
DVD region code blocks British Prime Minister from enjoying Obama's gift - tsally
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/20/dvd-region-code-blocks-british-prime-minister-from-enjoying-obam/
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chanux
It's good that these people get to know how life sucks with restrictions...

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herdrick
That it was a crappy gift is at least as irritating.

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ftse
The press in the UK have concluded it was a considered insult to Brown.

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kragen
Obama's gift demonstrates that Britain is not an ally of the United States,
but a vassal or tributary state.

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developingchris
Can't learn what its like having to deal with DRM if you never have to. Maybe
this will set the wheels in motion.

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bdfh42
Yes - this might be a problem when trying to view US regional DVDs on a PC in
the UK but a UK purchased DVD player will have no such problems - there all
DVD players must be capable of playing DVDs with any regional setting. One of
the few consumer oriented regulations that has had a real impact upon such
outdated and outmoded restrictions.

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stevejalim
Actually, not so... Most DVD players you buy here in the UK are locked to
Region 2. You can buy multi-region players or remove the region lock with a
code on certain players, but the mainstream are R2 only. Which is a pain.

Indeed, simple region flipping on a PC could have seen Brown sitting down with
Citizen Kane (or whatever other 'American classics') quite happily...

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mdemare
Not on a mac though, as far as I know. When I had a Powerbook, I couldn't find
any way to make it region free. Has that changed?

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ObieJazz
I've been able to play European DVDs on my (N. American) Mac using VLC.

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chanux
This is why I came back here VLC, the free software media player can play
region encoded DVDs. I can make sure it DID that sometimes back. Never wanted
to check it recently for some reason.

For those who are lazy to google: <http://www.videolan.org/vlc/>

