The film moguls insisted on this because historically they always released movies (on Film) in different territories according to their perceived marketing opportunities, and also availability of prints - e.g. first release in maybe USA, and when they squeezed all they could from it, then send the prints to India.
With DVDs they didn't want their audience in India seeing it before they had an opportunity to maximize their cinema takings.
In some ways this makes sense, as there's no point in releasing say a Surfing movie in USA in summertime, and simultaneously releasing in some other country where it's winter.
But with music DVD's there seems little point to this regime; after all the audio CD's are generally released (and playable) worldwide. Same goes for DVD-only releases.

Just as a matter of interest .... the selling of DVD players with region settings is illegal in Australia. Our High Court ruled that such restrictions are likely to lessen the rightful enjoyment that purchasers of DVDs have a right to expect -- just as PeterWright has stated!

Yeah, you're right Vegemite ... although there are 'cracks' available for most DVD players to make them multi-region ... not too sure of the legal situation here regarding users doing that!

Hey PeterWright, have a peek there:

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks

Besides just releasing movies at different times, a major reason for the "regions" is price differences.

Right now is a perfect example- say a movie is available in both England and the United States-

In england it sells for say 25 British Pounds and in the US it sells for 25 US dollars.

If the region marking wasn't there it wouldn't take much for some English to buy in bulk from American sellers at half the price- perhaps even less then they are paying wholesale in England.

Even 'worse' (for the movie companies) are places where the market prices and economic realities won't let them sell DVD's for more then a few dollars American.

In england it sells for say 25 British Pounds and in the US it sells for 25 US dollars.
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Where did you get that from? Are you sure you have your currency conversion correct. You are saying that an average DVD in GB costs $51 US dollars.

A popular place to buy DVDs online in both the US and Britain is Amazon.com

Price of Bourne Identity at Amazon UK is 5.48 British Pounds which equals around $11.20 US dollars.

Price of Bourne Identity at Amazon.com US is $9.49 which equals 4.65 GPB not much of a difference.

Price of Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (2005) at Amazon UK is 5.47 GPB which is $11.17 US dollars.

Price of same 2-disc special edition for Region 1 encoding at Amazon.com US is $22.99 or $11.26 GBP

John

In most European countries, even the largest consumer electronics brands openly sell region-free players.

This has no doubt impacted DVD prices greatly.

>>>Where did you get that from? Are you sure you have your currency conversion correct. You are saying that an average DVD in GB costs $51 US dollars.<<<<

Don't know what the exact prices are, but currency conversions have nothing to do with that.

A hotel room in Manhattan may cost $200 and same type of room in London 200 pounds. It's just the way it is. It doesn't mean it's actually worth $400 because pound is $2. Some job that pays $50 000 in the US, may pay 50 000 pounds in London, so relatively it costs them the same, not twice as much, just because it's twice as much when converted to US$.

It's the same, as people used to say, that average salary in ( whatever ) country is only $5000 a year. Yes, but $5000 there buys the same as $50 000 in New York. And so on.

By the way, you can buy a region free DVD player for $50 in New York.

>>>Where did you get that from? Are you sure you have your currency conversion correct. You are saying that an average DVD in GB costs $51 US dollars.<<<<

Don't know what the exact prices are, but currency conversions have nothing to do with that.

Some job that pays $50 000 in the US, may pay 50 000 pounds in London
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The reason I asked him was because I thought maybe the reason his statement was inaccurate was because he converted it wrong.

If Grazie or one of the other British forum members reads this they can easily confirm that DVD prices here and there aren't much different no matter how you figure it if my Amazon links aren't convincing enough.

And when you compare salaries in the US and the UK, where in the US compared to where in the UK? See what I mean?
DVD prices have nothing to do with salaries or housing, etc.

John

...you can buy a region free DVD player for $50 in New York.

I bought mine from Amazon for $39 with free 2-day Prime Member shipping.

(OK, I had to get instructions from elsewhere, but it only took entering a few service codes on the remote.)

People who want to learn foreign languages by watching foreign movies that are not sold in the U.S., or just pick up locally produced DVDs during their travels, are just hosed without this.

There's an additional reason for DVD regions: some movie distributors only have the rights for distribution in their own territory/region, and another company may have the rights for other territories/regions.

I wish car parts prices had dropped as much as electronics - I bought a new part for a car door lock (not even the whole mechanism) the other day - when the parts guy told me the price, I said "I could buy a DVD player for that" - he said "No you could buy two!".

Christo,

The "additional reason" you mention is the primary one. They even sell the right to sell to the highest bidder (in the form of an ongoing massive order commitment).

I've been on both sides of that, but I think that the world has shrunk so much that it makes far less sense today to divvy up the tiny sandbox into even tinier regions.

My brother who lives in Europe used to complain about buying software, that if he needed say Microsoft Office, he had a choice of ordering an $800 localized version for delivery four days later or ordering from the U.S. for $270 and getting two days later (shipping included in both cases).

don't forget some movies need to be changed to be sold. IE China & EU. Both areas many times have slightly different versions then what's made in the US. Same with video games. And you can't sell non-modified copies, it's illegal (again, china/EU, hence some things are banned, like some Jackie-Chan US made movies in China & some US made video games in EU).

When i was in London back in '05 I bought a bunch of electronics for use while out there... Things that would cost $100 in the USA cost 100 Pounds there... the exchange rate meant nothing aside from the fact it happens to cost Americans more then it would at home.

I'm curious what a new DVD movie sells for in London in a real store... I didn't buy any British DVD's (since I couldn't use them) but everything, including books, mcdonalds, whatever was basically the American price except in pounds, not dollars, thereby being more expensive across the board.

The good news is that the book I bought in Paris is region free, so I can continue reading it here in Oz ; )