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Copy Protection and Content Scramble System
The DVD drive contains the Content Scramble System (CSS) which controls the Copy
Protection. The DVD drive's CSS system undergoes an authentication process using the
DVD disc. DVD Disc producers (normally movie DVD Discs) incorporate specialized
software on the DVD disc from which the DVD drive can authenticate. Once the
authentication process concludes, the drive can play the movie disc, but will not allow the
drive to provide digital data for the purpose of replicating the DVD disc content.
Regional Playback Control
The motion picture industry divides the world into six regional "zones". These regions or
"zones" correlate to the regional markets into which the motion picture industry releases
movies. Each regional zone is numbered "One" through "Six", called the Region.
Region One North America
Region Two Western Europe, Japan & Middle East
Region Three Southeast Asia
Region Four Mexico, Central & South America, Australia
Region Five Africa, Russia, Eastern Europe
Region Six China
DVD movie discs are released for each region and are controlled by each region. The
RPC code prevents the new release of movies into other motion picture market regions
prior to their true release dates within those markets. All DVD movie discs are coded for
one or more regions. RPC Codes are placed on Movie Discs that correlate to the region
they are intended for sale. A DVD Drive must likewise be set to a region. For example, a
PC user located in Canada, would have their DVD Drive set to Region One, or a PC user
located in France would have their drive set to Region Two. A DVD disc can only play on a
DVD drive coded for its region. The Canadian PC user could only play Region One
coded Movie DVD discs and a French PC user could only play Region Two coded movie
discs. The Regional Playback Control system does not allow users to play DVD discs that are
not set for their drive. If a user attempts to play a DVD movie disc for a region the DVD drive
is not set, the user will receive an error message explaining the DVD title is of another region
and cannot be played. DO NOT RESET THE REGION.
Setting and Changing the Region Setting of the DVD Drive
To play a DVD movie, the drive must first be set to a Region. Several methods are
available to set the region, which are transparent to the user.
• The Manufacturer may set the region at the factory
• If no region is set at the factory, most software will set the drive to the region
coded on the first movie DVD disc that is played.
• If the first disc is a multi-region coded disc, the drive will be set to the region
determined by such factors as time zone, or language etc. set into the operating
system.
Once a drive is set to a region, the region can be reset, but for unusual circumstances
only, such as when a user relocates to another region. A REGION CAN ONLY BE
RESET FOUR times. Refer to your movie player software manual for specifics about
changing the region. In general, to reset the Region, use a DVD movie disc set to the new
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