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LuYu: Are Region Codes Racist?
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by
Anonymous Coward
on Monday December 15, @03:27PM (#1409)
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You're confusing nationalism with racism.
Furthermore, region coding is designed to help publishers enforce regional distribution contracts and maintain control of their channels.
It has nothing to do with The Man wanting to keep you down.
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by
Anonymous Coward
on Monday December 15, @09:17PM (#1411)
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Yes - I concur with this person.
Different DVD players manufactured in different regions with different standards....it's all contracts.
Now, if you could show Region 5 discs were denied equal pay and more frequently pulled over by the police, then you would have a claim.
tom@houseoftom.com
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by
Anonymous Coward
on Monday December 15, @03:33PM (#1410)
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"Region 2 - Europe, Japan, the Middle East, Egypt, South Africa, Greenland"
Why is South Africa part of this region? I see no obvious geographical ties between South Africa, Japan, and Europe. Those three are on completely separate parts of the globe.
What do they have in common that they don't have in common with the rest of Africa?
What is the richest African nation (based on perhaps average currency adjusted income of citizens)? South Africa. What is the richest Asian nation? Japan.
Maybe the real reason for region codes is price discrimination [ecoteacher.asn.au], to separate countries into areas based on their price elasticity of demand. Try and charge each country their marginal price.
People in poorer countries are not willing to pay as much for a DVD, but a small profit can be made (because the marginal cost of production of a DVD is relatively small) by selling just aboe the marinal price of production. Richer countries can be sold products at much higher prices, and the profit margin is much higher. Cheaper imports of an otherwise identical product can from other countries can be blocked by region codes. The richer countries can be made to pay the marginal utility price (which is more profitable for the DVD manufacturers), and the poorer ones can pay prices closer to the marginal price of supply.
I am quite uncertain about whether or not this is true, and would be interested in seeing some facts on either side. This is all just some theories proposed by a student who took 4 or 5 economics course options in university a few years ago. I really don't understand international trade (but I do know when I feel like I am getting ripped off).
But either way, I am ticked that my European DVDs don't work on my North American DVD player. I paid for both, they should work. I am (was?) a paying customer, and my DVD does not work with my DVD player.
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I think this is very close to the truth.
By the way, here in Sweden most DVD players sold seem to be "region free". I know mine will play any DVD and I would not have bought it otherwise. How is the situation in the rest of the world?
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by
Anonymous Coward
on Tuesday December 16, @04:00AM (#1412)
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I would suggest that the particular reason for certain countries being in different categories has more to do with things such as supply chain and distribution agreements, along with marketing preferences for content release and equivalence of markets (e.g. south africa being a modern european like market, in comparison to other less developed african markets).
From a technical point of view I don't really like region encoding either. That's why we purchased a region-free DVD player. Perhaps you too can vote with your feet and do the same. If everyone does this, then region-locked players will lose market share, and manufacturers will respond and offer region-free players in increasing quantities. This will eventually break the system down.
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by
Anonymous Coward
on Wednesday December 17, @12:14PM (#1420)
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All the way over there? How did you find out about GrepLaw?
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-nations
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Japan is in Region2: Europe. Why is Japan in the European region? Is it because they had colonies? Or is it because they had a feudal system during first contact with Europe? Or is it because they behaved in as racist a manner as the Europeans in Shanghai?
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No, it's because movies first released in the US(1) are then a few months later released in Japan and Europe(2), or at least that what it was when the system came out, now movies are released differently that Blockbuster president had to speak out about it.
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Being able to speak languages from at least three of these regions, I would like to know why I am being segregated into choosing one. This segregation contributes to my ignorance and voids the purpose of copyright (which is to ensure the creation and dissemination of information for the purpose of accelerating progress). Is my position in the MPAA's global society decided by what language I speak, what race I am, or where I live? What if I do not agree?"
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Sence DVD's are sold at different prices in different regions(60-20) in the US, to about 10 worth in India, It prevents me from ordering one from India and playing it a US region one.
(Do note that in India due to it's reliance on the US and Europe for bussiness, English is like a second language, at least from the information I got)
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