In a message dated 12/1/98 1:16:16 AM Central Standard Time,
TenchiMP@gate1.tomatoweb.com writes:

> can american DVD players play Japanese import discs??
Technically, no, you can't play Japanese import DVDs on American DVD players.
The DVD player has this thing inside them that prevents them from being able
to read DVDs not meant to be sold in the U.S. region.
For that matter, you can't play any DVDs imported from any country outside the
U.S. region because of the regional code.
The regional code are codes assigned to various parts of the world. The codes
are then encoded onto the DVD so that only DVD players available in that
particular region can read that DVD.

But there is hope if you trully want to import DVDs from other parts of the
world.
There are some people who are willing to remove the regional lock outs for a
small fee. And some places sell the chip (from what I hear) that would let you
play DVDs from other regions. And I've heard that some of the Pioneer DVD
players have a little switch inside them that will let you play DVD's from
Japanese region.

Malvin Lim