History MediaNotes / RegionCoding

Region coding on Blu-Rays tends to be half-assed; it's basically designed only to deter casuals ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yTgZ2_42xw as noted in the footnote of this Techmoan video]]) and can be easily circumvented -- if you tap the "Top Menu" button repeatedly, the player will eventually just give up and move on to the main menu, and you can then play the video normally. And that's if they implement region coding at all -- in many cases, they won't even bother to region-lock the disc or the player, even if it [[BlatantLies claims otherwise on the case or box]]. For Ultra HD Blu-ray, they outright stopped region coding altogether, although UHD players can still enforce region coding on standard Blu-ray Discs.

** Creator/TheABC in Australia has its [=iView=] system similarly blocked to non-Australians, but the ABC offers its programming for free just on principle; there is no TV license in Australia like there is in the UK. The ABC claims it's due to licensing issues -- ''i.e.'' it costs too much for them to ensure that they have the rights to show something outside of Australia -- but they do this even to shows they've produced themselves, which is particularly mind-boggling. It turns out that they have changed their tone and no longer want to offer their programming to those living outside Australia for free- those living outside of Australia would need to get a ''paid channel'' called Australia Plus TV from their local pay TV provider to get ABC shows, tough luck if their provider doesn't carry that channel. Additionally, they've started engaging in {{International Coproduction}}s to save on cost, and part of the side effect of that is that it muddies production ownership enough that they cannot offer shows for free if the partner company chooses to sell the shows instead.

* This continues into the 5G era as well. The rest of the world has opted to deploy band n78 as its main frequency. The Americas as well as its former and current territories? They chose to deploy band n41 as their main frequency instead. This isn't as bad as the 4G era, but it appears that American telcos do not like interoperability.

On the UsefulNotes/{{Teletext}} front, SECAM countries tend to use the Antiope Teletext system (Although India deployed the Antiope system over PAL), while PAL countries tend to use CEEFAX, and Japan uses it's own system called JTES. The United States was home to a Teletext format war with Superstation WTBS choosing CEEFAX while ABC, CBS and NBC choose the more advanced NABTS system, however this schism ultimately led to the demise of teletext in the US, with no teletext deployment in the end. However, NABTS did see limited deployment in Brazil and Canada.

Region coding was predictably one of the first things to be cracked on DVD players. In the United States, it's technically illegal to circumvent region coding, as with any UsefulNotes/{{DRM}}. In other countries, it's completely legal, but it may invalidate your warranty on some devices. A few countries, like Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, have made DVD region locking illegal and require all DVD players sold there to be region-free or have the ability to turn off region coding. In other countries, like Sweden, Malaysia and the Philippines, you can easily get a region-free DVD player, but you have to ask for a region-free one specifically, otherwise you're getting the region-locked one by default. Although in the case of Malaysia and The Philippines, the numerous Chinese off-brand players that are found in big box stores and corner electrical shops are usually region-free off-the-shelf, it's the big brand ones from the likes of Sony and Panasonic that are region-locked by default.

Most older video game consoles have a natural region coding simply because of different television display formats on analog sets. Most of the world is split typically uses either PAL (Europe, Oceania and most of Asia) and NTSC (the Americas and some Asian countries) video signals. However, additional region locking devices have been around since the 1980s, ostensibly to prevent piracy but which effectively acted as a region coding scheme. Devices that circumvent this protection are technically illegal but remain popular for certain systems to facilitate UsefulNotes/ImportGaming.

** In 1984, it introduced a lockout chip called the [=10NES=]. While its purpose was to prevent piracy and UsefulNotes/{{Shovelware}} by ensuring that only Nintendo-certified games would run on the system, it had the side effect of region locking the console; the US and European versions (and there were two different versions used in Europe) all had slightly different versions of the chip, so a game that ran on one version would not run on the others, while the Japanese version lacks the 10NES chip completely. It's easy enough to circumvent the lockout, though -- either get an adapter with the matching chip which will play any game plugged into it, or pop open the console and cut pin #4, which prevents the chip from sending the "disable" signal to the console.[[note]]The latter is worth doing for other reasons, too -- the chip is the big reason why so many NES consoles suffer from the "blinking screen" issue, and that's why the [[ProductFacelift top-loading model released in 1993]] ditched the lockout chip.[[/note]]

* MediaNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames may be heralding the end of region locking in home video game consoles. Sony received such a backlash from its two region-locked [=PS3=] games that it pledged a region-free Platform/PlayStation4. Microsoft originally intended to region-lock the Platform/XboxOne to only 21 countries, but backed out when critics vocally protested. Nintendo, ever concerned about UsefulNotes/{{shovelware}}, maintained region coding on the Platform/WiiU (not that it stopped the shovelware at all), but it abandoned it for the Platform/NintendoSwitch, making it the company's first ever region-free home console. Although region locking remains an option for developers, few of them want to deal with that anymore.

