dvdbay web store FAQ section

Yes! The number one killer of DVDs and video tapes is nature. You name it and we've seen it done: left in cars, by the window, rain, direct sunlight, the BBQ. By leaving a tape or DVD in the open elements for even just a short time, you can easily melt or warp it. Just imagine that these are your little children - please don't leave our children in the hot, hot car with the windows rolled up ... they'll melt. Try to keep any form of media in a steady, medium tempeture and enviroment

Sometimes DVD players have multiple sound outputs in the back - 5.1, stereo, SPDIF. Make sure that you have plugged into the correct outputs on your player. Usually it will have a note next to each plug: 'audio left', 'audio output', etc. If you don't have a 5.1 system - check to make sure your DVD player is set to 2.0 or stereo and not 5.1 (this is usually in the menu system, check your manual for more info). Use the color coded wires - they always help out making sure you plug the right things in the right places.

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Chances are you're running your DVD player or VCR through a VCR before it get's to your TV - right? If this is the case, that flickering or fading is a result of MACROVISION - a copy protection encoded into the video that is enabled if it detects that the player is being run through any additional hardware or VCRs. Connecting your player directly to your TV is the only way to view Macrovision encoded titles without the 'flicker'. If you are having this problem after connecting your player directly to your TV - we recommend switching cables or hooking the same player to another TV. From the Macrovision bio: 'Macrovision's copy protection technologies are designed to allow content owners to protect their videocassettes, digital Pay-Per-View (PPV) programs and Digital Video Discs (DVD) from unauthorized recording on VCRs. Major Hollywood studios, independent home video companies, and special interest, corporate, and educational program providers use the company's videocassette copy protection technology to protect against unauthorized home copying of rental and sell-through videos.'

Your PS2 or Xbox is not region free (and we've never heard of one that is), it most likely will not play VCDs and we're pretty sure it won't play any PAL DVDs (sometimes they even have trouble playing DVDs they're supposed to play). We always recommend that you should get a standalone hardware DVD player to watch your movies. We agree, it's pretty nice to watch movies and play games on the same system - but, ultimately that console is made to do one thing ... play games. Consoles are being manufactured with constant hardware changes, bios changes and programming changes - each batch of new consoles may play a DVD differently. If you're into tweaking your console - you can update the OS and modify settings on it that may make it more compatible with DVDs (we haven't done this though, good

Chances are - no. Most region 1 DVD players are locked to ONLY play region 1 discs (check your manual to be sure). Computers equipped with a DVD drive should have no problem playing PAL or NTSC and many of these drives are region free. Sorry, we don't know how to make your DVD player or computer region free - It's probably harder than flipping a switch and we're guessing it voids your warranty.

Because of how different each hardware DVD player and computer is - there's no easy answer to this question. Most computers and DVD players have hardware changes each time they're manufactured - hardware manufactured in one month might be different than the same model manufactured a few months later. Feel free to rent a title to test if region coded / PAL discs will work in your machine - if you rented a title that doesn't work, we'll give you a credit for another rental. Searching the web for info on your player or computer and checking your manual is always a great place to start. We recommend purchasing a good software DVD player to watch movies on a PC or MAC - Windows Media Player and Quicktime tend to have problems playing DVDs.

Regional Coding enhancement (RCE) is an additional layer of protection which some studios have placed on certain DVDs to prevent them from playing on region-free or multi-region players. RCE is something completely different than region coding - It's an additional piece of programming on the DVD that checks to see if your DVD player is set to 'no region' ... if it is, it stops playing the DVD. A lot of region free players will set automatically to the region of the disc that's being played - RCE discs will work fine on these players. If you do experience a problem, try 'hard setting' your player to the region of the disc you are player. Typically these options can be found in the setup menu of your DVD player. There have not been many RCE DVD releases. For more details, check http://www.dvdtalk.com/rce.html

If region coding wasn't confusing enough - many countries have a different video standard (the way the actual video signal gets to your TV). The two main power frequencies widely used arround the World, 50Hz and 60Hz divide the World's TV systems into two distinct systems: the 25 frames per second system (50Hz) and the 30 frames per second system (60Hz). PAL will NOT play in an NTSC VCR / DVD player (and vice versa) without a video signal converter or internal converting hardware inside the VCR / DVD player (not a common feature on consumer players). We carry multi-standard DVD players and VCRs for rent that convert all of the different signals digitally. There is no difference in quality from the orginal video signal during these conversions. Computer DVD drives are PAL/NTSC-indifferent, i.e., a computer DVD drive can play both PAL and NTSC DVDs

DVD region codes is a provision in the DVD Specifications that requires DVD players to be hard-coded to accept DVDs that are only meant to be played within one of six designated world regions. A Region 1 disc cannot be played in a Region 3 DVD player for example. This technique was developed to enable Hollywood companies to release movies at different times in different regions. DVD Regions are defined as: Region 1 US, Canada, US Territories Region 2 Japan, Europe, South Africa, and Middle east (including Egypt) Region 3 Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong) Region 4 Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean Region 5 Eastern Europe (former Soviet Union), India subcontinent, Africa, North Korea and Mongolia Region 6 People's Republic of China Region 7 Reserved Region 8 Special international venues (aeroplanes, cruise ships, etc.) Region 0 Region free, can be played on any DVD player.