Picture Noise

[Beatrix]

We had a problem with our Sony DHC-FL5D component system about picture noise. There were DVDs that won't play properly. We tried looking for a way to fix tracking, but there wasn't such an option. I recall the Sony technician at the store we bought it from said something about "regions." I don't know what he was trying to say. Up until now I haven't figured it out.

Has any of you experienced picture noise? How did you fix it?

[brian]

What sort of problem are you having - is it general picture interference, or issues such as solarisation in the picture?

Also, if DVD's won't play properly, then it sounds like the Sony technician is suggesting that you're buying DVDs from one region and playing them in another (ie, US, and Europe, as different regions). However, if that's not the case then it could be an issue with the type of connector you have between your DVD player and TV.

Any more info would certainly be useful and I'll see if I can help.

[Beatrix]

When I play a DVD movie, the screen keeps scrolling up. The images are also black and white. There was no problem with voice. This happened on a couple of occasions only. Other DVDs and VCDs we can play without a problem, so it must not be because of the TV and player connector.

This sort of screen scrolling was what we sometimes would have with older players, like the VHS player. We would look for an option to fix tracking and that does it. I don't know what is the equivalent in the DVD player.

[brian]

That's odd - but at least it's not an obvious connection problem. Is it really possible these DVDs with the problems are from a different region??

[Beatrix]

You must be right, there doesn't seem to be any other plausible explanation other than the DVD coming from a different region. That is surprising, though. We all expected that a player like the one we had would be able to play most formats on DVD, if not all, and not be bothered with an issue such as regions. Why does this happen, anyway?

[brian]

DVD's released in different regions are coded differently - I think ordinarily most DVD players are set not to play from different regions, but often include software to play all regions that can be tweaked to do so from all regions.

However, something that comes to mind is that because the TV technology is different in the USA and Europe, it may actually be an issue of the DVD having been coded for one TV format - is, NTSC - and so it doesn't play properly on a DVD player used to playing the normal regional format.

In other words, your DVD player may already be set to play all regions, but sometimes the regional coding doesn't play well in a different region, even when enabled.

This was all actually quite a big issue for me buying a DVD player - some regional releases are much better than others. For example, Monty Python's "Life of Brian" released in Europe is just the film and trailer - but the US version has that, plus extra documentaries plus deleted scenes. So I bought the US version. No problem playing it so long as I make sure my DVD player is set to all regions.

[vicki2]

The whole region thing is very irritating. One would think with all the available technology that this would get sorted. Afterall, many of us travel alot or live in a couple of regions and it's annoying that what works one place won't in another!

[brian]

I agree - DVD regions is annoying as hell, and basically the film industry putting itself very much above consumers.

[vicki2]

They did it with videos but I sure hoped that with dvds, they'd cut the crap and make them universal. I think it would help everyone including the film industry. I hate pirating and think it's a black market industry which sucks, and the film industry might just be able to do something with encoding if they'd just do a universal thing. That logic may be faulty

[Beatrix]

Thanks for the information, Brian. The mention of NTSC rang a bell. It is really annoying and irritating, I daresay. There must be some way to get around to it, some tweak. I was checking out some sites and they mention a region unlock code or software. I'll try to call back the Sony dealership and see if they have a software I can use.