** Apple's app store is rather irrationally segregated by region. Certain apps might not be available in your country, even if other apps by the same developer are. It's weird enough for there to be a form to request Apple to make the app available (but its final availability is at the developer's discretion). Apple prefers to do its copy protection through UsefulNotes/{{DRM}} anyway.

The practice has its roots in VHS and Betamax; though an analog format, footage was recorded at different speeds in NTSC and PAL video signals to accommodate to the respective regions' power outlets, making them incompatible with UsefulNotes/{{VCR}}s of other regions, unless you could find a special region-free VCR or converter box.

UsefulNotes/BluRay discs have their own region coding, which is much less torturous:

* UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames may be heralding the end of region locking in home video game consoles. Sony received such a backlash from its two region-locked [=PS3=] games that it pledged a region-free Platform/PlayStation4. Microsoft originally intended to region-lock the Platform/XboxOne to only 21 countries, but backed out when critics vocally protested. Nintendo, ever concerned about UsefulNotes/{{shovelware}}, maintained region coding on the Platform/WiiU (not that it stopped the shovelware at all), but it abandoned it for the Platform/NintendoSwitch, making it the company's first ever region-free home console. Although region locking remains an option for developers, few of them want to deal with that anymore.

** Most UsefulNotes/AndroidGames are not region locked, but some can't be downloaded from the Play Store in certain regions. There are workarounds, though, you could easily move your game to your other phone since the APK files aren't encrypted, except you can't update it to a new version, and certain games are coming up with their own third party DRM anyway- using APK extension, which can be region locked through several means (including GPS location, your telco's MNC code, and basic IP georestrictions).

The analog TV standards are PAL, SECAM, and NTSC. In general, NTSC was used in the Americas (except Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay), Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Burma, and the Philippines; SECAM was used in France, the former Soviet Union, West Africa, and other French possessions (current and former), and PAL was used for most of Europe, most of Asia, the rest of Africa and South America, Australia, and New Zealand. The main difference arises in the color encoding standards and the "refresh rate" (''i.e.'' how the TV knows when and where to put the frames on the screen).

* Circumventing this is a selling point for [=VPNs=] (Virtual Private Network), many of which allow you to access content from other regions by hiding your IP address behind a fake IP address disguised as one from another country. That said, many sites, especially streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu, are increasingly becoming aware of this (mainly because these [=VPNs=] [[TemptingFate heavily advertise the fact that you can use them to bypass Netfilx's and Hulu's region locking]]) [[DevelopersForesight and have enforced measures to detect VPN IP addresses and prevent them from accessing their service]].

DVD players were the first to use widespread and specific region coding. DVD players assign a number to each region; a DVD with one region number cannot be played on a DVD player with a different region number. The same system applies to UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable [=UMDs=] and software. The specific region codes are:

* Nintendo was the first to introduce region locking on the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem:

