We had the following question in from Peter Bourne, regarding DVD regions:
“I am thinking of buying a DVD recorder to record digital TV. Many of these devices say ‘only region 2’. What does this mean please? I live on the Isle of Wight – can I buy any of these devices and will their tuner work to enable me to record digital TV?”
DVD Regions Explained
The DVD region reference you’re referring to is nothing to do with recording – it’s actually to do with the playback of pre-recorded DVDs of movies and TV shows.
DVD region codes are used by movie studios to control DVD releases, so that discs can be released to different parts of the world on different dates, and at different prices. It’s meant to stop us in the UK being able to import a cheaper US version of a movie. In the UK, DVD players are only meant to be able to playback “Region 2” DVDs. If you look on the back of a British retail DVD, you should see a “Region 2” logo, like these:
Examples of DVD Region 2 Logos
It is possible to buy “multi-region” DVD players, that are capable of playing back DVDs regardless of which of the six regions the disc was intended for.
DVD Regions and recording Freeview
There’s no issue here. The “Region 2” affects playback of recorded disks.
To record Freeview onto DVD, look for a DVD recorder with a built-in Freeview receiver. Any DVD recorder with onboard Freeview will let you record Freeview.
If you get a chance when buying, take a look at the on-screen Freeview programme guide, to make sure you’re comfy with the look of the guide, as you’ll be using this to select what you record.
Hope that helps!