Regionless DVD on your Playstation 2 (DVD Region X)

Member Name: Boriski

Product:	DVD Region X
Date:	07/09/01 (2477 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: When Sony released the Playstation 2 they got a right telling off for two reasons., Watch the new releases sooner

Disadvantages: If you aren`t fussed by extras or watching the film sooner then there is nothing here for you

When Sony released the Playstation 2 they got a right telling off for two reasons.

1. The DVD Sony included to set their console aside from the competition was regionless meaning it would play DVDs from all countries. This is not something the film makers wanted as it could mean a DVD could be watched in the UK on your playstation before it even came out a the cinema. (I am not too clear on this point as regionless DVD players are legally available so...)

2. There was a port on the back of the console which allowed a video recorder to be plugged into it and from this DVDs could be recorded onto tape. This constitutes copy right infringement.

Sony, having already shipped tons of units in Japan offered a fix to the machines already sold to stop this, remarkably nobody came forward to take them up on this but as far as I am aware Sony haven`t received any court action against them as a result.

Anyhow by the time the Playstation 2 was released in the UK it was coded only to play region 2 DVDs in much the same way cartridge consoles were made to only play European, USA or Japanese cartridges.

Only problem is someone cracked that method and someone has cracked this one too!

This is where DVD Region X comes in. You place the supplied CD in your playstation 2, slot the special supplied memory card in and select which region you want from 1-5 (USA/Canada is 1, Europe (including us) is 2 etc...).

I should point out here that to run American or Japanese DVDs you are going to need a NTSC compliant television. This is because unlike in Europe which uses Pal for televisions and video recorders these countries use a method called NTSC which is of marginally lower quality. Because of this the DVDs can only be watched on hardware geared up for this.

The region X does not make you capable to record DVDs to tape as this is illegal and it would have been banned.

Anyway selling at the price of around £19.9
9 this is a useful piece of kit. Although region 2 DVDs are getting better region 1 have a much better selection of extras usually and come out sooner. At the end of the day it works well but it is just customer want that is important

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