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Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Is Anime Still Region Locked?
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GeorgH
Posts: 64 |
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"And there are always at least a handful of releases you can't get in your country, making owning a region free player your only option."
Missing FCC or CE approvals (depending on which is required for your region) - or if present, cracked firmwares would make these invalid. Both makes selling or importing most of these "region free players" illegal in many countries and the few remaining legal alternatives are sometimes selling for over 1000$ per unit 
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3564 Location: Finland |
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If you watch on PC or stream from a PC, stand-alone players aren't your only option. Region codes/drm on Bluray might be more sophisticated than those on DVDs, but nevertheless it's as broken if you are determined to make those things a non-issue for watching. Had you been referring to UHD discs instead, the description would have been more adept. But I reckon it's only a question of time before that issue is resolved as well... |
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LegitPancake
 Posts: 1311 Location: Texas, USA |
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Own a region-free bluray player myself, and I love it. You just press a button on the remote to tell it what region the disk will be. It’s very useful in importing Aniplex titles from the UK since they are much cheaper, as well as BDs that haven’t been released in the US yet or are OOP. I am a proud owner of A Silent Voice and Berserk ‘97 because of this. Also Amazon is great with international shipping.
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Mr Adventure
 Posts: 1598 |
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Aren't Ultra HD Blu-rays Region Free worldwide?
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I have to question the logic behind this statement. While I'm sure the model was unsustainable, how much of that was due to margin vs. say the actual MATERIAL being sold. The market for video material that IS actually in the public domain (especially on the latest and greatest format) isn't that large. I mean, how many people were REALLY clamoring for DVDs of old black & white films? Especially considering the role streaming plays NOW, I can't believe that Region locking is still propped up by outside region price war potential. (I DO believe the reverse-importation deal with Japan, but I DON'T believe that the risk between American discs vs. European disks is all that high) |
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LaytonPuzzle27
 Posts: 121 |
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Did you know that VHS tapes don't have region-lock.
Last edited by LaytonPuzzle27 on Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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finlands-beret
 Posts: 45 Location: UK |
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I've noticed more and more frequently in the UK that our (anime) Blu-rays and DVDs have the NTSC colour system, and certain series even come with an FBI warning when they start (as in, the FBI "It is illegal to copy/rent/play in public spaces" message.)
It seems like distributors here have little to no trouble in being able to slightly alter things for region two releases over here, particularly in the case of DVDs; Gatchaman Crowds Insight, Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Himouto! Umaru-chan and Noragami Aragoto have their DVD versions in NTSC colour format, to name just a few. |
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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No but VHS players only work with PAL or NTSC, not both (though maybe newer ones do, not that anyone makes them anymore). At least afaik they never tried to have different cassette sizes for different regions, as they did with game cartridges back in the day. Have sad childhood memories of getting a game from the USA as a present, only to find it physically didn't fit in my SNES
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5504 |
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There are a number of titles not available in the UK, the problem is that sales of Anime in the UK are very small, so supporting these companies is important. |
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K.o.R
 Posts: 223 |
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Well, getting them to work is a matter of getting a BD-ROM drive, which probably comes with PowerDVD and that's your playback sorted. Region busting is pretty easy if you're willing to put down (okay, a not-inconsiderable amount of) money, but the convenience may be worth it. If not, then I'm sure there are options available. But yes, death to region locking. 
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4157 |
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Keeping PowerDVD working, that's the real trick. If Windows10 updates or so much as sneezes, powerDVD says "nope, can't read BDs anymore", usually forcing me to reinstall it. Still better than VLC BD which won't even do menus. I could play movies as it autoplayed the largest chunk... so an anime BD would play the largest episode. Isn't that useful? And all of this is just for copy protection. The irony is it's easier to rip the HD files than trying to play it legally. None of this makes sense. |
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russ869
Posts: 433 |
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I've still encountered very few BDs that use the country lock in addition to the region lock. And I don't think I've ever heard of the country lock being using on anything other than anime BDs from Japan.
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Crext
 Posts: 211 |
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Region locking is the way of thinking for companies with no ambitions.
They should look to the game industry, give region exclusive (and better adapted) deals, give some sort of online unique stream purchase, think differently or at the very least trust in the customer. Kid's shows would never get harmed over region free services as they got to be dubbed anyways, and lets face it, we all buy those shows digitally on our TV-inbuilt Stream decoders anyways (or will eventually). This is easy to say, but Blue-Rays are a dying breed. People that buy it mainly do so to support their favorite shows and series. It would be better for the companies just to rent a donation tab next to the pirate streaming site in order to harvest more cash at this rate. Offering something different in merchandise, or selling the characters out as guest characters in different video games/series (why do we see so little kameos?!) or as commercial props... There's so many opportunities. If you really want to sell bluerays, then target select shops at gaming events. I've only seen those events having figurines of Western TV-shows, and certainly no software for sale. This despite there being a million pikachus in pajamas. Oh well, it looks like Netflix has gotten their butts in gear and started to deliver some decent shows lately. Maybe they'll be willing to take that which others didn't dare to touch. |
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Cecilthedarkknight_234
 Posts: 3820 Location: Louisville, KY |
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CCCP has always worked for me but that brings up some legal grey areas.. |
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Mune
Posts: 382 Location: Minnesota |
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Thus, how Japan tried to reign in their own country from reverse importing. I still remember when Persona 4 the Animation Blu-rays were English audio only with no subtitles, but the DVDs had the options for Japanese audio and subtitles to combat reverse importation. Another method was to simply price the anime at Japanese levels or higher to persuade Japanese buyers to buy domestically. However, this outraged many anime fans in the United States, who were used to cheaper prices. I see the problem about this mess is that a production company and distribution is not global, but only operates in their own country. This problem would be solved if they simply decided to do away with licensing rights to other companies and do the work themselves. This could include integrating said licensing companies into their own through a merger. Then, they would be able to dictate how much an item should go for and how it is distributed. They would also need to bring pricing up to speed to what would ultimately make them the most money and get the largest fanbase. The problem is that this strategy has already been done via Aniplex with Aniplex USA. Many fans do not like the pricing and feel that Aniplex is overpriced. However, the prices are comparable between Japanese and English versions. The pricing needs to be lower for consumers to be able to afford it easier. Because of this, many fans are left with 4 options. 1) save money and buy the official release, 2) watch it on a streaming site, 3) watch it on TV when it airs, or 4) pirate it. While almost everyone I know does 2 or 3, we all know there are many that do 1 and 4. The idea is to eliminate the motivation and reason to do 4 at all. |
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