Nov 18, 2008 3:13 PM | 2 Comments

The PlayStation 3 is widely regarded as one of the best Blu-ray players on the market for the money. But why does Sony also insist on taking us back to the dark ages with DVD region coding?

The time has come to permanently add a Blu-ray player to my lounge room, rather than getting them on loan for review and hanging on to them for as long as possible. The obvious choice is a PlayStation 3, which could also act as a DLNA-compliant media player for streaming video from a PC (which just happens to be running BitTorrent). Oh yeah, it's also a games console - but I wouldn't tell my children that.

The PS3's use of a Bluetooth remote control is annoying, because I can't control it with an infrared universal remote such as my Logitech Harmony 785, but this isn't necessarily a deal breaker as there are workarounds. What is a deal breaker is that the PlayStation 3 enforces region coding for DVDs as well as games and Blu-ray movies. Talk about going back to the dark ages.

My DVD collection
I'd say about a third of my DVD collection is region 2 discs, bought from Amazon UK, and the rest region 4 discs bought in Australia. Opting for region 2 means they're PAL. I stick to PAL not just for the superior image quality over region 1 NTSC discs but also so I can lend the DVDs to friends who might not have an NTSC-compatible TV.

Having a third of my DVDs not play in my new DVD player would put a serious dint in my WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). I know I can rip the DVDs to a computer and then play them on a PS3, but I don't see why I should have to sacrifice the convenience of having a region free DVD player.

Region coding, it's a scam
Region coding is a scam which shows up the hypocrisy behind so-called globalisation. Big vendors like Sony consider it's their god-given right to source the cheapest parts and labour from around the world when building games consoles and movie players - that's what competition is all about.

Yet apparently they are allowed to be anti-competitive when it comes to selling movies and games, as region coding prevents me from sourcing the cheapest discs and players from around the globe.

One rule for DVD players, another for the PS3
The problem is that Sony has its fingers in a lot of pies. The Japanese behemoth makes both content and hardware, so it has a vested interest in enforcing region coding on movies and games. Even so, manufacturers including Sony seem to have struck an unwritten agreement with the ACCC, Australia's consumer watchdog, to disable region coding on DVD players. The agreement came about after the ACCC made mutterings about region coding possibly being anti-competitive and that it was considering investigating such things.

It would seem the PS3 is exempt from this agreement, something which Sony obviously doesn't draw attention to. I admit I didn't realise until it came up in conversation with colleagues. It seems most standalone Blu-ray players aren't locked to region 4 for DVDs, such as Sony's BDP-S350 and the Panasonic DMR-BW500 HDD/Blu-ray recorder. I think I'll be looking at a standalone Blu-ray player (or recorder), rather than laying down my money on a PS3.

Of course then there's the question of playing media files from a computer via DLNA. It seems only a handful of manufacturers, such as JVC and Pioneer, offer DLNA-compliant Blu-ray players. Even if Sony did offer a DLNA-compliant player, chances are it would be like the new Bravias and only play music and photos but not video. Bloody annoying, but of course if the Bravias played video files via DLNA there'd be one less reason to buy a PS3. Like I said, fingers in lots of pies.

For me the digital lounge room consists of three main components - an HD optical disc player (plus maybe recorder), HD Personal Video Recorder and a streaming media player for both local and online content. Actually, that last component could be two, depending on the device.

Getting all these features in one player seems to involve building a computer-based media centre, which I'm trying to avoid after my disappointing experiences with both Windows and Mac solutions.

The potential of the PS3
The PS3 has the potential to handle all these requirements once the PlayTV television tuner and online movies services arrive in Australia, but I'm wondering if it's a mistake to swear my allegiance to a games console that's trying to be a home entertainment system on the side. The DVD region coding issue has only served to fuel my concerns.

To get all the features I want, I suspect I'll have to build a best of breed solution from at least two devices - handling the key home entertainment tasks between them. I've been putting this off for too long and it's time to take the plunge. Tune in again next time and we'll go through some of the options.

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microUgly Dec 17, 2008 10:18 AM

I bought a PS3 for the main role as a Bluray player. It's disappointing that it's still region locked although I had still thought that all players were still locked. So all my DVDs are region 4. But is the region locking hardware or software forced? Sony allows you to load alternative operating system such as Yellow Dog. I haven't done it myself, but it sounds relatively simple and safe. On a side note, I have to admit that being able to play ripped DVD (as a single VOB) from my PC on the PS3 via TVersity at full res and 5.1 sound is very sweet.

peterlc Dec 28, 2009 10:55 PM

Australia is in the same region (B) as the UK as far as BR discs are concerned so those discs should play fine. However it will only play region 4 DVDs. I too find this a complete pain as many of my DVDs are region 1 and region 2 as well as discs bought here in OZ. Region locking is a farce. DVD players sold here must be region free or be able to be easily changed to region free so why not BR players too? This does not include computer DVD drives it seems as they will still be locked after changing regions several times. This can be circumvented on a PC by using software that ignores the region coding. We don't play games at all on the PS3. It's sole purpose is as a media centre and except for this region locking business, it's a job it excels at. Hopefully it's just a firmware issue not a 'feature' of the drive itself. You can't load Linux on to the newer slim PS3. That feature is now gone.