ld13
Honorary Master
I do not see 1 word in there that tells me that it is illegal...
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I do not see 1 word in there that tells me that it is illegal...
Region code enforcement has been discussed as a possible violation of World Trade Organization free trade agreements or competition law.[6] The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned that DVD players that enforce region coding may violate the Trade Practices Act.[7][8][9] The government of New Zealand is also considering a similar ruling.[10] This, supposedly, means that all DVD players sold in their territories have to be region-free.
Movie publishers misused region coding when they released older material with full region coding—there being no requirement, per the stated cinema-blockout justification provided, to restrict sales to certain countries. There are concerns, voiced by organizations such as the European Union, that region coding was solely an attempt to enforce price differentials.[11]
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code#Legal_concerns
In fact it's the opposite.
Go for a better local option!!
How is our country to make itself better when we are not supporting our local industry. Now that Amazon is 'dot gone' why not look at the local alternative, www.lookandlisten.co.za. Not only to they carry the largest catalogue of DVD's and CD's, but they cater for the gamer...and the MP3 maniac, all delivered to you by DOOR-TO-DOOR COURIER at the ridiculous price of R29. If you have been using Amazon to find 'hard-to-find' music, movies or games...I suggest going to www.lookandlisten.co.za. Personally, Much better than the 'amazin' Amazon.
How is our country to make itself better when we are not supporting our local industry. Now that Amazon is 'dot gone' why not look at the local alternative, www.lookandlisten.co.za. Not only to they carry the largest catalogue of DVD's and CD's, but they cater for the gamer...and the MP3 maniac, all delivered to you by DOOR-TO-DOOR COURIER at the ridiculous price of R29. If you have been using Amazon to find 'hard-to-find' music, movies or games...I suggest going to www.lookandlisten.co.za. Personally, Much better than the 'amazin' Amazon.
I don't know, agreements between studios and distributors are very different to international laws.
That depends, do people ship laptops and 3G cards via the post office?
I don't see any mention of it being illegal there, PeterCH has already replied though and seems to know more about it than I do.
+1.
Region coding is not an international law. Its a standard from the DVD Forumm part of the DVD spec.
A good example of another standard which is not law but useful is the write protect tab
on video casettes. Its a standard, that's all.
The copyright issues involve people who import stuff commercially (to make money with eg Mr Video),
not end users who import DVDs for self or family.
BBSA
Honorary Master
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I am sick to death of all the moaning, moaning, moaningwhich I read from my fellow South Africans. Are you all wanting to live in paradise where everything goes right, come on. So we have a problems, no different to other countries who have their own problems. DO you honestly think that it is only because of theft, which happenings everywhere on planet Earth, we are not unique (sorry to burst your bubble).....
South Africa has 30 000 murders a year, this is not your normal run of the mill problems every country has! We have a really sick sick society with absolutely no morals at all.
Do you say we must just accept this, of cause we will moan. I'm sorry but I'm not just going to ly down and except this k@k.
We and Nigeria are the only African countries Amazon do not want to ship to.
We should be ashamed of ourselves
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So I can buy a Criterion Collection DVD from L&L for R499 and the same DVD
costs me $26 from Amazon (even less from other shippers), shipping is $7 and tax is R50 - although usually not taxed. Yeah good advice!
We and Nigeria are the only African countries Amazon do not want to ship to.
We should be ashamed of ourselves
Er they still ship to Nigeria. It's only SA....
ld13
Honorary Master
I wonder if they still ship to Lesotho?
BBSA
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You are certainly a naive one arent you. Firstly, if you stood up and took note of my earlier posts, I am outta here. Definitely not sticking around for the "Taking up of arms" that your ANC bretheran so eloquently put it, sorry chaps but you going to have to find someone else to burn.
Where ever could this negativity of mine stem from. Possibly it started when the electricity crisis hit, or maybe it was when I noticed I was replacing tyres before they wore out because of our ailing road infrustructure, that was once the envy of many countries around the world. Perhaps it was the recent Xenophobic attacks that broke out seemingly overnight. Maybe it is the interest rate hikes that have caused many close firends to loose their cars and houses. It might also be my interest in telekoms that lead me to the realisation that we are on a dead end road to no where. It might also be that jerk cop that wrote me out a huge ticket cause I wouldnt bribe him. Hang on, I think I got it... oh yes, it is probably the fact that I have had 3 relatives murdered in their own homes in the 3 years. My uncle had the misfortune of being beaten and hung in his own garage. Another was shot in the head during a hijacking. And my sister in laws father, a pensioner of 65 odd years of age came back from shopping and found some of your people that had followed the advise of the leader of the ANC youth league and decided to "steal back" from the white man. He was beaten half to death till he lost an eye, then tied up with curtains from his house, and executed with a bullet to the head.
But, no. You probably right, it is all in my head.
And again you are right, this happens in other places in the world. But tell me this. Where else does this happen on the scale we have here, as fast as it has happened here, all at the same time?
Yes they do. They ship to Afghanistan and Iraq. OK they don't ship to
North Korea or Cuba tho. It's a US company
.Region coding is not an international law. Its a standard from the DVD Forumm part of the DVD spec.
A good example of another standard which is not law but useful is the write protect tab
on video casettes. Its a standard, that's all.
The copyright issues involve people who import stuff commercially (to make money with eg Mr Video),
not end users who import DVDs for self or family.
That's what I meant, it might to an extent restrict distributors like Mr Video but not consumers who import for personal use.
I know you meant that, my reply was more for the benefit of our
other learned friends
.I know you meant that, my reply was more for the benefit of our
other learned friends
I can see the sarcasm dripping from that lol.
