Yet another reason to avoid the Battlefield Earth DVD:

July 8, 2001 7:58 PM

Yet another reason to avoid the Battlefield Earth DVD: A brand new "feature" called Regional Coding Enhancement, or RCE. Having the word "enhancement" in the title might make us think that we, the consumer, might actually benefit for this technology, but that isn't the case. The only people to benefit are the movie studios who, not content to gouge us on DVD prices (DVD's are cheaper to press than video tapes) have made it impossible to backup a DVD, or play a foreign DVD on a North American DVD player. Now, thanks to RCE, if you own a region-free DVD player, guess what? You can't play Battlefield Earth on it!
posted by johnnydark (30 comments total)

The region-free DVD player contingent is shitting itself.
posted by dong_resin at 8:10 PM on July 8, 2001

The region-free DVD player contingent was always living on borrowed time anyway. You knew that this loophole would eventually be addressed; it was just a question of when.

What amuses me is that they have deployed this anti-piracy technology on the one movie that no one in their right mind is going to want to steal. Why, there must be entire handfuls of people clamoring to watch Battlefield Earth on DVD before it is officially released in their region!
posted by kindall at 8:20 PM on July 8, 2001

Now, thanks to RCE, if you own a region-free DVD player, guess what? You can't play Battlefield Earth on it!

Any technology that blocks Battlefield Earth from the consumer is all right with me.
posted by hijinx at 8:21 PM on July 8, 2001

I wouldn't call the feature 'brand new'--per the link, it's been employed on some titles since October 2000 (possibly earlier).
posted by disarray at 8:36 PM on July 8, 2001

this anti-piracy technology...

I don't see where this is an "anti-piracy" tactic. If I buy a legitimately produced DVD while on vacation in Europe, why can't I play it on my player when I return home to the US?

I currently buy all my DVDs from a web site based in Canada, so I can take advantage of the favorable exchange rate. To prevent me from doing that wordwide is an attempt to subterfuge the free market. And I think it sucks.
posted by jpoulos at 8:53 PM on July 8, 2001

As someone who enjoys a lot of cinema made outside region 1, I find this tactic incomprehensible. I knew it was coming, but if it isn't a technological necessity, I'm baffled by the need to prevent me from enjoying non-Hollywood output.
posted by frykitty at 9:02 PM on July 8, 2001

If I buy a legitimately produced DVD while on vacation in Europe, why can't I play it on my player when I return home to the US?

Movies are released on different schedules in different countries, and they don't want you being able to buy the DVD before they've gotten as much as they can out of the box office. It's more an issue outside the US, but...
posted by willnot at 9:23 PM on July 8, 2001

I can explain why they do it. (I don't sympathize, but I can explain.) The idea is that theater release of movies around the world is staggered, for a number of reasons. Sales of DVDs for a movie have a certain window of opportunity which maximize sales; long enough after theatrical release so that people are beginning to think "I'd like to see that again" but not so long that they've forgotten the film entirely. These days it tends to be six months or so after theatrical release for most movies. The reason is that they're looking to maximize double-dippers, people who see the movie in the theaters and then buy a copy, too.

But with staggered release to theaters around the world, it means that it will be in the theaters in, say, Europe or India about the time it's being sold on plastic in the US. The studios are afraid that if the disk can be purchased by mail-order overseas, then people who might go to the theater and later buy a copy will just skip the theater and buy that copy immediately. By limiting the zones where DVDs can be played, they prevent that.

There, now, don't you feel better?
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:27 PM on July 8, 2001

Any technology that blocks Battlefield Earth from the consumer is all right with me.

could they possibly add this 'feature' to howard the duck?
posted by heather at 9:27 PM on July 8, 2001

If I buy a legitimately produced DVD while on vacation in Europe, why can't I play it on my player when I return home to the US?

What about your video tapes? This is nothing new.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:30 PM on July 8, 2001

The Regional Coding Enhancement also enhances the Regional Price Fixing Feature that's found on most DVDs.
posted by D at 9:32 PM on July 8, 2001

Mmm, yes well.

