Rosefolly, I'm glad you posted it here at RP. Thanks for the heads up. I will be buying a copy for myself and as gifts for others. It is such a beautiful film; a splendid adaptation, I think.

I have had it in DVD for more than a year, and rented it on DVD about 3 years ago. Perhaps it was released earlier on DVD in Europe?

Netla, what you say does not surprise me. It has long been a pet peeve of mine that DVDs are often released in different areas at different times, and something is done to the format so that DVDs marketed to one geographic region cannot be played in another region. The DVDs and players here in the United States and Canada are Region 1 while those in Europe are Region 2. In fact, here is a quick summary I found in Wikipedia.

Region code Area
0 Informal term meaning "worldwide". Region 0 is not an official setting; discs that bear the region 0 symbol either have no flag set or have region 1Â6 flags set.
1 Canada, United States; U.S. territories; Bermuda
2 Western and Central Europe; Western Asia; Egypt, Japan, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho; United Kingdom, Turkey, French overseas territories
3 Southeast Asia; South Korea; Taiwan; Hong Kong; Macau
4 Australia; New Zealand; Oceania; Central and South America; Caribbean; Mexico
5 Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Africa, Central and South Asia, Mongolia, North Korea.
6 China
7 Reserved for future use (found in use on protected screener copies of MPAA-related DVDs and "media copies" of pre-releases in Asia)
8 International venues such as aircraft, cruise ships, etc.[1]
ALL Region ALL discs have all 8 flags set, allowing the disc to be played in any locale on any player.

There is more detail I did not include. Look it up if you are interested. There is a long list of special combinations of coding that are applied in various circumstances.

The reason I find this so frustrating (besides having to wait years for a movie I want) is that sometimes movies are edited differently in one release than in another. I purchased the DVD of The Last of the Mohicans which I had enjoyed very much in the theater. The movie I watched on my DVD was disappointing -- all of the nuance in dialog gone, the motivation of key scenes gone, all in all, a movie that made little sense. I was puzzled. Then I discovered that the DVD released here in the USA was a different cut than the one released in the rest of the world. If I want to watch the movie I remember I have two choices. I can get a copy of the old VHS tape, or I can buy a special regionless DVD and order the DVD from Amazon UK. I may do that someday. So far inertia has stopped me.

Rosefolly

DVDs from one region will not work on DVD players of another. And most people don't know what region they are in. I found this out in Florence last fall. There were wonderful DVDs for sale at the Uffizi and a number of us from all over the world stood there trying to figure out what region we were in. In the end, no one bought anything.

Why don't these tech geniuses eliminate this region nonsense is the big question.

It's all about money, copyrights, legal rights and so forth. The regions were deliberately created for this reason. One can purchase a region-free DVD player that will play any format at a relatively inexpensive price. Also, your computer should be able to play any DVD regardless of region.

Is that true, Siobhan? I didn't think it was that easy. If so I'd go ahead and order the UK release of The Last of the Mohicans.

Rosefolly

Rosefolly, you can also get a code to unlock some region specific players it so they will play discs from any region. The one I have was specified for region 2, but once I used the code, I have been able to play region 1 discs I bought in the USA.

Netla, here do you find such a code? And how do you use it?

Rosefolly

Here are some from Amazon - search "region free dvd player" or something similar. I've had one for awhile, I think I paid $50.

Here is a link that might be useful: Region free dvd players

Rosefolly - the shop that sold me my player gave the code along with the operating instructions. You can also find them on the web.

The link I'm providing leads to what should be reliable instructions. You should read up on this very carefully, to make sure the code you use is to permanently unlock the player, and not to simply switch regions temporarily. I have heard about players where you had to use a code to switch between regions, and they only worked a limited number of times.

Funny enough, the region free or all regions players are usually the cheap ones sold under brand names you've never heard of.

Here is a link that might be useful: Unlocking instructions

Thanks, Netla. I'll order the DVD and give it a try.