No, they won't (in theory). The media conglomerates, wishing to exercise even more control over the global market for video software than they already have, have established the practice of "regional coding". This means that (in theory) DVDs purchased in Europe won't play in the U.S., Japan, Brazil, etc. For more information, visit this Web site: <http://www.laserrot.com/info/lrinfo/dvdmap.html>. That is, this is a technological gizmo introduced to further a corporate economic policy agenda. And I keep saying "in theory" because, as with copy-protected videotapes, there are other technologies available to defeat regional coding. Inquire at your friendly neighborhood electronics chop shop. This fix generally voids the warranty of your player, but what's life without a little risk? You can also purchase "all-region" (i.e., already "modified") DVD players over the Web, at inflated prices. (Also, as I recall, one of the "glitches" with Sony's new Playstation, is that it defeats regional coding. I assume they'll "fix" that before it's released beyond Japan.) However, as I indicated in another post on this topic a few weeks ago, DVD hardware manufacturers are quietly selling fully-warranteed, all-region players in some markets, including Hong Kong, where multiple video formats are an established part of consumer culture. Is this going on anywhere else in the world? Steve Fore At 04:39 PM 5/18/00 -0500, you wrote: >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 > ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite