Multisystem DVD players are on your radar screen thanks to the several analog video format technologies that arose about the same time in different parts of the globe. At the time, it didn't seem to matter whether there was a single standard or several. What we face now is the dilemma of a global interest in shared video broadcasting poised against several incompatible formats.

The Need for Multisystem DVD Players

At issue are different frame rates per second, different bandwidth, and different lines per inch. These might not seem like much, but they prevent media such as video tapes and DVDs that are recorded on one system from being played on another. Commercial manufacturers are addressing this problem with analog video broadcasting several ways. On the one hand are, for example, multisystem DVD players that can play media recorded in SECAM, PAL, or NSTC.

But despite this and the shift to digital rather than analog broadcasting technology, the problem isn't going away. There are already several format standards floating around. It would seem that the need for multisystem players won't be fading away any time soon. The United States and several Asian countries, for example, are focusing on ATSC. Europe is adopting DVB. Japan is opting for its own ISDB.

To complicate this fundamental issue, of course, is another layer--copyright control. Films, whether from Hollywood, Cannes, or elsewhere, are released at specific times in specific regions of the globe. As a result, six regions across the globe have been defined for DVD. The idea is for a digital indicator coded into a DVD to identify the film, the release date, and the place of origin. DVDs could be played by where law permitted, or by code free multisystem DVD players.