Any time you purchase a DVD, you'll likely notice that the seller has marked it as "Region 1", "Region 2", etc. What does this mean? And more importantly, why do you care?
When a DVD is manufactured, its done so with a specific audience in mind - i.e., North America, Japan, etc. So a DVD encoded to work on DVD players in the United States probably won't work on DVD players in Japan, China, Africa, etc. and vice versa. That's why is so important to be sure you're buying the right region for your location. Here's a quick rundown of DVD regions:
Standard DVDs
Region 1 - US and its territories, Canada and Bermuda
Region 2 - Japan, Europe, South Africa and the Middle East
Region 3 - Southeast Asia, East Asia (incl. Hong Kong)
Region 4 - Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Pacific Islands, South America, Central America and the Caribbean
Region 5 - Africa, North Korea, Mongolia, Indian subcontinent and Russia
Region 6 - China
Blue-Ray DVDs
A/1 - North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North and South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia
B/2 - Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Greenland, French territories
C/3 - Nepal, Mainland China, India, Russia, Central and South Asia
In addition, you may sometimes run across standard DVDs that are marked as "Region Free" or "Region 0". This means that the DVD is expected to work on any player, regardless of region. While there may be a few legitimate DVDs out there with this type of encoding, chances are you're holding a bootleg product. To learn more, read
"How to Spot A Bootleg DVD".
