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[RMJ]

I could talk whole day about DVD specifications and especially the problems and lack of features of the DVD. But I'll save you from that this time... :wink:

Originally Posted by cybersoil

I was going by what I read. It may not be a Blu-Ray or HD DVD but the genuine article is super, super sharp in clarity (as compared to normal American DVDs) and everyone asked and thought it was HD.

The difference is that PAL standard is better than NTSC. PAL provides better colors (more vivid). And higher vertical resolution: 480 in NTSC, 576 in PAL, so the PAL DVD's are siginificantly better looking (if mastered with care).

Originally Posted by cybersoil

You're right about the Alizee DVD, after looking at the cover it says it is set for all zones,

Ok, thanks for confirming it.

Could you also install some software that shows you information about the DVD itself. For example DVD Decrypter. When you instert DVD in your computer, it should then be able to tell what region the DVD is. Also tell the protection systems it has. Or simply take screencapture of the DVD Decrypter window.

You can download it from here, for example.
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/1011845169/1

Google for other mirrors if that doesn't work.

Originally Posted by cybersoil

probably because she has fans all over the world and they weren't concerned with releasing the DVD on different dates but most of my other European DVDs are set for region 2.

Most music videos are multi regon or region free since they are not usually localized. But sometimes they might be set to some region.

Movies are practically always only for one region (exception is Australia which usually uses double region system 2/4, so they works also in Europe. And the Australian DVDs are usually identical to European DVDs, just the region is changed to double region.)

Originally Posted by cybersoil

The only reason they have DVD zoning is to help prevent piracy; they want to be able to release a DVD in Europe (for example) and not have it releasable (watchable) in the US until they decide (for various reasons) to release it here themselves.

Yes, it was done for marketing. European and American markets would lost big money if Chinese or other Asian DVDs worked here, since the prices in the Asia is much lower. I often by Asian releases which are region 3. Just released brand new authentic DVD costs there usually less than 50% of the DVD in Europe. The single DVD releases might be as low as 8 bucks on release date, deluxe editions (with extra bonus DVD and nicer covers) are usually 12 bucks or lil more. And the prices are after shipping to Europe...