My DVD Box Set Wont Play
Joey Boswell
Posts: 25,141 Forum Member
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Hi wonder if anyone can help me.
I brought an American DVD Box Set from HMV today and it wont play on my DVD recorder.
It keeps saying Disc Error Please Eject The Disk
Playback Feature May Not Be Available On This Disc.
I dont understand what is wrong with it, as I have tested it on a friends DVD Recorder and it works.
Its not worth taking it back to HMV as im sure the same thing will happen if I swap it for another copy.
Im really cheesed off as I spent over £40 on it and its not like ive got money to burn.
Is it the DVD Box Set is there something wrong with it or is it my DVD Recorder, I can play other DVDs no problem.
This may sound like a silly post but im flummexed at the moment and I would welcome anyones suggestions as how to fix this problem.
I brought an American DVD Box Set from HMV today and it wont play on my DVD recorder.
It keeps saying Disc Error Please Eject The Disk
Playback Feature May Not Be Available On This Disc.
I dont understand what is wrong with it, as I have tested it on a friends DVD Recorder and it works.
Its not worth taking it back to HMV as im sure the same thing will happen if I swap it for another copy.
Im really cheesed off as I spent over £40 on it and its not like ive got money to burn.
Is it the DVD Box Set is there something wrong with it or is it my DVD Recorder, I can play other DVDs no problem.
This may sound like a silly post but im flummexed at the moment and I would welcome anyones suggestions as how to fix this problem.
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Comments
Is your DVD player multi-region?
It may be a US set that is coded for Region 1 and Region 2 like Sex and The City /Charlies Angles or some other titles that are R2 but also NTSC.
Warner have donee this a few times
Assuming that is the problem you should go into the video output setup of the dvdr and check that the PAL/NTSC options are set to AUTO .
Some dvd devices (in my experience usually Toshiba) preset the player to PAL but unlike most other dvd players they reject NTSC material outright rather than converting it to PAL and the setting has to be set to AUTO to enable playback
Let us know the make of the player
ummmmm... try going to HMVs website... you can buy region 1 discs there....
I assume the shops are stocking some too
As I said , some US discs are coded for more than one region.
Link me to a R1 only title on HMV.
It is strictly against the law to supply R1 titles in the UK and I doubt HMV would be breaking the law.
My guess is they are dual coded for cheapness by the releasing company so will be classified.
The other alternative are music dvd's which are exempt from classification and companies will often sell the same disc worldwide
like this
If so, your DVD player cannot playback american region 1 DVDs
Let us know if the DVD box set say this.
Hav you checked the video output settings for the dvd side of the machine?
However , HMV do themselves no favours by listing them as region1 because they wont be.
They will be NTSC Region 0 .
Companies have been selling NTSC music dvd's for years in the UK but they are usually labelled NTSC rather than Region 1
For the OP - what dvd is it you are having trouble with?
The Video Outputtings seem fine as well
The Box Set im having trouble with is Law and Order.
Possibly fingerprints on disc, or dust on DVD lens...
Unlikely to be NTSC then but not impossible .
Does the video output say AUTO?
If not - what does it say?
Do none of the discs play?
And as its obviously not an American dvd what made you think it was?
Does it say PAL or NTSC on the back of the box?
That info should be near to where the region coding info is.
It says PAL on the back of the box
Assuming that none of the discs will play in your player and that the discs are pristine unmarked new discs it would appear to be a simple incompatibility of the kind I've not heard of with dvd for several years.
There is a chance the discs are faulty even though they do play elsewhere so switching the discs might result in success but to be honest I doubt it
Funai is hardly a top notch lable so I would put it down to the recorder and as other discs play fine using a cleaner disc may not help but as a last resort I would give it a go
Nothing like this has has ever happend to me before and I am just so annoyed at the moment as you can imagine.
I will go with your suggestion of using a cleaner disc and see what happens. Will do this tomorrow.
Fingers Crossed.
Cheers Mate.
Taking that sentence on its own, it's factually incorrect. Regional coding has no basis in law. It's just a pain in the ass bit of technology dreamt up by US film studios, much like Macrovision was on VHS.
Of course, both regional coding and Macrovision on DVDs are now pointless and have been for many years.
It's only against the law in the UK to sell R1 DVDs if they haven't been classified by the BBFC and don't show the classifcation rating.
DVDs of any region can be sold legally in the UK as long as they have an official BBFC U, PG, 12, 15 or 18 cert on them.
Split hairs if you want but what I said was basically true because R1 discs are not classified by the BBFC and there has never been a disc that is R1 without also being R2 on sale in the UK classified by the BBFC
And why would any company pay the BBFC to classify something much of the buying public cannot play.
As I said earlier - some companies , most notably Warner have released NTSC dvd's in the UK that are coded for more than one region.
With the exception of the BBC and Universal discs dual coded for R2 and R4 you won't find any Region 3 or Region 5 discs legally on sale.
Macrovision was introduced to the UK in 1986 and within weeks I was happily copying encoded tapes so it was never a problem.
Likewise region coding.
I had a multiregional dvd player before the official "relaunch" of dvd in the UK in 1997/98.
Although I've had a player thats multiregion for Bluray for a year it still seems to be causing more problems for people than dvd coding ever did - mainly down to the cost.
Which is surprising as dvd region coding was strictly adhered to by film companies and still is unlike Bluray coding
Strictly speaking if those HMV music dvd's were R1 only they could sell them as music dvd's are exempt from classification but as I said before they will be region free like 99% of all other music dvd's.
Common sense dictates that HMV will not be selling dvd's their customers cannot play