Frequently Asked Questions

What’s available on video and DVD?

North America: Poirot: Hickory Dickory Dock; Touch of Frost: Deep Waters; Robinson Crusoe; Band of Brothers; The Forsyte Saga, Series 1; Dreamcatcher; The Forsyte Saga, Series 2; Keane; An Unfinished Life; Friends and Crocodiles; Colditz; Stormbreaker; Shakespeare Retold box set with Much Ado About Nothing; The Situation; The Baker; Life: Season 1; Band of Brothers [Blu-ray].

UK: Mickey Love; Poirot: Hickory Dickory Dock; Touch of Frost: Deep Waters; Warriors (VHS only, limited availability); Band of Brothers; The Forsyte Saga; Dreamcatcher; The Forsyte Saga, Series 2; Essential Poems; Posh and Beck’s Big Impression; Colditz; Shakespeare Retold box set (Includes Much Ado About Nothing); Friends and Crocodiles; Stormbreaker; An Unfinished Life; Keane; Hearts & Bones; The Baker ; Chromophobia; Band of Brothers [Blu-ray]; The Escapist (Release: Jan 12); Life: Season 1 (Release: Feb 02)

Australia: A Touch of Frost: Deep Waters; Band of Brothers; The Forsyte Saga; Dreamcatcher; The Forsyte Saga, Series 2; Brides; Much Ado About Nothing; Stormbreaker; Keane; The Situation; The Baker; Life: Season 1.

Other Notes:

DVDs not currently available in the UK or North America:

• Brides has only been released in Australia and Greece. The Region 4 DVD from Australia has English subtitles for the Greek-spoken parts. The Region 2 DVD from Greece has no English subtitles for the Greek-spoken parts.
• The Warriors Region 2 DVD has only been released in the Netherlands and France.

Lifeforce, Jeffrey Archer: The Truth, and Soldier, Husband, Daughter, Dad (narration only) have not been released on DVD or VHS - anywhere.

What Region am I in?

Region 1 - U.S., U.S. Territories, Canada, and Bermuda
Region 2 - Japan, Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East, including Egypt
Region 3 - Southeast Asia, East Asia, including Hong Kong
Region 4 - Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean
Region 5 - Former Soviet Union, Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia
Region 6 - China

I’m in the US - will a DVD from Europe (Region 2) or Australia (Region 4) play on my DVD player?

Only if your DVD player is already region-free or multi-region, but most likely it isn’t and you’ll have to modify it. You can check the manufacturer’s website or instruction manual for information on whether the player is region-free or multi-region.

For information on how-to to modify your television’s DVD player, scroll down or click here.

I’m in the US - will a DVD from Europe (Region 2) or Australia (Region 4) play on my computer’s DVD player?

No, it won’t. You’ll need to modify it to play DVDs from other regions.

The software AnyDVD enables your computer’s DVD player to play DVDs from other regions. I haven’t tried AnyDVD myself, but it’s been recommended to me by several people. Click here for more info.

How do I modify my DVD player so that it can play DVDs from another region?

For many DVD players this can be as easy as entering a few numbers (”hack code”) and commands using the remote control.

For more information, visit VideoHelp.com and do a search for your DVD player to find the hack code and instructions for your player. They maintain a long-running database on hack codes with comments from users on their success or lack of success with the hack code.

You can also check the manufacturer’s site or google the name of your DVD player with the word(s) “hack” or “hack code” to find this information.

Make sure during your research that others have had success with the hack code! There’s one more wrinkle: not all DVD players sold in the US play PAL discs and unfortunately Region 2 DVDs are also PAL formatted! This can’t be changed, either a DVD player can or cannot play PAL discs. So make sure that others haven’t had problems with this.

What US DVD players do you recommend to play DVDs from another Region?

Philips 642 Region Free Player - Recommended by many North American fans. It will play PAL discs from any Region.

CyberHome CH-DVD 300S DVD Player - Cheap DVD player that will play PAL discs. You’ll need to modify it to make it region-free. Click here for the hacking instructions.