--- Forwarded Message from [log in to unmask] (David Herren) ---

>From: [log in to unmask] (David Herren)
>To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
>Cc: [log in to unmask]
>Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 12:50:23 -0500
>Subject: Re: #4805 DVD-Regional Standards
>References: <[log in to unmask]>
>Organization: Center for Educational Technology

[log in to unmask] writes:
>I have not been successful in getting information on the extent of the
>problem w/ regional standards in DVD. I wonder if Mike or anyone can
>discuss this a little.
>1. This is my understanding of the issue. Am I right or wrong? :
>  The regional standard  is set by the disk
>makers purposely so as to avoid copyright infringement and/or guarantee
>multiple sales in different countries.

Largely correct. I have heard some folks claim that this won't be an issue since "foreign" film producers want a wider audience. I don't happen to agree with that assessment. If the US producers such as Disney, et al encode their discs, I envision a
retaliatory encoding of foreign films.

>2. If this is the case, is the regional standard issue insurmountable?
>How does one use a DVD brought back, say, from the Czech Republic or
>Germany?

There are some "operations" who can "modify" your DVD player to cause it ignore the region bit on the disc and thus it would play discs from anywhere in the world. This _may_ be a copyright violation--it is certainly "fishy" in that the modification is
being made intentionally to circumvent the copyrights of the producer. This is not something that I would ever do in our environment--Disney lawyers would dearly love to get their hands into the college endowment cookie jars...

Recently, I heard a rumor that some disc player vendors are offering a "multi-standard" players direct from the manufacturer. I haven't been able to confirm this, but I continue to follow up on it.

>3. In the event that foreign purchased DVD discs can be used in some
>fashion, how are European DVD films generally audio recorded? Are they
>likely to have multi-lingual tracks that can be selected? Are they likely
>to have multi-lingual subtitles that can be chosen among?

It's going to vary entirely on the particulars of the movie, producer, and studios in question.

>Sorry if these are basic questions, but we're about to get into DVD, and
>I've not been able to get these questions anwered, nor have I seen much
>discussion of this in specific terms on LLTI. Sorry if I'm asking for
>redundant info that I may have missed.

You might want to take a look at the following web sites for more information:

-DVD (Digital Video/Versatile Disk)
http://www.visiblelight.com/dvd/index.htp
http://www.mpeg.org/~tristan/MPEG/dvd.html
http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/DVD/dvd.html
http://www.codefreedvd.com/

-- 
David D. Herren                          www.cet.middlebury.edu/herren
Assoc. Dir. for Tech. & Instruction      [log in to unmask]
Center for Educational Technology                 voice: (802)443-5746
5 Court Street, Middlebury, VT 05753                fax: (802)443-2053