Whatever dude, I am not going to get into a debate with you on this matter as we clearly have different view points and will not see eye to eye. Zoning was introduced for 1) commercial reasons (releasing of movies etc) 2) copyright protection.
Fact: Yes you can purchase dvd's from different regions
Fact: You will not get prosecuted for buying and playing different regions on your dvd player
Fact: It is law...but not enforced law.
Fact: It was introduced by movie studios and dvd player manufacturers joined in to proceed region restricted players.
Fact: Hacks were released to over come this problem....a hack by definition is doing something to something which makes the something do what it was not originally intended to do. It was not released as a fix to a problem but originally as a hack cause you were not meant to do this. check copyright law - specifically the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, although it is not a clear cut situation.
Fact: The is a battle going on between the owners of the material, namely the movie studios and the end user. Although dvd player manufacturing companies will not make zone free machines they will also not make zone restricted machines (because they wont sell if they cannot be hacked).
We could debate this matter for years but we will not see eye to eye because the world hasn't come to terms with what is right and what is wrong. I see it like prostitution, its illegal (in SA) yet newspaper advertise these services but prosecution has almost disappeared. It is still illegal but toleranted.......(Sorry to use this as an example, hope it doesn't offend anyone reading this)
Fact: Yes you can purchase dvd's from different regions
Fact: You will not get prosecuted for buying and playing different regions on your dvd player
Fact: It is law...but not enforced law.
Fact: It was introduced by movie studios and dvd player manufacturers joined in to proceed region restricted players.
Fact: Hacks were released to over come this problem....a hack by definition is doing something to something which makes the something do what it was not originally intended to do. It was not released as a fix to a problem but originally as a hack cause you were not meant to do this. check copyright law - specifically the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, although it is not a clear cut situation.
Fact: The is a battle going on between the owners of the material, namely the movie studios and the end user. Although dvd player manufacturing companies will not make zone free machines they will also not make zone restricted machines (because they wont sell if they cannot be hacked).
We could debate this matter for years but we will not see eye to eye because the world hasn't come to terms with what is right and what is wrong. I see it like prostitution, its illegal (in SA) yet newspaper advertise these services but prosecution has almost disappeared. It is still illegal but toleranted.......(Sorry to use this as an example, hope it doesn't offend anyone reading this)
Viewpoints and facts are two very different things. I may see things differently from you but the law is objective. The DMCA is American law, not international law btw.
So I can buy a Criterion Collection DVD from L&L for R499 and the same DVD
costs me $26 from Amazon (even less from other shippers), shipping is $7 and tax is R50 - although usually not taxed. Yeah good advice!
The question you have to answer is how long do you wait for that DVD to be delivered to your door from other shippers. I have found that pricing on import disks via www.lookandlisten.co.za is really affected by the then exchange rate, and if it's something you want dearly, and getting it delivered in few days, I'd go with the local boys. At least I am assured of getting the product.
Zoning was not introduced for copyright protection.
CSS encryption was as is MacroVision encoding.
Region coding per se is not law. Please quote the relevant
SA law which states that you may not view DVDs outside
of your region.
Region coding is part of the DVD specification from the DVD Consortium/Forum (made up of SONY, Matsu****a, Phillips,
NEC, etc). Its an optional standard.
Just because DISK has the region code flag set it doesn't
mean there is any exclusivity agreement prohibiting
playback of that disk. Rightstuf.com which owns copyright
of many animated and live action DVD titles only sells R1
disks, yet they sell worldwide and wholesale worldwide too.
This is an example of a company which has set the Region
flag (as 1) but is still selling their own DVDs (they produce
content on DVD and even VHS) and sell it for resale
INTERNATIONALLY.
Assuming there is a law as you suggest, prohibiting playback
of Regio 1 DVDs in SA, anyone playing back such DVDs even
with the Company's blessing would be arrested? Giving
an extreme example here.
The DMCA is a US law. It does not apply outside of the US and
as mentioned in an earlier blurb the EU and AU/NZ consider
DVD region coding to be OUT OF LINE with their LAWS.
The DMCA is not per se against DVD player unlocking.
It is against DeCSS and removal of Macrovision, those things
are quasi legal, although format shifting has not been found
to be illegal in the States (I think it's a Fair Use statute).
Ok I'm no lawyer but that's how I understand it. Jeff Bizos
(owner of Amazon) should be behind bars for selling R1 DVDs
to the entire world. He also sells CDs (Sony BMG USA disks)
to countries which fall under SONY BMG X (X = any random
country in the world).
After years of internet buying I've learned to wait. I now even regret using
couriers so often initially, could have saved so much money.
I usually research my purchases online before buying. If something
wins at Cannes or in Venice or Berlin and gets good reviews
or is by someone I like, I then WAIT till the DVD appears,
sometimes it's LONG
. Kieslowski's fans waited 10 yearsfor the Double Life of Veronique to appear on non-bootleg
DVD
. The way some of us buy things is different, L&Lusually doesn't hold any suprises for me
.I get you, but IMPORT DVDs are marked up terribly by L&L,
and they can get em from suppliers (wholesale price), while
we buy them online from the final retailers.
Take2's import prices are lower than L&L too, significantly.
However its possible to buy DVDs at an even cheaper price
than T2 from international sites, altho T2 is safe regarding currency fluctuations, lost
parcels and tax. There are also disks which T2 does not
stock as in Japanese R2 NTSC disks and European R2 PAL disks
(non UK) or even Korean R3 disks.
At the end of the day even if I import, I save some money
and have more to spend at Spur or MacDonalds or Woolies,
otherwise I'd have spent less there.
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