Home Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

This is like toying with a child...

I certainly get the sense that this is going nowhere with you, as you are a person who just can't admit he is wrong and hasn't the common sense to stop making a fool of himself.

"The studios are the distributors. The regional coding is their approach to compliance. Noncompliance undermines distribution. Do the math."

Nope, wrong. The studios are NOT in most cases the distributor. Look at the rear of a disc package to learn that. Regional coding of discs, by the way, is NOT mandatory - it is a choice a distributor may or may not make.

"Nonsense. The only reason the manufacturers are obligated to region lock the player is because of distribution rights."

Wrong, manufacturers have NO relationship with distributors. The obligation to region lock is imposed as a condition of licence from the patent holders. In effect, the BDA administers those patents, and to manufacture Blu-Ray players, one needs to license from the BDA, and a condition of that license is that the player be region blocked.

"I didn't equate the two. I brought up the former to point out that people ripping music illegally in the privacy of their own homes had a similar sense of entitlement and justification that some of you seem to have in "getting around" region locking. Eventually the industry had to go after music pirates because they were costing the labels too much money. As I said before, I don't think the studios will ever go after those of you who modify your players."

You did lamely attempt to equate the two, but in any event, you still can't understand. Illegally copying and distributing music rips off record companies and artists. Making a blu-ray player region free DOES NOT. FULL royalties are paid to all as the discs themselves are perfectly legitimate.

" You're more interested in titles that don't sell well in any region"

No, I'm not. I'm only interested in titles that are not available in Region 1. Primarily, I get a lot of British movies that never come over here, as well as French movies as I speak French. You have a typically American centric, limited world view. Americans tend not to understand English movies, both language and style.

"Of course it is. For example, Cinderella Man is distributed in Asia by Mirimax/Buena Vista. But in the US it's distributed by Universal. If everyone in Asia decides to import the US version or everyone in the US decides to import the Asian version, the studio that owns distribution rights is basically being robbed blind. Regional coding is the method to ensure that doesn't happen."

Once again, dead wrong. But didn't you say above that the studios ARE the distributors? Now you say that is not the case?

In any event, it is certainly true - as the distributors are not the studios in all cases, that there may in some cases be a risk of one region distributor benefitting at the expense of another. But in all cases, once again, royalties and other fees are fully paid. In a practical sense, the risk is extremely small, as in general the only cases where the consumer benefits from importing a title from another region is where that title is not available in his home region. The vast majority of titles on international release are by now being released simultaneously, or close to it, in every region. And the cost of importing usually negates any price advantage. So really, the majority of cases where a title is being imported between regions is when a title is simply not being released in the home region. No financial loss at all in those cases. Actually - there is financial gain, as people are buying more discs that they otherwise could not have.

"If such modification became widespread and cut into studio profits in regions where a studio had exclusive rights for a film, you would indeed see the studios take mod'ers to court and demonstrate just how illegal this practice is."

Nope, dead wrong, since there is no law prohibiting modification to be region free. I asked you to provide a reference to such statute, and I'm sure an internet savvy guy like you could easily do so, except that there isn't one. What you WOULD see is, obviously, release of those films in the region they are being imported into. Or equalization of prices between regions, if that were the cause of importation. Or simultaneous release, if that's the cause.

You see, that is how free enterprise works in a free market system. If there's money being left on the table, the studios and distributors would act to get it. Common sense.

"But since you've obviously gone to some lengths to get your OPPO mod'ed, you're experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance and are unable to evaluate and discuss this issue in a logical manner."

Sounds like the impotent response a person endowed like a child would make. When all else fails, try for a petty shot that's personal. No worries there, I'm perfectly fine and having nothing serious to compensate for.

I went to NO great lengths to get my OPPO modified, it took me two clicks on my paypal account to get the hardware and about 10 minutes to do the modification on my kitchen table, of which 6 minutes was spent getting the cover open.

Enjoyed a great British suspense thriller last night that will never be released in North America. Don't worry, you wouldn't have understood it.

Nuff said on this one, I'm not into beating my head against a wall with people like you. Your rep speraks for itself.




Edits: 09/06/09 09/06/09 09/06/09 09/06/09

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