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Viewing German Films on DVD:
Region Codes

 
DVD REGION CODES

 
German Culture > DVD - Video > German Films on DVD and Blu-ray

DVD Guide for German Films on DVD:
DVD Guide | DVD Region Codes | Blu-ray Codes | Films

DVD region coding, or “zone locking,” is a system used to control which DVD discs will play on which DVD players in various parts of the world. (The region-code system for the newer Blu-ray Disc format differs from that used for DVDs, but serves a similar purpose. See Blu-ray Codes for more.) A region code is a type of digital encryption placed on the disc by the manufacturer. DVD players and computer DVD drives look for this region code to determine if the DVD has the same code as the player.

Code-free DVD Player
Play DVD movies from Germany or
anywhere in the world
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DVD regional coding has nothing to do with, and does not correspond to, the world’s three different analog TV standards (NTSC, PAL, SECAM) or the newer digital TV standards (ATSC, DVB-T, etc.). DVDs sold for the German-language market are coded Region 2. DVDs in the U.S. and Canada are Region 1. Region codes are nothing but a Hollywood marketing tool devised to deal with varying release dates for films around the globe. The DVD world is currently divided into six regions, with codes 7-8 reserved for future or special uses:

DVD Region Codes
Code Location
1 USA (incl. territories), Canada, Bermuda
2* Central and Western Europe (Germany), Egypt, Japan, South Africa
3 Southeast Asia, South Korea, Taiwan
4 Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, Latin America
5 Ukraine, Russia, rest of Asia and Africa
6 China
7 For future use; special use (screener DVDs)
8 International (aircraft, cruise ships, etc.)
0 Not an official setting. No discs are zero coded, but players may be set to play uncoded discs.
*Region 2 DVDs may be sub-coded D1 through D4. "D1" identifies a UK-only release. "D2" and "D3" identify European DVDs that are not sold in the UK and Ireland. "D4" identifies DVDs that are distributed throughout Europe.
  MORE > Blu-ray Region Codes

  Web > DVD Region Codes - Wikipedia
  Web > DVD - FAQ - from DVD Demystified

As you can see from the chart, the DVD region codes have little to do with geography. Region 4, for example, includes Australia and distant Mexico, Central and South America. Japan is grouped with Europe in Region 2. Until going digital (ISDB), Japan used the NTSC standard for broadcast TV and video, while Europe used both the PAL and SECAM television standards (now digital DVB in Germany and most of Europe). This just underscores how the codes arose purely for marketing, not geographical or video system reasons.

Multi-region DVD and Blu-ray players are available, but they can be expensive, and they can present new problems, such as compatibility with various TV sets or monitors. See more about this in Part 2 of our DVD Guide for German.

Is It Legal to Bypass the Codes?
Yes! See our DVD Guide for German - Part 2 for more on this topic.

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