* The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super NES]] had the same copy protection chip on all consoles worldwide, so preventing shovelware didn't imply region locking on that system; but the SNES did have two plastic tabs that physically prevented you from inserting a Japanese Super Famicom game into the system (a scheme later used by the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64). You could fix that with a pair of pliers (and a willingness to void your warranty). Inversely, the Super Famicom had a different, slightly smaller and curved cartridge slot shape, and getting a SNES cartridge to fit requires significantly more effort (requiring you to modify the slot cover or the top of the machine). Either way, you would still run into problems trying to play a European/Australian game on a Japanese or American console or vice-versa, as many games would detect an incorrect speed or query the PPU for its version code, and display a message telling you that your game is in the wrong region, made possible by the fact that European/Australian SNES systems ran at a slower speed compared to their Japanese and American counterparts and that European/Australian consoles has a different code programmed into the PPU.[[note]]There are a few workarounds, though. A cheat cartridge like the Game Genie or Pro Action Replay can piggyback the wrong region cartridge and bypass the limitation. You could also get a region adapter, which is essentially a cartridge with two cartridge slots in it. Both still have limitations in that games with their own co-processor still won't work, and some games that rely heavily on the console's timing (''e.g.'' the opening music of ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'') will glitch.[[/note]]
* The UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 has ''five'' different copy protection chip types (two for Europe and Australia and three for Japan and North America consoles, even though one chip will work on all consoles with the same PAL/NTSC standard). However, this time the lock is built right onto an ASIC that handles several other aspects of the console's IO, which means that shorting it with a spike to knock it out would outright kill the console. Games could also communicate with their chip to determine the exact type, so just slapping a copy of the game's EEPROM onto an adapter with a donor cartridge piggybacked or a cheat cartridge won't work either. However as of 2020 the copy protection chip has been fully clean room reverse-engineered.
* The UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis has an odd region coding system. Sega, trying to cut costs, designed the console so that changing the region is as simple as swapping a few jumpers on the motherboard to change the console's clock speed and language. Once you did that, you could effectively change the console's region (although you did have to fiddle with Japanese cartridges to get them to fit into other regions' consoles and vice-versa), which is why the common mod for the Genesis and Mega Drive was to add a pair of switches to the console to allow for adjustment of the region settings. Chinese companies also made several "region adapters" that plugged in between the console and the cartridge. Early games never even bothered with region coding; some even used the settings for CountrySwitch purposes.

** The Nintendo UsefulNotes/DSi has region locking, but only for specific [=DSi=] features, such as online compatibility; only downloadable games and games with [=DSi=] specific functionality have region coding themselves.
** The UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS has region locking for both cartridge and downloadable games. Nintendo allegedly incorporates a whitelist database on each device, which contains a list of valid games; games not on the list won't run. This is supposedly why the [=3DS=] regularly got updates even when there are no new features or bug fixes. There was exactly one region-free game released for the console, however - ''Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre'', which was sold exclusively at the Louvre gift shop. Obviously region-locking a product aimed at tourists would be non-ideal.
** The [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] has region coding for UMD movies, the same as for [=DVDs=], and it also has optional region coding for games; for instance, EA used it to lock copies of ''[=BattleZone=]'' sold in Asia so that they would only play on Asian [=PSPs=] (probably because it's so much cheaper in Asia than elsewhere). Sony also uses region coding to limit certain features and applications; Asian [=PSPs=] will not detect or launch the comic book viewer app, and only Japanese and British [=PSPs=] can use the Remote TV Viewer app to remotely watch content received and recorded by the [=PS3=] TV tuner add-on (which was only sold in the UK and Japan).
* The UsefulNotes/{Wii}} had region locking split between four region codes: U (USA), J (Japan) E (Europe) and K (Korea). Very trivial to remove this check with a softmod. Interestingly, Virtual Console and WiiWare games also have region coding, despite the fact that it's impossible to install out-of-region games in the first place without a softmod.
* The UsefulNotes/{{Playstation}} and the UsefulNotes/Playstation2 have three region identifiers, NTSC-U/C (Canada, United States), NTSC-J (Japan), and PAL (Europe and Australia). In addition to mod chips that circumvent this ''and'' CopyProtection, there is a utility (called PS-X-Change for the former and Swap Magic for the latter) that allow all regions to work (though European/Australian games will move slightly slower, as they run at 50fps on a 60fps console) by allowing you to swap the disk for a foreign region one after the utility disk's region has been checked. Because they also allow you to play any pirated game that doesn't have multiple disks or specific anti-mod protection (like ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon''), later editions of the consoles were altered to prevent the disks from working.
* Strangely, only two UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 games have any region locking:

* UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames may be heralding the end of region locking in home video game consoles. Sony received such a backlash from its two region-locked [=PS3=] games that it pledged a region-free UsefulNotes/PlayStation4. Microsoft originally intended to region-lock the UsefulNotes/XboxOne to only 21 countries, but backed out when critics vocally protested. Nintendo, ever concerned about UsefulNotes/{{shovelware}}, maintained region coding on the UsefulNotes/WiiU (not that it stopped the shovelware at all), but it abandoned it for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, making it the company's first ever region-free home console. Although region locking remains an option for developers, few of them want to deal with that anymore.

