634 Chapter 21
The established regions are:
- United States, Canada, U.S. territories
- Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East (including Egypt)
- Southeast Asia, East Asia (including Hong Kong)
- Australia, New Zealand, Pacifi c Islands, Central America, Mexico, South
America, Caribbean - Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian Subcontinent, Africa (also North
Korea, Mongolia) - China
- Reserved
- Special international venues, such as airliners and cruise ships
The manufacturers of discs are not obliged to use these codes, and if they do not do so the
discs can be used on any drive/deck anywhere in the world. Some types of drives/decks
can be modifi ed so that they will play DVDs irrespective of regional coding.
● DVD-ROM discs that are used for computer software are not subject to region
codes, nor are audio DVDs.21.9.2 Copy Protection
DVDs can use four different methods of copy protection systems. The Macrovision
system includes signals that will cause a VCR to record incorrectly by feeding incorrect
information to the synchronization and automatic level control circuits. CGMS is
designed to prevent serial copying (making copies of copies). CSS (Content Scrambling
System) is a form of data coding supported by fi lm studios, but the coding algorithm
has been cracked and posted in the Internet (along with methods for defeating other
protection systems), casting doubt on the future of this method. Finally, the DCPS
(Digital Copy Protection System) is designed to prevent perfect digital copying between
devices that incorporate this coding system.
21.9.3 DVD-Audio
The fi rst DVD drives started to appear around 1996, but at that time there was no agreed
format for DVD-Audio, despite the obvious advantages of DVD for audio recording.