DVD Regions

DVD’s are released in different region versions, and these are designed to only be used in those regions.

There are six Regions:

• Region 1: United States of America, Canada
• Region 2: Europe, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Japan, South Africa
• Region 3: Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam
• Region 4: Mexico, South America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Caribbean
• Region 5: Russia (former USSR), Eastern Europe, India, most of Africa, North Korea, Mongolia
• Region 6: China

There are are 2 different DVD formats that are not interchangeable.

• PAL: Used in the majority of Europe, most of Africa, China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, North Korea…
• NTSC: Used in the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Mexico…

A region 4 DVD issued in Mexico can, in theory, be used in Australia, however, because Mexico uses the NTSC format, and Australia used PAL, I am not sure if they would actually be compatible in each country.

Multi Region DVD Players

In Australia, all DVD players sold, will play both NTSC & PAL DVD’s, but the TV monitor must also be NTSC compatible, otherwise the playback may be non-existent or distorted.