Posted by Bill's News on 01/13/07 01:14

Martin van derPoel wrote:
> Hi there,
> I do not know about the legality of region coding, but I do
> know that
> here in Australia the DVD manufactures are unable to prevent
> the sale
> of DVD players that have the region coding defeated in one way
> or
> another.
> For example when I bought my Philips DVD player a few years
> back it
> came with a slip of paper that had the instructions on how to
> defeat
> the region coding.
>
> Dick Smiths, an electronics retailer, sold a portable DVD
> player last
> year and it had instructions on its website on how to turn off
> the
> region stuff.
> I believe the region coding in DVD players can not be enforced
> in
> Australia as it contravenes the "Trades Practices" act (law).
>

I guess some legislative bodies have a higher price than
others??

Interesting challenge, eventually. Is Australia worth the
financial bother to those represented by the MPAA? Personally I
hope so, as I have been enjoying MANY Australian produced films
of late - generally superior in writing, acting, direction, and
production values to much U.S. stuff. Kudos to those who've
hung in there and not succumbed to Hollywood's
bucks-will-solve-the-problems approach.

However, I suspect that eventually fiscal pressure will
prevail - until the fiscal pressuree becomes impotent!

As a minor example: some years ago I was hosting a small party
of friends on the stern of my sailboat (no big deal, a plastic
45' thingy) in an L.A. marina. A film crew showed up to make a
10 second shot of a TV star exiting a nearby power boat. The
name of the boat was painted on its stern and someone wanted
that to be hidden. A studio flunky came by and asked if they
could rent my dinghy for $100. "Sure," I said. He pulled out a
wad and pealed off a C-note, then ordered some lesser flunkies
to move it to the stern of the power boat. The director did not
like the look, so he ordered up an art crew to "posterize" the
stern. They then used my dinghy to shuttle the artists and
their "instant" creation across the 10' of water separating our
float from the mainland (rather than walk the 100' or so to the
entrance gate and back??). The pasteboards were mounted, the
director was happy, the shot was made - it was truly 10 seconds
or less - then flunky number one had flunkies number 2 thru 4
return the dinghy with an extra $50 for service above and
beyond;-0)

I was entertained for an hour or more, I earned $150 in cash for
doing nothing, and I can't even remember the name of the TV
program - nor did I ever watch it.

I've no reason to believe that this was/is unique! I've no
reason to believe either that anyone does not have their price -
as long as it's less than someone else's profit. I still find
it AMAZING that these talented people (the posterizers) were
ensconced in the parking lot until needed - AND that they WERE
needed, if only in the director's mind - which, ultimately, is
the mind what counts, eh?

Point? Australia's laws, like ours in the U. S. of A., may be
for sale.

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