Regional Code Enhancement

Introduction

    DVD players that play discs regardless of their Region Coding have made a mockery of the Region Coding system. So too has the dramatic growth of the Internet. It is just as easy to purchase a DVD from the USA as it is to drive down to the local bricks-and-mortar DVD retailer.

    A new, improved Region Coding system has been developed to combat this widespread disregard of the current system. However, as we will see, few DVD player owners will have much to fear from this new system, despite the scaremongering of the movie studios and some less-than-scrupulous retailers.

    Towards the end of 2000, what appeared to be internal memos from both Columbia Tristar Home Video USA and Warner Home Video USA were made public on the Internet. You can read the full text of the memos here. These memos indicated that a new form of Regional Coding was to be incorporated into future DVD pressings. The information was phrased in a suitably vague manner, so as to suggest that most multi-zoned DVD players could not play these DVDs at all, which is far from the reality.

    In reality, the new Regional Code Enhancement scheme is severely limited in its functionality by the fundamental way in which DVD players work.

How Region Coding Is Implemented In DVD Players

    When a DVD is loaded, the player's operating software (the firmware) compares the Region Coding on the inserted DVD to the Region Coding in this register on the player. If they don't match, the disc is rejected. For instance, a player may have its Region Code set to Region 4. When a DVD is loaded, the player's firmware compares the Region Code of the player (4) to the allowable Region Codes set on the DVD (eg 2 and 4 for many locally-released DVDs). If the player's region matches an allowable playback region for the DVD, the DVD will continue to load.

    There is no technical reason why this memory register of a DVD player has to be set to one specific region only. There appear to be 7 possible Region codes; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and All. DVD players are normally set to one of Region Codes 1 through 6, but there is no technical reason why a combination of region codes could not be set in this register. No manufacturer would do so, as this would be a violation of an agreement that they need to sign in order to be granted a licence to manufacture DVD players.

How Region Code Modifications Work

Manual Region Setting

All Zone Setting

Zone Switching

DVD's Programming Language

RCE and How It Appears To Work

    The DVD itself is Region Coded 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and All. It therefore initially loads in all DVD players. As far as the DVD player is concerned, this is a Region-Free DVD.

    The main menu startup sequence is then commenced. The first step in this sequence is for this DVD to check the valid regions of the DVD player, and branch accordingly. The code could be represented as follows;

1. What Region is this player?
2. If Player Region = All, 6, 5, 4, 3, or 2 Then Display RCE message and stop.
3. If Player Region = 1 Then Go To Main Menu and playback normally.

How Could This Code Detect Multi-Zoned Players?

Manual Region Setting

All Zone Setting

Zone Switching

    When the RCE disc is loaded, the DVD player's firmware checks the disc's Region code. The modification compares the valid Region codes on the DVD to the Region code of the player. If they match, the start-up process continues. If they do not match, then the modification alters the region code of the DVD player to match the disc, and the start-up process continues.

    A potential problem arises when the DVD itself is encoded with no Region coding as is the case with RCE discs. Here, what happens with different modifications appears to vary, with some not changing the player's region at all, some setting the player to Region 1, some setting the player to Region 2 and some setting the player to Region All.

    Let's concrete this with a number of examples, to explain what might happen in these various scenarios;

Workarounds

1. Play an ordinary R1 disc first. This will set your DVD player to Region 1, and your modification will not necessarily change this region when the RCE disc is played. This may well result in these discs playing on your DVD player, albeit with the added inconvenience of an additional step that you need to go through every time you want to view one of these DVDs.
2. It is important to realise that the RCE screen is not an endpoint as such. Consider it as an alternative menu screen that has no navigation controls built in. It is still eminently possible to directly navigate the DVD by using the Title and Chapter keys on your remote to play the movie. Directly selecting Title 1, Chapter 1 has a very good chance of playing the disc itself with no glitches, although returning to the menu at any time will result in the RCE screen reappearing.

    It is reasonable to assume that RCE will progressively evolve with time, so workarounds that work now may not work forever.

Implications For The Future

    If you have a player that has an automatic-only modification, then you should try and get hold of a copy of The Patriot R1 and see if it plays on your DVD player. It is highly likely that more and more titles will appear with RCE protection in R1, and so it is wise to see if your DVD player can cope with this title.

    The only really concerning issue is whether non-R1 countries will adopt RCE, as there is a potential Catch-22 with automatic modifications in this situation; an automatic modification which defaults to R1 will play R1 RCE titles without a problem, however, will fail on other region's RCE titles. Conversely, a DVD player with an automatic modification which defaults to R2, for instance, will fail on R1 RCE titles but will play R2 RCE titles without a problem. I will add at this point that no such plans have been announced on or off the record by any companies other than US ones. Personally, I cannot see it ever happening, as it will cause enormous problems if the majority of local DVD players cannot play back locally-purchased DVDs!

Will It Work?

Appendix - The Patriot R1

    Here is a list of players that have been reportedly tested with The Patriot R1. All players listed are auto-switching players unless otherwise noted. Players that are capable of having their region manually selected are believed to be inherently immune to RCE.
  

Workarounds

Generic

For Toshiba players

1. Press Memory
2. Highlight T with the arrow keys
3. Press 1
4. Press Play
5. Press Clear

For Toshiba 900E

1. Put disc in tray but do not close it
2. Press Memory
3. Key in Title 2 Chapter 1 (note: needs to be an invalid Title for the disc concerned)
4. Press play - it will fail and leave the player "stopped"
5. Press "T" twice to bring up timer, enter 1 second and press play

For Philips DVD820 and DVD840 players

You can only play the movie, you cannot play any special features.

1. Place the disc on the disc tray and press OPEN/CLOSE.

2. Press STOP repeatedly, while loading the disc, to make it go to the stop mode before the region restriction message comes up.

3. Press T-C twice. ("Time [-:--:--]" appears on screen.)

4. Press PLAY. (Playback starts from the beginning of movie.)

 You can also enter a specific time (hours, minutes and seconds) before pressing PLAY.

For Philips DVD860 player

You can access a specific title and chapter, if you do not reach the region restriction message.

1. Place the disc on the disc tray and press OPEN/CLOSE.

2. Press STOP repeatedly, while loading the disc, to make it go to the stop mode before the region restriction message comes up.

3. Press MEMORY.

4. Highlight T and press the number buttons for the title.

5. Highlight C and press the number buttons for the chapter.

6. Press PLAY. (The player starts memory playback.)

Here is a list of some titles and chapters for The Patriot.

• T1/C1: Movie

• T2/C1: Special feature The Art Of War

• T3/C1: Special feature The True Patriot

• T4/C1: Theatrical Trailer

Other Resources

Appendix 2 - Other R1 Titles With RCE Protection

• The Perfect Storm is NOT RCE protected, despite it commonly being cited as such
• Charlie's Angels
• Final Fantasy
• Hollow Man
• A Knight's Tale
• The Sixth Day
• Thomas And The Magic Railroad
• Urban Legends: Final Cut