Thanks for the info, Paulo. I'm not very au fait with codecs,
which is why I
asked. It's not really 'my thing', but it is nice, sometimes to be able to
play a disk. Actually, to be really honest, it just peeves me that someone
can try to stop me viewing something that I've legally bought :-) It's a bit
like saying that I can buy a book, but I can't read it on the train, in bed
or in the bath :-)
Anne,
what breaks the dvd protection is libdvdcss (illegal in certain countries).
This is why in linux (or in windows, if you use vlc) there is no need of
setting any region in the dvd player.
However, the MPAA (
http://www.mpaa.org/) has financed a long battle, since
the source code appeared
on the net.
If you like to know the whole history, then check for instance, this link
(despite of the name, it is just a magazine):
http://www.out-law.com/page-4335
/Paulo Roma.