DVDs And Blu-Rays

DVD Regions

For copyright and other legal reasons DVD players and DVDs are labelled for specific geographical regions in the world. There are six major geographical regions, with additional regions reserved for specialised use. Australia is in region 4, so most DVD players sold in Australia are region 4 specific and will only play region 4 or region 0 (all regions) discs. Non-region specific DVD players will play discs from all regions.

At Koorong we only stock DVDs from region 1, 4 and 0. If your DVD player is region 4-specific, you will not be able to play region 1 discs. If you are unsure about the particular region number of a DVD, please check the back of the DVD package or ask one of our friendly staff.

Please note there is a small chance you may also have problems playing region 0 discs if your DVD player is region 4-specific

Code	Country
0	All regions
1	Bermuda, Canada, United States and U.S. territories
2	The Middle East, Western Europe, Central Europe, Egypt, French overseas territories, Greenland, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland, United Kingdom
3	Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan
4	Australasia, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Oceania, South America
5	The rest of Africa, Former Soviet Union, Indian , Mongolia, North Korea
6	Mainland China
7	Reserved for future use (found in use on protected screener copies of MPAA-related DVDs, and “media-copies” of pre-releases in Asia)
8	International venues such as aircraft, cruise ships, etc.

Code

Country

All regions

Bermuda, Canada, United States and U.S. territories

The Middle East, Western Europe, Central Europe, Egypt, French overseas territories, Greenland, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland, United Kingdom

Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan

Australasia, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Oceania, South America

The rest of Africa, Former Soviet Union, Indian , Mongolia, North Korea

Mainland China

Reserved for future use (found in use on protected screener copies of MPAA-related DVDs, and “media-copies” of pre-releases in Asia)

International venues such as aircraft, cruise ships, etc.

Blu-Ray Disc

Blu-Ray Disc (BD) is the next generation optical disc format that is quickly replacing DVD. It represents a huge leap forward in viewing experience - offering consumers an unprecedented High Definition (HD) experience. Developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video HD, it is also capable of storing large amounts of data - more than five times the capacity of traditional DVDs - up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. This means movies will have a sharper picture - in fact, HD offers five times the amount of detail compared to standard-definition (SD) - vivid colours and up to 7.1 channels of perfect High Definition sound.

Plus, there’s plenty of room for extra content and special features, such as menu overlay - e.g. allowing you to overlay director’s ideas about a scene while it’s playing. Blu-Ray’s advanced interactivity combined with its networking features will also allow new innovative features such as downloading extras, updating content via the web, and watching live broadcasts of special events.

To be able to play Blu-Ray Discs, all you need is a HDTV (High Definition Television), a Blu-Ray Disc Player and HDMI cable.

Code	Country
A	Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea (East Asia -except Mainland China and Mongolia), Southeast Asia, North America, South America and Central America
B	Africa, Southwest Asia, Europe (except Russia and Kazakhstan), Oceania(including Australia and New Zealand) and their dependencies.
C	Central Asia, East Asia (Mainland China and Mongolia only), South Asia, Russia, China

Code

Country

Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea (East Asia -except Mainland China and Mongolia), Southeast Asia, North America, South America and Central America

Africa, Southwest Asia, Europe (except Russia and Kazakhstan), Oceania(including Australia and New Zealand) and their dependencies.

Central Asia, East Asia (Mainland China and Mongolia only), South Asia, Russia, China

TV Standards

The use of DVDs can also be affected by the configuration of your television and video signal formats used. Standards differ throughout the world. Australia employs the PAL system in DVD production and television transmission (as opposed to NTSC prevalent in the United States). Please ensure you are able to play PAL standard DVD before placing your order. World Television Standards are listed below.

PAL (Phase Alternating Line)

Afghanistan (Kabul), Algeria, Argentina(PAL-N), Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil(PAL M), Brunei, China (mainland), Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Korea (North), Kuwait, Liberia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco (PAL & SECAM), Netherlands, New Guinea, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Portugal, Qatar, Romania (PAL & SECAM), Saudi Arabia (PAL & SECAM), Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay (PAL-N), Yemen (A.R.), Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe

NTSC (National Television System Committee) Videos, DVD and Blu-ray

Antiqua, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greenland, Guam, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan, Korea (South), Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Saipan, Samoa, Surinam, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Trinidad, Tobago, United States, Venezuela, Virgin Islands