Sandy,
The reason that European VHS tapes will not play on American machines and
television sets is because they (European) have a different form or
television. Most of Europe, Australia, NZ and a lot of Asia use a system
called PAL. France and Russia use another system called SECAM and the US
Canada, most of South America, Japan and the Philippines use NTSC. It is
possible to buy tape machines and TV's that record and play all systems but
they are a lot more expensive.

When it comes to DVD you have this standards problem along with the fact
that the copyright holders have for purely commercial reasons divided the
world into 7 zones the discs of one zone will not play on a player from
another zone. This is deliberate and is based upon the film companies
wishing to hold back titles until after theatrical release. Here in
Australia we get to see films in the theatre about six months after US
release.

It is possible to modify DVD machines to play all zones. In PAL countries
these modifications are common and not too expensive. You still need a
multi-system TV however.

Frankly I think for people living in Zone 1 there is little need to do this.
Zone 1 (USA Canada) has the earliest releases of film titles and the
greatest number of titles. So in Missouri you have the best of the world. If
you are wanting to collect esoteric European movies on DVD that is another
matter

Regards

AK
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sandy Camargo" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, 19 May 2000 7:39
Subject: DVD formats


> I know that videotapes that are made in Europe are incompatible with
> our VCRs, but I was wondering whether European DVDs were OK. European
> CDs are just like ours, so does that mean that European DVDs will
> play on our machines?
>
> Thanks,
> Sandy Camargo
> Department of English
> University of Missouri
> Columbia MO 65211
>
> ----
> Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
> University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu
>

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