Is it safe to purchase other Region / TV Format DVDs?
As long as your DVD player is multi-region compatible and your television is less than 10 years old, you should not have a problem in playing imported DVDs.
Apart from Region 4 Australian released titles, Region 2/PAL UK Released encoded DVDs are the most compatible for the Australian consumer, although a multi-region DVD player is still required.
We hope we have been of some help.
Please see below for a more detailed description and understanding of region coding and TV format.
Television Formats
PAL is the standard TV format used in Australia.
Video Formats: What are they?
PAL/SECAM and NTSC are two different televison formats. These formats precede the introduction of the DVD. They actually even preceded the introduction of the video cassette (Phillips produced the first VCR in 1972).
What do they mean?
NTSC stands for "National Television Standards Committee" and was created in 1953. It is the standard format used for televison in most of North and Central America, and Japan. In techno-speak it mandate 525 lines of resolution at 60 half frames per second.
PAL stands for "Phase Altering Line". Adopted in 1967, it is the standard format used for televisions in most of the world (other than the US, Canada, and Japan). In techno-speak it mandates 625 lines of resolution at 50 half frames per second. PAL TVs are said to give a more consistent hue than NTSC TVs. Brazil uses PAL-M, which differs slightly (525 lines of resolution with 60 half frames per second).
How Do They Affect Me?
Because PAL & NTSC are television formats, this issue is only relevant for DVD players that hook up to a television set,. Computer DVD players hooked up to computer display devices (which are commonly neither NTSC or PAL/SECAM) will display the content of the DVD irrespective of PAL/SECAM or NTSC format. The same goes for VCR.
Standard DVD Regions
Region 4 DVDs, with PAL TV format is the standard compatibility for Australian consumers. Because of advanced technology, most DVD players sold in Australia after the year 2000 are MULTI-REGION COMPATIBLE, allowing us to view Region 1,2,3 etc coded DVDs.
Quick Summary
Region |
Countries |
0 |
No Region Coding (Region Free) |
1 |
USA, Canada |
2 |
Europe, including France, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Japan and South Africa |
3 |
Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo and Indonesia |
4 |
Australia and New Zealand, Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America |
5 |
India, Africa, Russia and former USSR countries |
6 |
Peoples Republic of China |
7 |
Unused |
8 |
Airlines / Cruise Ships |
9 |
Expandion (often used as region free) |