And then there are the frequency ranges, divided into CCIR which is typically used in most countries that deployed the PAL color system (Brazil, Australia and China being the only exemptions), OIRT which typically used in countries who deployed the SECAM color system (although China uses it with PAL color, albeit with the System-D and System-K transmission standard), and NTSC which is used in the US and Canada (NTSC can mean both the color system and the frequency boundaries defining VHF and UHF in the Americas) and in Brazil and Laos despite the former deploying the PAL color system and the latter deploying the SECAM color system[[note]]This is because both had deployed System M, which is more suited for use with the NTSC frequency range[[/note]]. However Japan and Australia have their own ranges that defer from other NTSC and PAL countries. France also previously used their own range while broadcasting in System E, but had since abandoned it for OIRT. Believe it or not, different parts of the world have different ideas on what frequency range constitutes as VHF and UHF. Historically, the biggest barrier from using a Japanese TV in the US is that the Channel 5 used in Japan (176MHz) is actually four megahertz off Channel 7 (180MHz) in the US, ensuring that it will never be able to get a clear picture unless the TV is readjusted by a qualified technician. In fact, this is the main reason it is so difficult to hook up a [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] to a North American TV in that the TV has to have a built-in cable tuner that supported the extended NTSC CATV frequencies to be compatible with a Famicom: the Famicom's RF output puts out the signal at a frequency that is within Japanese VHF specs, but out of spec of the NTSC VHF band range and in the range of the NTSC Extended CATV band instead.

Then there's the transmission standard, which is further divided into System A through System S, which determines the image and sound modulation as well as the refresh rate: A TV meant for China, which uses PAL-D, will produce static noise despite having a clear picture, when receiving PAL-B signal, which is used in Australia, due to technical differences regarding audio defined by the transmission system. In some cases images are even inverted, and may be rolling due to different refresh rates used by different transmission systems. Additionally it's possible to mix and match transmission and color encoding standards, as seen egregiously in Brazil where the PAL color standard is used on top of System M, the basic black and white signal normally used for ''NTSC'' broadcasts, ensuring that PAL [=TVs=] from outside the country can't be used at all while NTSC [=TVs=] from North America can only pick up a black and white signal.

And then there are the frequency ranges, divided into CCIR which is typically used in most countries that deployed the PAL color system (Brazil, Australia and China being the only exemptions), OIRT which typically used in countries who deployed the SECAM color system (although China uses it with PAL color, albeit with the System-D and System-K transmission standard), and NTSC which is used in the US and Canada (NTSC can mean both the color system and the frequency boundaries defining VHF and UHF in the Americas) and in Brazil despite Brazil deploying the PAL color system[[note]]This is because Brazil deployed System M, which is more suited for use with the NTSC frequency range[[/note]]. However Japan and Australia have their own ranges that defer from other NTSC and PAL countries. France also previously used their own range while broadcasting in System E, but had since abandoned it for OIRT. Believe it or not, different parts of the world have different ideas on what frequency range constitutes as VHF and UHF. Historically, the biggest barrier from using a Japanese TV in the US is that the Channel 5 used in Japan (176MHz) is actually four megahertz off Channel 7 (180MHz) in the US, ensuring that it will never be able to get a clear picture unless the TV is readjusted by a qualified technician. In fact, this is the main reason it is so difficult to hook up a [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] to a North American TV in that the TV has to have a built-in cable tuner that supported the extended NTSC CATV frequencies to be compatible with a Famicom: the Famicom's RF output puts out the signal at a frequency that is within Japanese VHF specs, but out of spec of the NTSC VHF band range and in the range of the NTSC Extended CATV band instead.

* Circumventing this is a selling point for [=VPNs=] (Virtual Private Network), many of which allow you to access content from other regions by hiding your IP address behind a fake IP address disguised as one from another country. That said, many sites, especially streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu, are increasingly becoming aware of this (mainly because these [=VPNs=] heavily advertise the fact that you can use them to bypass Netfilx's and Hulu's region locking) [[DevelopersForesight and have enforced measures to detect VPN IP addresses and prevent them from accessing their service]].

* Circumventing this is a selling point for [=VPNs=] (Virtual Private Network), many of which allow you to access content from other regions by hiding your IP address behind a fake IP address disguised as one from another country. That said, many sites, especially streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu, are [[DevelopersForesight increasingly becoming aware of this and have enforced measures to detect VPN IP addresses and prevent them from accessing their service]].

