DVD Region Hacks

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DVD Regions and World Map

Below is a break down of how the World has been split into 'DVD Regions'. This regional coding is applied to all DVD hardware and virtually all DVD software in an attempt by the movie studios to stop us playing discs that come from outside of the Region we live in. So if you live in Europe/South Africa (Region 2) then your hardware can only play discs that carry the Region 2 logo.

However, due to the lack of discs outside of Region 1 in the early days of DVD, many people worked out ways round the regional coding, enabling us all to play discs from any region. It is supplying these cracks and information that this site is dedicated.

Why should I want to get round DVD region encoding?
Well the first reason is mentioned above. However these days there are plenty of Region 2 discs to choose from.

Another reason to either use a player hack from this site or have your player modified internally to make it multi-region is that many of the latest film releases come out in the States first. Very occasionally (but rarely, if at all now) some films came out on Region 1 DVD just as they were opening or before they open at the cinema here. I remember purchasing 'Mercury Rising' a week before the cinema release in this country.

Yet another good reason is that many of the US films can be viewed un- edited. Many British films are cut to pieces by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification), an example of this is 'Under Siege 2: Dark Territory'. The Region 1 version is complete compared to the cut British version, even though the film carries an 18 certificate. Some, on the other hand, are cut by the studios in an attempt to get a lower certificate rating, i.e. 15. This is, of course, merely a sales ploy.

Note: that as far as I am aware it is not illegal in any country to buy and view discs from outside the region you live in as long as the viewing is for personal use only. This may not be so now in France however.

Region	Country
1	USA, Canada
2	Europe, Middle East, Japan, South Africa
3	South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Asia
4	Australia, New Zealand, Latin America
5	Russia, Indian Continent, Africa
6	China

Importing DVDs into the UK

You are 'free' to import DVDs into this country for personal use, however if the value is over 18 then you are liable for duty on that item. This is why Play247.com price all their R1 discs at no more than 17.99 (Play247.com being a Jersey based company). Anyway if you do get caught for duty the following information is from the Customs and Excise website and is how duty is calculated.

Another trick though is to ensure that 'GIFT' is written on the packaging, as I believe you are allowed gifts without paying any duty upto a value of 35.

I have also tucked on the end information on duty if you import a DVD player from the US, however given the number of suppliers of pre-modified UK machines there is no real reason to import a DVD player.

To work out how much you will have to pay please follow the steps below:

Look up the item s Duty Rate % and VAT %.
Multiply the Purchase Price Abroad (PPA) by the Duty Rate %. This gives you the amount of Duty to be paid. Call this AMOUNT A.
Add AMOUNT A to the PPA and multiply the result by the VAT %. This will give you the amount of VAT to be paid. Call this AMOUNT B.
Add AMOUNTS A & B together and that will be how much you have to pay.