Criteria A
In today’s world of entertainment, there are virtually 2 sides of the world, region 1, and region 2 (there are 8 in total however, region 1 and 2 are the largest). Region coding was first purposed when products such as movies, were not released simultaneously around the world, thus by region coding them, it wouldn’t be possible to play that same movie in an area which the movie was not released.
However, today region coding has come to be a nuisance that people have to deal with, due to the fact that media is released simultaneously around the world. Region coding creates issues due to the fact that region coding will make a DVD useless unless it is played with a DVD player which is compatible with that region, and as more and more people order online or travel, region coding can prove to be an issue (DVD Region Codes - What You Need To Know). This is also an issue for manufacturers, when producing the DVD’s they must create other DVD’s with different region coding in order to insure worldwide sales.
This is an issue of globalization due to the fact that it is affecting the growth of globalization and limiting the spread of media between these region code areas. As entertainment in the form of movies, or games becomes more of a worldwide leisure pursuit, due to globalization, region coding sets boundaries of where customers are able to use the product they have purchased.
Criteria B
Region coding is a simple task which developers use to lock out certain DVD’s from certain areas. Region coding is done within the data in one the DVD. Only one byte of information determines the region code for the particular DVD, this corresponding byte is read by the DVD, depending on the region the DVD will read or not read the DVD. The actual content of the DVD is unchanged in all regions its just the one bye out of the millions to billions of bytes which determines whether or not the DVD will be read by the corresponding DVD reader.
This byte is stored on the DVD by the aluminum which the DVD is made out of, microscopic bumps and valleys represent the binary code with in 740 by 2000 nanometers is one byte of information (depending whether of nor the DVD is double layered)
The byte which is made out of 8 bits, which is able to generate characters such as numbers or letters. This is the very basics of computer coding, it’s the computer language in its purest form, binary form.
This code can be bypassed by many software today even in laptops there is a limited amount of time for which the region code can be changes. The DVD reader reads the microscopic bumps and valleys and converts them into images and other forms of information.
Overall the technology behind region coding is simply the technology behind DVD’s and encoding information. The simplicity of this seems ironic considering the issues it has caused in today’s modern world considering the fact that one byte is what creates technological borders on the globe.
Criteria C
The impact of this, is the restriction of globalization, as the world will try to be “flat”, region coding will hold that back due to the fact that not only is it creating imaginary border lines between nations, in the transfer of media, it causes, people to move towards digital data instead. Therefore creating a loss in the market for DVD entertainment. In addition region coding creates a question of reliability, with technology, for not everyone does knows about region coding thus they might mistaken, region codes thus resulting in the inability to read the disk. (DVD Region Codes - What You Need To Know)
This issue also results in, people resorting to illegal ways of bypassing the system, this is usually done with an external piece of hardware or a downloading program which can read the DVD neglecting the region. As region coding seems to be more common in DVD’s, this rise in illegal methods will not stop until there is no need for it.
Overall region coding in the restriction, the anchor which is holding back globalization. The fact is that globalization is a positive change for the world of entertainment and technology, and region coding seems to be the limiting reagent in this equation thus keeping the world in a stationary point in globalization of entertainment and technology.
Criteria D
The solution to this issue is to completely halt region coding, this has been already observable in new technology such as blu-ray. Sony creator of blu-ray first introduced blu-ray into the market through a gaming console, Sony did state that region coding would be non-existent however, publishers of the media content on the blu-ray disk do have the option to region code their product. (Blu-ray – What is Blu-ray)
This solution is already been applied however, it does not have enough momentum, until DVD’s which are still the top selling media on a disk medium. This trend seems to be heading towards a non-region coded world which will improve the rate of transfer of media, information, and other disk based entertainment. (DVD Region Codes - What You Need To Know)
Overall once this change is applied globalization will gain enough momentum to change the entertainment world in such a way that all entertainment could be released virtually simultaneously around the world without delay. The flaw in this solution on the other hand is that publishers see region coding as a way to make money thus in order to make a change profits must go down in the publishing industry however, the profits will increase eventually thus maybe even increases their initial profits.
Criteria E
Silva, Robert. "DVD Region Codes - What You Need To Know." about. 24 Jan.
"How DVDs Work." How stuff works. Discovery. 12 Feb. 2009 dvd.htm>.
"What is Blu-ray." Blu-ray. 12 Feb. 2009 .
"Why can I play some DVD movies but not others on my computer DVD-ROM?
." How stuff works. Discovery. 12 Feb. 2009 dvd.htm>.
