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Papirex

Jul 10, 2010, 9:08 AM

Post #1 of 4 (1257 views)

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Watching region protected DVDs

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Well, now that I don't need to keep hoarding extra money to pay for the repairs to my now officially dead Dell laptop, I have ordered a new Gateway laptop, and I decided to invite my ladies out for dinner a few nights ago, We ate at one of our favorite moderately priced places, Sanborns. Sanborns is a notch or three above a coffee shop, and a notch or two below an elegant dinner house. The Sanborns restaurants are all inside of Sanborns department stores. We usually like to eat in the garden area if it isn't raining. After dinner, it is our habit to do a little browsing for books, CDs, DVDs, etc. in the department store area.

Many legal DVDs are very cheap in México. Sanborns always has some of them on sale. Tonight, I found a good movie I had seen on TV many years ago when we still lived in Anchorage. It is titled "Das Boot (The Boat) It is a German movie about a U boat and its crew in WW II. It is a good movie as I recall it, and gives an interesting perspective as to how those poor bastards on the other side suffered during that terrible conflict. The normal price for it was $119 Pesos ($9.40 USD), it was on sale for $69 Pesos ($5.45 USD) it has been many years since I watched it, so it will probably seem like a new movie to me now, It is on 2 discs, one is 109 minutes long, the other is 100 minutes long. I expect to see many scenes that were cut from the TV version of the movie. That movie is formatted to play in region 4 DVD players only.

We also bought a classic Mexican movie titled Cine de Oro, It is in black and white, and Spanish only, with no subtitles. I have no idea what it is about, but it is a classic, and Doris wanted it. I believe the ladies should be able to watch classic movies in their own language in their own home in their own country, so I never object to the few Spanish only movies they want to buy. It was marked down to just $59 Pesos ($4.65 USD) That movie is formatted to play in region 1 or region 4 DVD players.

We have a region free DVD player for our TV, and I have region free programs in my computers so we never need to worry about which region a DVD is formatted to play in anymore. I can also make region free copies of DVDs and CDs on my computer now for our own use, it takes about an hour to make a copy, so it would not be a good way to make a lot of pirated copies.

They don't come much cheaper than the sale table at Sanborns.

Our meal that night was delicious and inexpensive too. It was just $422.50 Pesos ($33.35 USD) for the three of us, plus a 100 Peso ($7.89 USD) tip for a total of just $41.24 USD for a very nice dinner for 3. The TIP might seem low by US standards, but the standard TIP in México is only 10 % and I tipped over double that amount. We do get great service in most places now.

Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

mexliving

Jul 22, 2010, 1:17 AM

Post #2 of 4 (1158 views)

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Re: [Papirex] Watching region protected DVDs

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good topic.. and for those who dont know.... they do sell region 1 and 4 in one dvd players.. you have to ask when purchasing a dvd player.

johnv

Jul 22, 2010, 10:20 AM

Post #3 of 4 (1128 views)

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Re: [mexliving] Watching region protected DVDs

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A few years ago I bought my region free DVD recorder/player from 220-Electronics in Elk Grove, Illinois: http://www.220-electronics.com/ . It has never failed to play any DVD including Mexico, USA, and European.

Papirex

Jul 22, 2010, 10:48 AM

Post #4 of 4 (1121 views)

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Re: [mexliving] Watching region protected DVDs

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I didn't know that region 1 and 4 players were available. There are several brands of multi-region players available here in México though. People have posted that they all work well. I settled on a LG brand because they had them for sale at Costco here for the Peso equivalent of $62 US Dlls. a few years ago. It was clearly marked "multi-region". It works fine, nothing special to do, just insert a DVD and it plays, regardless of what region it was recorded for.

The only thing we need to do is to check for which languages and subtitles are available when buying a DVD. A few years ago I bought an interesting looking movie about a NAZI officer in Holland that fell in love with a Jewish woman during the war. The labels are not printed in a uniform format, and I couldn't find what languages were available in the store. When I got home, I discovered that the only idioms (languages) and subtitles on the DVD were Spanish and German. I watched it in Spanish, but it would have been more convenient for me in English.

We never need to be concerned about which region a DVD is recorded for now, but I have learned to be sure to ascertain which languages are available on them, it is sometimes hard to find them, as the labels are all printed in Spanish. Just about every legal DVD bought down here will have the Spanish language available on them, no problems for my Mexican family. English is my native language though, and I prefer it.

There is a possible work-around for some region 1 players though. Go to this site: http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks If the region 1 player you have is listed, click on DVD comments and the instructions for a hack to change regions, or play all region DVDs is given. Someone posted this link about a day after I bought our LG region free player, so I don't know if our old DVD player we bought in The US has a hack available, I boxed it up and I can't remember the make or model number now. I am saving it, maybe it will come in handy one of these days.

Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo