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Dianthus Mimulus wrote, On 4/02/07 2.55 p:
> On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 13:20:31 +1300, Phil wrote:
>
>> That wasn't my question. Where in the legislation does it make it
>> illegal to sell region-locked devices?
>
> The Consumer Guarantees Act makes it illegal to sell anything not fit for
> the purpose for which it is being sold.
>
> A DVD player that cannot play a DVD from any region is illegal in NZ.
>

What if the purpose is "to play DVD discs from region N", as long as the
retailer doesn't lie about it to the consumer, then it's well within
that particular law.

-Phil

In article <>,
Phil <> wrote:

> Dianthus Mimulus wrote, On 4/02/07 1.12 p:
> > On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 03:41:47 +1300, Phil wrote:
> >
> >>> and tell them that in New Zealand DVD players are region free because it
> >>> is legal to do so..... and that zoned DVD players do NOT sell.
> >> How is it illegal to sell them (where in the law does it say this)?
> >> Several people have told me this, but I haven't been able to actually
> >> find the source of it.
> >
> > It is illegal to sell region-locked DVD players here in NZ because a DVD
> > should be playable in ANY DVD player that claims to conform to the DVD
> > standard, and likewise a DVD player should be able to play ANY DVD that
> > claims to conform to the DVD standard.
> >
>
> That wasn't my question. Where in the legislation does it make it
> illegal to sell region-locked devices?
>
> -Phil

It was deemed to be anti-competitive in that it prevented the owner from
playing DVDs that they legally own. For example the NZ movie the Piano
was not available for NZ for a number of years so people who wanted it
bought it from the USA.

Mutley wrote:
> Philip <> wrote:
>
>> Dianthus Mimulus wrote:
>>> On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 13:20:31 +1300, Phil wrote:
>>>
>>>> That wasn't my question. Where in the legislation does it make it
>>>> illegal to sell region-locked devices?
>>> The Consumer Guarantees Act makes it illegal to sell anything not fit for
>>> the purpose for which it is being sold.
>>>
>>> A DVD player that cannot play a DVD from any region is illegal in NZ.
>>>
>>>
>> That's not what the law provides.
>>
>> Our parallel importing law allows individuals and companies to bypass
>> proprietary lock-ins imposed by manufacturers.
>>
>> That includes the DVD region codes.
>>
>> Retailers are free to sell any kind of DVD player they like, including
>> one with enforced region codes and one without.
>>
>> The market has made its choices.
>>
>> Incidentally, if there were no region codes there would be far less
>> piracy of DVD product.
>>
>> Philip
>
> How do you work that out?? Regional coding has nothing to do with
> piracy but lots to do with price gouging marketing..

People rip a copy of a DVD to get a version that will play in their
player. Sometimes they also like to get rid of the threats, shouts and
harassing warnings at the start lopf the DVD they legally bought and
paid for, every time they watch it.

Philip

whoisthis wrote:
> In article <>,
> Phil <> wrote:
>
>> Dianthus Mimulus wrote, On 4/02/07 1.12 p:
>>> On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 03:41:47 +1300, Phil wrote:
>>>
>>>>> and tell them that in New Zealand DVD players are region free because it
>>>>> is legal to do so..... and that zoned DVD players do NOT sell.
>>>> How is it illegal to sell them (where in the law does it say this)?
>>>> Several people have told me this, but I haven't been able to actually
>>>> find the source of it.
>>> It is illegal to sell region-locked DVD players here in NZ because a DVD
>>> should be playable in ANY DVD player that claims to conform to the DVD
>>> standard, and likewise a DVD player should be able to play ANY DVD that
>>> claims to conform to the DVD standard.
>>>
>> That wasn't my question. Where in the legislation does it make it
>> illegal to sell region-locked devices?
>>
>> -Phil
>
> It was deemed to be anti-competitive in that it prevented the owner from
> playing DVDs that they legally own. For example the NZ movie the Piano
> was not available for NZ for a number of years so people who wanted it
> bought it from the USA.

A DVD player is built to play DVDs to the DVD standard, which INCLUDES
the built in region coding scheme.
If it doesn't include support for region coding, it can't carry the DVD
logo or trademark

In article <45c5a6e9$>, Earl Grey <> wrote:


> A DVD player is built to play DVDs to the DVD standard, which INCLUDES
> the built in region coding scheme.
> If it doesn't include support for region coding, it can't carry the DVD
> logo or trademark

Ahh, the trick here is that it will only play 1 zone at a time and that
you must manually change it if you wish it to play a different zone. So
it still complies.