* The UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis has an odd region coding system. Sega, trying to cut costs, designed the console so that changing the region is as simple as swapping a few jumpers on the motherboard to change the console's clock speed and language. Once you did that, you could effectively change the console's region (although you did have to fiddle with Japanese cartridges to get them to fit into other regions' consoles and vice-versa), which is why the common mod for the Genesis and Mega Drive was to add a pair of switches to the console to allow for adjustment of the region settings. Chinese companies also made several "region adapters" that plugged in between the console and the cartridge. Early games never even bothered with region coding; some even used the settings for CountrySwitch purposes. The same applies to its peripherals:

** The UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS has region locking for both cartridge and downloadable games. Nintendo allegedly incorporates a whitelist database on each device, which contains a list of valid games; games not on the list won't run. This is supposedly why the [=3DS=] regularly gets updates even when there are no new features or bug fixes, and why original DS cartridges need to be validated online (resulting in you needing Internet to play a DS game on a 3DS) before they added a separate DS whitelist.

* Circumventing this is a selling point for [=VPNs=] (Virtual Private Network), many of which allow you to access content from other regions by hiding your IP address behind a fake IP address disguised as one from another country. That said, many sites, especially streaming platforms like Netflix, are [[DevelopersForesight increasingly becoming aware of this]] and have enforced measures to detect VPN IP addresses and prevent from accessing their service.

* In the 4G era, we've now got at least nine bands: the US uses [=700MHz/1.7GHz/1.9GHz=], most of the rest of the world uses [=800MHz/1.8GHz/2.6GHz=], and some third-world countries use [=850MHz/900MHz/2.1GHz=][[note]]and that's just oversimplification as each of these bands also have variants in return channel frequencies as well as the actual band range, the [=700MHz=] range actually has ''five'' variants[[/note]]. Then you have the TDD frequencies - 2.3, 2.5, and 3.5 [=GHz=]. So far, there is no world-capable phone that can support all of the bands, but several phones can support all the non-TDD ones.
* This continues into the 5G era as well. The rest of the world has opted to deploy band n78 as its main frequency. The Americas as well as its former and current territories? They chose to deploy band n41 as their main frequency instead. This isn't as bad as the 4G era, but it appears that Americans do not like interoperability.

* The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super NES]] had the same copy protection chip on all consoles worldwide, so preventing shovelware didn't imply region locking on that system; but the SNES did have two plastic tabs that physically prevented you from inserting a Japanese Super Famicom game into the system (a scheme later used by the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64). You could fix that with a pair of pliers (and a willingness to void your warranty). Inversely, the Super Famicom had a different, slightly smaller and curved cartridge slot shape, and getting a SNES cartridge to fit requires significantly more effort (requiring you to modify the slot cover or the top of the machine). Either way, you would still run into problems trying to play a European/Australian game on a Japanese or American console or vice-versa, as many games would detect an incorrect speed or query the PPU for its version code, and display a message telling you that your game is in the wrong region, made possible by the fact that that European/Australian SNES systems ran at a slower speed compared to their Japanese and American counterparts and that European/Australian consoles has a different code programmed into the PPU.[[note]]There are a few workarounds, though. A cheat cartridge like the Game Genie or Pro Action Replay can piggyback the wrong region cartridge and bypass the limitation. You could also get a region adapter, which is essentially a cartridge with two cartridge slots in it. Both still have limitations in that games with their own co-processor still won't work, and some games that rely heavily on the console's timing (''e.g.'' the opening music of ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'') will glitch.[[/note]]

And on top of all that, there are also differing Stereo and Teletext standads. PAL and SECAM areas tend to either use NICAM or Zweikanalton[[note]]Which goes by a variety of names depending on Manufacturer of the TV- Sharp calls it ''IGR stereo'', while Sony calls it ''A2 Stereo''. while some other manufacturer calls it ''Zweikanalton'', ''Zweiton'' or ''West German Stereo''[[/note]] Stereo, while NTSC areas tends to use BTSC, except Japan, who used their own incompatible stereo deployment called EIAJ, and South Korea, who adopted Zweikanalton.

And on top of all that, there are also differing Stereo and Teletext standads. PAL and SECAM areas tend to either use NICAM or Zweikanalton (aka A2/IGR/West German) Stereo, while NTSC areas tends to use BTSC, except Japan, who used their own incompatible stereo deployment called EIAJ.