Want to play that Zone 2 film you picked up in Paris, or that Zone 6 flick your aunt sent you from Beijing? It can be done.

There's a reason DVD films are encoded with a zone code. It's not a real good reason, but it's a reason. Film studios are in the habit of launching new films in North America first, and then waiting three months, or six months, before launching them in Europe, Asia or Australia. How happy will they be if you buy a North American DVD while the film is still in first-run cinemas where you live?
     Hence the zones. A Zone 1 (US/Canada) film will not play in Europe (Zone 2) or in New Zealand (Zone 4). At least that's theoretically true. In fact the big video stores in London and Paris have more Zone 1 films than their own Zone 2 films. They're in demand, because they are cheaper and they arrive months earlier. And of course they can be played. Lots of European technicians will take their forceps and perform a zonectomy on your player. Indeed, lots of stores will sell you a player that has been set to Zone 0...which is no zone at all.
     But finding the same service in North America, for watching anything but Zone 1, is not so easy. Some hardware hackers have discovered in fact that it can be done, often without tools. The studios have noticed...and are fighting back.

"Dezoning" a player
     It can be done at home, but it's not for the faint of heart. And the method varies, not only from brand to brand, but even from model to model. Here for example are the instructions for dezoning a Hitachi DV-P2E.
     First you open the player with the front toward you. On the right you'll see a printed circuit with an aluminum cover. Unscrew the cover and turn the board upside down. Here's what you'll see.

     At lower left there are three unused solder lugs next to a large chip marked IC 602. Solder the middle and lower lugs together.
     Reassemble the player and turn it on. On the remote control, press menu. The on-screen display will read "OSD." Press "1." The display will now read "Initial." Press display, and the screen will show the current region code. Press condition, and then the number of the code you want to set the player to. The on-screen menu should display something like:
     OSD Region 2
     Ver. 1.036/8
     AVI. 3.31
     Now press menu to confirm.
     Wasn't that fun? No?
     It's easier with the Chinese-made Tokai DVD-715. No screwdriver or soldering iron needed. All you need is the remote control:
     Press setup. Press slow. Press skip left. Press skip right. Select the desired region with the cursor. You're done!
     The Harman/Kardon DVD-1 is even easier to reprogram: With the player on standby, with no disc, push the buttons on the remote in this order: 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2. Then press the number of the zone you want. That's it.
     It makes you wonder who comes up with these ridiculous sequences, and why.

(This is an excerpt from the full article. That article contains instructions for other DVD players, some warnings about what can happen if you follow them, and sources for dezoning, or rezoning, the DVD player on a Windows or Macintosh computer. To read the entire article, just order issue 61 at our secure server.)

Complete articles from this issue:
The Battle of the Super Discs, Cambridge Isomagic Converter, Soundcare Superspikes, State of the Art

Excerpted articles from this issue:
New Surround Formats, Defeating DVD Zoning, Vegas 2001, Audiomat Tempo & Vecteur D-2, Audio Refinement Pre 5 Preamp, Osborn Mini Tower Speakers, Mirage OM-9 Speakers