DVDs in the UK - quick question

I have a quick question. Do the DVDs we buy/use in Canada work in the UK? I know for VCR they use PAL but I am not sure about DVDs. I am just wondering if I should bother taking mine if they aren't going to work. Thanks!

Nope. The DVD people in their infinite wisdom specifically restrict DVDs with a region code.

So north american dvd's won't work in europe, or south america, or asia, etc. And vice-versa.

For no good reason. Not that the dvd players are incapable of playing them. It's a lame form of copy-protection.

That being said, there's a lot of DVD players that have hacks you can use. For example I bought a new dvd player to play my european DVD's here, and looked up the hack online. All I had to do was press "7-8-9" when I put the dvd in and it unlocked them all. And the player only cost $99 at radioshack.

I'd try looking up your dvd model online and seeing if it's got a hack too.

Good luck!

You can buy multi-regional dvd players for around £40

Thanks for the replies! Actually over the weekend, I stopped at a CompuSmart and asked one of the guys there and this is what he said. He said that the regions are different and that when you pop the Canadian DVD in the UK player, it will prompt you to switch to the UK region. But he said after doing that 3 times (watching it three times) the DVD will lock and you will never be able to watch it in Canada again. It will switch to the new region permanently.

He seemed confident with his answer so I don't know what to do. I was hoping to buy a DVD as a gift for someone there. Any further thoughts? Does this make sense??

That's something I've never heard before. Maybe it's true? I've tried playing other regions in dvd players and they usually just say "Wrong Region" and don't play.

It's not possible for the dvd player to right anything to the dvd - dvd's are read only, so it's not possible for the dvd to change. The only thing that would change is the dvd player (like a configuration file or something).

The more I think about it, the more I think the compusmart guy isn't dvdsmart (sorry)

But, what do I know. I'd say don't buy the dvd's as gifts because without a region free dvd player those people won't be able to play them.

that's true in computers. for example I have a computer I use only for american dvd's and the laptop for british ones because after a few switches, it doesn't work anymore. But the same does not apply to a standalone DVD player

Hey...what you explained about DVDs being read-only makes sense. Since you've tried it yourself, I am not inclined to take his word for it. It's a gift so I'd really rather not take that risk. Too bad! It's a good thing I found out though, no point in lugging my tapes and DVDs with me there if they won't work! Thanks..

Thanks Deus, maybe the sales guy's experience was with computers and he figured the same would apply to a stand alone player. I won't bother buying the DVD gift then. I'll come up with another gift idea )

Hmm...that face at the end looks strange. It was supposed to be a smile...LOL

Sorry, seems that you missed the post someone else did near the begining of this thread - bring your dvd's, just leave the dvd player at home. It'd be far cheaper for you to bring them (if you have the room in you cases)than to buy all your favourites again once you've settled here. You can quite easily pick up a multi-region dvd player at just about any electronics store over here. I bought mine at Argos for £30.00 & it came with 6 free dvd's. It plays all my Canadian dvd's no problem. I don't even have to switch the region - just set the player to automatic & the machine changes from region to region depending on where I'd bought the dvd.

That wont work for your friend, though if they don't have a multi region dvd player, but at least you can bring your favourite dvd's with you when you come.