On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 16:01:09 +1300, Crash wrote:

> Bystander wrote:
>> Well, I'm just about ready for an upgrade to Vista now: a 2GHz CPU, a
>> new Microsoft-approved NVidia card, 2GB RAM, adequate hard disk space;
>> I'm ready to roll.
>>
>> But one thing stays my hand: I run a piece of software called DVD
>> Region-Free on my XP PC so that I can use the PC to watch DVD from the
>> US and UK as well as our region 4 DVDs.
>>
>> I understand that Vista's DRM is insanely oppressive when it comes to
>> High Definition video formats, but that doesn't yet concern me. I am
>> worried though, that if I install Vista I won't be able to freely watch
>> DVDs. Does anyone know what the story is here?
>>
>> By the way, please don't waste my time by telling me to switch to Linux.
>> I get all the *nix I want from my Macs, thanks.
>
> Slightly OT but I am curious - why are you upgrading from XP to Vista?
>
> This is a genuine question - I have no OS-wars axe to grind.
>
Its better. Its new so it has to be better yes. Here comes the question
mark

On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 13:12:40 +1300, Dianthus Mimulus wrote:

> It is illegal to sell region-locked DVD players here in NZ because a DVD
> should be playable in ANY DVD player that claims to conform to the DVD
> standard, and likewise a DVD player should be able to play ANY DVD that
> claims to conform to the DVD standard.

So where is the DVD std? On the CD front there is a whole range of
coloured books.

On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 11:05:12 +1300, k wrote:

> Dianthus Mimulus wrote:
>> Micro$oft ... M$ Windows Media Player ... M$ Windows Vi$ta.
>>
>
> *sigh*

You were palnning to say something?

In article <45c5502c$>,
Crash <> wrote:

> Bystander wrote:
> > Well, I'm just about ready for an upgrade to Vista now: a 2GHz CPU, a
> > new Microsoft-approved NVidia card, 2GB RAM, adequate hard disk space;
> > I'm ready to roll.
> >
> > But one thing stays my hand: I run a piece of software called DVD
> > Region-Free on my XP PC so that I can use the PC to watch DVD from the
> > US and UK as well as our region 4 DVDs.
> >
> > I understand that Vista's DRM is insanely oppressive when it comes to
> > High Definition video formats, but that doesn't yet concern me. I am
> > worried though, that if I install Vista I won't be able to freely watch
> > DVDs. Does anyone know what the story is here?
> >
> > By the way, please don't waste my time by telling me to switch to Linux.
> > I get all the *nix I want from my Macs, thanks.
>
> Slightly OT but I am curious - why are you upgrading from XP to Vista?
>
> This is a genuine question - I have no OS-wars axe to grind.
>
> Crash.

Mmm. One reason is because I can, another reason is because I want to,
and yet another reason is because, since part of my job involves giving
(as well as requesting) advice, I pretty much have to. Luckily someone
else pays for my holograph-decorated install disk.

Because although it's early days yet, I haven't been hugely impressed so
far. Vista hasn't done much XP couldn't as far as I've seen, although
there are a few bits that seem to be better -- performing some actions
is made easier by a more self-explanatory user interface, and some
startup applications that worked only sporadically with XP fire up
reliably now.

Of course it's possible that would have happened anyway if I'd gone to
2GB RAM sooner.

Both sleep and hibernation are unreliable with Vista on my
cobbled-together hardware.

Compared to other operating systems, too many system changes require a
complete restart to implement. This thing won't stay up if I have to
keep shutting it down.

The Start menu is no longer labelled as such -- so now you no longer
have to click on Start to make the computer stop. At last common sense
prevails.

DVD Region-Free works fine. I needn't have worried about that.

Microsoft's use of vivid colours and gratuitous transparency effects
adds complication rather than ease of use to the user interface.

I wouldn't want to pay more than $100 for any upgrade from XP based on
my experience so far. But if I'd just bought a PC and it had Vista on it
I would be happier than I would be if it only had Windows XP on it.

Ask me again next week if you like.

Cheers
--
Bystander

Blue wrote:
> On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 11:05:12 +1300, k wrote:
>
>> Dianthus Mimulus wrote:
>>> Micro$oft ... M$ Windows Media Player ... M$ Windows Vi$ta.
>>>
>> *sigh*
>
> You were palnning to say something?
>

haha