Vcr-> Dvd

[DKMDE]

When I was on the Victory last year, my suite had a VCR. Who buys tapes anymore? Does anyone know when/if they will be changing

[Leo Jay]

What are they used for? Is there a library on board, or are they for tapes people bring from home? Hope changing over isn't a priority -- I can't imagine there's much need for them, with laptops and portable DVD players so common, and if they end up replacing all that, it'll just contribute to higher prices...

[Curt Jerome Wild]

Ahah! There is actually a reason for this...

VHS/VCR tapes are international. Meaning you can play a VHS tape in any VCR around the world (cruise ships = international travelers and clients).

DVDs on the other hand are coded by region...

REGION 1 -- USA, Canada

REGION 2 -- Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Greenland

REGION 3 -- S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Parts of South East Asia

REGION 4 -- Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (including Mexico)

REGION 5 -- Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Africa

REGION 6 -- China

REGION 7 -- Reserved for Unspecified Special Use

REGION 8 -- Resevered for Cruise Ships, Airlines, etc...

This is because a film may be in the theaters in The US, but not released until 6 months or more later in other parts of the world (or vice-versa).

So, the DVD region releases are correlated to each region of the world.

So, unless the cruise ships equipped every cabin with the ultra expensive cost prohibitive DVD players that play all regions, it's not practical.

And now it's much more cost effective to do the "cable" type movies in the cabin, which didn't exist before.

That's my theory and explanation based on current "technology" and "copyright" issues.

CJW

 

 

[RatherBFishin]

Ahah! There is actually a reason for this...

 

VHS/VCR tapes are international. Meaning you can play a VHS tape in any VCR around the world (cruise ships = international travelers and clients).

 

Not True.

 

VHS tapes come in 2 flavors. NTSC (used in the US), and PAL (used in Europe). You can use either tape in any VCR, but the output will mean nothing to your TV if it's the wrong type. So effectively it's the same limitation.

 

The real reason the ships haven't upgraded is simply the replacement cost accross the entire ship (or fleet).