I'm kinda surprised at this, in some countries [outside of region 1] most of the manufacturers [including sony] really only release region-free players, which is a god send if your a Conan, the barbarian fan or you crave better manga than pokemon.

I know of at least one film organization that wishes to stop the import of DVD's that haven't been released in theaters, [that includes buying them over the internet for personal use], as a number of video stores where renting DVDs of films that have been release at least 9 months before in the US theaters but not in their own country.

This group have begin lobbying the government to change importing laws. So much for a level playing field in a global economy.
posted by X-00 at 9:56 PM on July 8, 2001

umm AFAIK most cheap chinese DVD players have a hidden menu where you can bypass this....

you really think this can't be outhacked?
posted by johnboy at 10:36 PM on July 8, 2001

"What about your video tapes? This is nothing new."

That's just it. I was hoping for an end to the NTSC/PAL/SECAM nonsense.

Sigh.

Yes, I'm betting it will be hacked quickly, but I'm no hacker.
posted by frykitty at 10:49 PM on July 8, 2001

I'm wondering, is there no explicit mention on the DVD (cover) that your right to view it is restricted to a certain part of the world, and that if you buy the DVD you agree with this condition, so in fact you have given up the right to view it everywhere?

(/me doesn't have a DVD player and neither DVD's)
posted by willem at 3:41 AM on July 9, 2001

The only people to benefit are the movie studios who, not content to gouge us on DVD prices (DVD's are cheaper to press than video tapes)...

Where in the world did you get that notion? (Source?) They may be cheaper to "press", but DVDs are not cheaper to produce than a VHS release. The costs of new transfers, specific content creation (documentaries, commentary, extras, DVD menus, authoring, etc.) - all of this at sell-through price points that are lower than sell-through VHS ever was. Add to the fact that DVDs have not been subjected to rental pricing like VHS (which will end soon, thank you Blockbuster), it seems to me that the studios haven't been gouging us compared to the hey-day of VHS. That's probably why they are trying to regain control of their content via Region coding.

I'm not happy about studios forcing the Region coding issue (my first generation Sony (American released) DVD player is Macrovision and Region Coding free), but I do think they have a right to fight piracy and prevent you from (ahem) "backing up a DVD", as you say.

Where we you when early adopters were fighting the DIVX format? That was far more dangerous and threatening.
posted by jca at 4:36 AM on July 9, 2001

jca: Where we you when early adopters were fighting the DIVX format?

I think the fact that DiVX is no longer available speaks volumes. Consumers didn't want it, and it was rejected. I remember quite distinctly when DiVX players were on clearance at Circuit City... lots of people thinking, "Hey, cool! I can play DiVX movies!" and then they looked around at the wasteland....

heather: Only if it can be added to Ishtar and Dude, Where's My Car? too.

Bottom line: studios are both scared and ignorant when it comes to technology. Scared, because they know that they'd have to give up a somewhat significant portion of control. Ignorant, because they assume everyone who gets a DVD will copy it and share it with friends. I'm not totally convinced that the latter will happen... although it might. The studios would rather not take a chance, and entirely alienate its consumers in the process. Good show!
posted by hijinx at 4:57 AM on July 9, 2001

Steven: the staggered release of films is set to die soon, anyway, with digital distribution. We're already getting the absurd situation in the UK of "previews" at the US premiere, followed by spoiler reviews and then the release a few months later. The marketers are beginning to realise that this greatly dilutes the impact of a release.

As for region-encoding: some of its anomalies are just silly, such as not being able to play subtitled foreign-language films, because the region 1 version is dubbed. And deeply cynical. It wouldn't happen with other medium -- say, books -- but the MPAA has the power to dictate policy around the world.

