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[AlohaDawg]

We bought a DVD of 'The Polar Express' on E-bay.

It will play on our computer. It will not play in our (unaltered) DVD Player.

By labeling, it appears to be a Region 1 NTSC Disc, but the subtitle options are English, German, Chinese, Bahasa, and Thai.

Never saw that before. Don't even know what Bahasa is.

I'm guessing that the conclusion to be drawn there is that it's a pirated DVD from Asia. The box has the holograms on it so it's a really good job on the box -That still doesn't explain why it won't play, but it does explain why, on the back, there is an MPAA-style 'R' with a box around it. Didn't know there was a director's cut of 'Polar Express'.

Anyone else got any theories?

[Ben-San]

While my sister was traveling in China she bought a pile of very cheap DVDs of Miyazaki movies. Some of them claim to be Region 1. They are not. They are pirated DVDs.

From the back of Pompoko's box:
"universe landscapes ofs the mound.Leo pard ca ishere over the leisurely and carefree and quite life of .But, a period they Its dispute for around eating field but launching fighting the site.However, This dispute the be limited by the dispute's degree.Afterwards they find outed the food the field to reduce The little reason is man kinded to start the development living quarter.If this continues, not only food, connect the oneself the place that live too not .This is simply is many s Sin ce cat history of an important event piece.Leopard cat that whole mound the area gathered to convoke Big meeting, resolution to obstruct mankind."

I guess my point is that pirated DVDs do not care if they are lying about their region coding. Also, that nonfluent English is funny. The actual subtitles are good, though. And it is a good movie.

[Doc]

What model is your DVD player?

Does anyone actually know what the reasoning behind region coding is? Is it meant to help the consumer in some way or are they just blatantly being pricks because they want to artificially control markets in different regions?

[acoxcae]

Region coding is pretty much completely anti-consumer.  The primary points are to let studios set different prices in different markets and not have consumers simply buy the cheaper one, and also to allow them to release movies at different times in different regions.  For example, a few years ago, "Snatch" was released in the UK like a year before it was released in the US - to the point where I was able to buy and watch the UK DVD before the US version was even out in theaters.  In principle, region codes prevent that.

I think the argument that the studios make to the public about this is something along the lines of, "Well, we make them that way so that we can self-censor, and include/exclude content in different areas according to societal/cultural conventions.  Also, we'd like to have as much of your money as possible, all the time, please."

[wombat]

Dunno, but vaguely recall from my previous life that Bahasa has something to do with Indonesia.

[CortJstr]

Exactly. Region codes prevent people in other countries importing a US DVD of a movie when it's still only in theatres where they live. It also stops us from importing DVDs from places like China where the studios will sometimes release exactly the same DVD for 90% less then they do here just with a different region code.

[miles]

Dawg, did the seller live in the States?  Also, is there any action that you can take through ebay?

[miles]

Dunno, but vaguely recall from my previous life that Bahasa has something to do with Indonesia.

Google says it's the national language of Indonesia.

Oh:

Bahasa means language in Indonesian, Malay, and related languages. It is sometimes used in English to refer to one of these languages:

Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) - Indonesia
Malay (Bahasa Melayu) - Malaysia

[wombat]

See, this is why no one needs PhDs anymore.  We have Google.

[Doc]

Yeah that's what I figured, I was just kind of hoping that they at least tried to hide the fact that companies were once again just expecting us to bend over, look pretty and take it.

Anyway you guys shouldn't complain about waiting for stuff, I'm in Australia not only are we over the other side of the world but our total population is smaller than that of some of your American cities. No one gives two shits about us.
That said things have got better in the last 5 or so years but waiting a year for a movie or game or whatever to come over here is still very common, there is plenty of stuff we never see. Thank god for the internet.

[AlohaDawg]

Dawg, did the seller live in the States?  Also, is there any action that you can take through ebay?

They are and I'm giving them a chance to make it right before letting them know I'm forwarding everything to the FBI and let them look into it.

[CortJstr]

Yeah that's what I figured, I was just kind of hoping that they at least tried to hide the fact that companies were once again just expecting us to bend over, look pretty and take it.

Don't forget a couple years ago when the *AA's said that they plan on re-educating consumers to the fact that when we buy a CD or DVD we don't own the music, just the plastic. The new Napster is the first attempt at training us to the leased-access business model. That's why so many colleges give free Napster access to students, not to prevent pirating on their networks but introduce this new model fairly young to impressionable minds.

[Bozack]

Don't forget a couple years ago when the *AA's said that they plan on re-educating consumers to the fact that when we buy a CD or DVD we don't own the music, just the plastic.

Yeah, I keep seeing the Napster ads which say, "Own Nothing. Play Anything." or some crap like that. I'm not sure about the second part, but it definitely says, right there in the ad, that you will give them money and OWN NOTHING. I can't see why you would want to put this in the ad itself; I know a fair amount about the system, so I know how it works, but anyone who doesn't know will see that and say, "Wait. I'm gonna pay these guys, and I'm not gonna own anything? Fuck that!"

[CortJstr]

I think the mental difference between the Napster model and say Netflix or Blockbuster is that with the Napster model you do get a product that you can keep forever (a file) it just simply ceases functioning if you ever stop paying the monthly fee. With Netflix and Blockbuster you get a regular DVD and then give it back which is a little easier to understand. Even a TiVo will allow minimal functions if you stop paying the monthly fee.

[AlohaDawg]

Just in the last three days, that sellers feedback has started to shift a little.

Interesting.