANY and ALL Blu-Ray movies on any TV in the world with HDMI.
However, to be confusing, note:
If your TV doesn’t have an HDMI input, you’ll still need a PAL-NTSC TV or video standards converter to watch BLU-RAY movies through the RCA or S-VIDEO video output.
3 regions (also local calls or zones) have been defined, and each one is assigned a number. Players and discs are often identified by their region number superimposed on a globe. If a disc is played in more than one region, it will have more than one number on the globe.
Region A: North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia
Region B: Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand
Region C: Pakistan, India, Mainland China, Russia, Central and South Asia