There will always be a market for restriction-busting players, though. And this is a relief.
posted by holgate at 5:10 AM on July 9, 2001

I am with hijinx here. I just watched the movie on HBO Saturday night. That movie should be banned. What a horrendous POS that turned out to be.
posted by a3matrix at 5:39 AM on July 9, 2001

I'm waiting to get hold of my first RCE disc, as I'm sure it only prevents play on machines that are set to region '0'. The hack on my player lets me manually change regions, so it should still work.
posted by viama at 6:59 AM on July 9, 2001

I saw this over the long weekend as well. It's certainly bad, but frankly, not nearly as bad as I had been lead to believe by the reviews. I had also rented DVDs of "Red Planet" and "Mission to Mars" for my nephew to watch, so it was kind of SciFi Weekend at our house. "Battlefield Earth" isn't any worse than either of those ("Red Planet" is, actually, a worse movie than "Battlefield Earth"), plus BE is (unintentionally?) funny as hell in a lot of places.
posted by m.polo at 7:01 AM on July 9, 2001

Here's a map of the DVD regions. You'll note that the Australia has been helpfully placed in the same region as other Spanish speaking countries...
posted by lagado at 7:14 AM on July 9, 2001

Australia makes some of the best movies on the planet. I'm surprised Hollywood lobbying didn't divide them up into 30 completely unique regions.

[ahem. Don't mind me. Just watched Proof for the first time.]
posted by frykitty at 7:52 AM on July 9, 2001

It makes sense that studios want to release DVDs at different times in different regions because of differing theatre dates.

But why the different theatre dates? Is it just a production capacity issue? Are they trying to minimize the number of film reels they have to produce or what?

And in any case, region encoding on DVDs is silly anyway. So what if I go to the trouble of ordering a DVD that's available earlier in another region? Why do they care? The mass market isn't going to go through that much trouble. They'll wait until they can get it at Best Buy or wherever.
posted by daveadams at 8:33 AM on July 9, 2001

Are they trying to minimize the number of film reels they have to produce or what?

That's my guess. I used to be a projectionist at a little theater on Cape Cod, which showed lots of small independent and foreign films (best job I ever had, BTW). From my perspective, coordinating the distribution of a very limited number of prints was a nightmare. When a film's run ended (after the 11:00 pm showing on a Thursday night), there was someone there at 1:30 am Friday to pick up the print and deliver it to another theater for the Friday matinee. I don't know what it costs to produce a print, but it was obviously not an expense that the distributors took lightly.

Eventually, as the global market grows (and, as holgate pointed out, digital distribution becomes standard), this practice will go away. Whether regional DVD encoding will go away is another question.

These days, preventing your audience from using your product is all the rage.
posted by jpoulos at 9:22 AM on July 9, 2001

BTW, frykitty, you're right. Proof kicks ass.
posted by jpoulos at 9:24 AM on July 9, 2001

Is it just a production capacity issue?

Partly, though it's also a marketing issue: tweaking strategy to suit particular markets, ensuring that the stars show up for the national premiere, and giving local media their two-minute "exclusives". And even with digital distribution, you can't digitally distribute Julia Roberts.

ObOzFilmRec: Love and Other Catastrophes. Well worth renting.
posted by holgate at 10:18 AM on July 9, 2001

You know, Netflix is great, but they aren't doing it for me with the Oz stuff. They don't have Love and Other Catastrophes. Yes, this is completely off-topic (no, I don't care): can anyone recommend a good online video-rental spot that has more unusual titles?

I had to buy Proof, for heaven's sake. Though it was worth it.
posted by frykitty at 10:22 AM on July 9, 2001

Well read the article, there are already numerous workarounds. And there are more than they list there, not even taking into consideration hardware and firmware hacks. It just involves ye olde internet search.
posted by yupislyr at 10:39 AM on July 9, 2001

It makes sense that studios want to release DVDs at different times in different regions because of differing theatre dates.

Which begs the question: why are 'catalog titles' that have been out of theatrical release for YEARS given regional encoding?

Before all the US studios got their heads out of their asses on how to create a decent DVD (Fox and Disney were truly pathetic only 1.5 years ago), it was not to unusual to get a barebones, non-anamorphic version released in the US, while Europe got a full-featured version with a new, pristine transfer.

My pet peeve is with Asian films. Several of my favorite titles from that part of the world have been given sub-standard releases in the US (poor transfer, inexplicable edits) while they get the 'Special Edition' treatment in region 3 (Asia).

Grrrrr.... these regions must die!
posted by Dirjy at 8:41 PM on July 9, 2001