DVD FAQs
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Region Coding – Attention U.S. Buyers !!
What are Region Codes & How does it effect me?
Due to Film Studios releasing films at different times worldwide and to protect these markets, the studios designed region coding as a method of ensuring discs would only play in certain geographical locations. Currently, there are six global region codes that identify a DVD's compatibility with the players typically sold in that region, or with multi-region players.
The following are the six regions and their corresponding numerical equivalent:
- US, US Territories and Canada.
- UK, Europe, Japan, South Africa and the Middle East including Egypt
- Southeast Asia, East Asia including Hong Kong
- Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, South America and the Caribbean
- Former Soviet Union, Indian sub-continent, Africa, North Korea and Mongolia
- China
Region 0 (or "region free") is compatible with DVD players from any of the six regions. ** See below
! The majority of all current titles play only in one specific region unless otherwise noted. Most DVDs sold by DVDHORROR.co.uk are encoded for Region 2 only and may not work on DVD players in some countries such as the U.S. DVDHORROR do not offer refunds on the basis of Region compatibility, therefore it is suggested that you ensure your player will be able to play Region 2 formatted discs before purchase.
What Is Region 0?
Sometimes known as 'Region All' or 'Region Free', Region 0 NTSC discs are compatible with any DVD player as they are enabled for all countries. However, Region 0 discs are sometimes encoded in PAL (the European viewing standard) as opposed to the US NTSC format which would then require a PAL compatible TV in order to ensure colour playback.
What is Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE)
Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE) has been added by some film studios (specifically Warner and Columbia) to selected Region 1 DVDs, with the intention of preventing these discs from playing on some multi-region DVD players. We are therefore unable to guarantee that all Region 1 discs will be compatible with all multi-region players.
You claim your version of a film is uncut, but I've seen a copy in the US that has a longer running time – how can this be?
Due to PAL/NTSC decoding standards, PAL titles can run from 4% – 15% faster than their NTSC counterparts. The longer a film the greater the difference in duration between the two formats, despite the content of the film being exactly the same.
What is NTSC/PAL?
There are two different methods for picture decoding standards: Europe (R2) uses the PAL system; North America (R1) uses the NTSC system.
What is aspect ratio?
Aspect ratio refers to the dimensions of the film image as represented on your TV screen. There are two basic formats of aspect ratio; fullscreen and widescreen.
What is fullscreen?
This is the typical 'square' image that you're used to seeing on TV. This aspect ratio is expressed as FS 4:3 or (1.33:1 in decimal terms) meaning that the frame is 1.33 times as wide as it is tall.
Fullscreen presentations will fill the entire screen area of standard 'square' fullscreen televisions. When viewed on a widescreen set, black bars will be visible on each side (right and left) of the screen.
What is widescreen?
Widescreen is the 'rectangular' image favoured by film presentations since the 1950's. There are several aspect ratios but the most common are expressed as, in order of width, WS 1.66:1, WS 1.78:1 (also referred to as 16:9), WS 1.85:1 and WS 2.35:1.
Each of these refers to the width / height ratio of the particular widescreen presentation. On a standard television, a widescreen image will be produce black bars visible at the top and bottom of the screen. How thick these bars are will depend on the aspect ratio of the widescreen presentation; the wider the image frame, the thicker the black bars.
What is anamorphic widescreen?
Anamorphic enhancement is a process for widescreen TVs where the original image is compressed by 33% in the vertical axis during encoding. When the player decodes the image, the vertical axis is decompressed giving a higher resolution and greater clarity.
Anamorphically enhanced DVDs can be viewed just as easily on fullscreen TVs as widescreen ones although the process is usually not discernible.
The term 'anamorphic' does not ensure that the image will entirely fill the screen of a widescreen TV set.
What is Dolby Digital?
Dolby Digital is a system capable of multi channel digital audio, coded using technology previously known as AC-3, often abbreviated as DD.
What is Dolby Digital (1.0) Mono?
A single channel of digital audio. On a surround sound system, the audio stream will be directed through the front centre speaker.
What is Dolby Digital (2.0) Mono?
This is also a single channel of digital audio. The same audio stream is directed to the front left and front right speakers. Very few discs use this format.
What is Dolby Digital (2.0) Stereo?
Two channels of digital audio. One stream will be directed to the front left speaker, the other to the front right speaker.
What is Dolby Digital Surround?
This is an audio mixing technique that bolts on a rear channel and a centre channel onto a standard two-channel signal. With a two speaker sound system, these extra channels will be automatically mixed into the audio streams for the left and right speaker
What is Dolby Digital (4.0)?
Four channels of digital audio. On a surround sound system the audio streams will be directed to the front left, front right, rear left and rear right speakers.
What is Dolby Digital (4.1)?
Four channels of digital audio incorporating an additional low frequency effects channel (denoted by the '.1', this channel is otherwise known as LFE). On a surround sound system the audio streams will be directed to the front left, front right, rear left and rear right speakers with the LFE channel directed to the subwoofer.
What is Dolby Digital 5.1?
Five channels of digital audio incorporating a LFE channel. On a surround sound system the audio streams will be directed to the front left, front right, rear left and rear right speakers, the low frequency channel directed to the subwoofer with dialogue generally confined to the front centre speaker.
What is Dolby Digital 5.1 EX?
Five channels of digital audio incorporating a LFE channel, including support for a rear centre speaker by mixing across sound from the rear left and rear right speakers.
What is Dolby Digital 6.1?
Six channels of digital audio incorporating a LFE channel. This format differs from DD5.1 EX as it provides dedicated support for a rear centre speaker. This format is fully compatible for owners of a traditional 5.1 surround sound system.
What is DTS?
An abbreviation of Digital Theatre Systems, DTS is a rival audio format to Dolby Digital 5.1 and also involves five channels of digital audio incorporating a LFE channel. It differs slightly from DD5.1 by utilising a slightly narrower dynamic range and higher bit-rate audio encoding.
Where can I find which subtitles are available on a DVD?
Within the 'Technical Details' section of the page for each listing is a field highlighted as 'Subtitles'; here you will find the available subtitles for that particular DVD
