Why doesn't my DVD work on normal DVD players?

Do DVD's made in Canada or US play on DVD players sold in new zealand?

• Hey, i want to buy the dvd 'Private' from an online website, but it says: warning, a dvd made in canada or u.s. may not work on dvd players made in your country (New Zealand), and i dont want to pay for it and everything, and then it doesnt work. And just incase you need to know i could play it on an LG or Panasonic player. Thanks.

• Answer:

  It probably won't play, for 2 reasons. First, most DVDs and almost all players are "region coded", which means that the DVD and the player have to have the same region for it to play (each region is basically a different country, or a group of countries). Second, USA/Canada uses NTSC/ATSC video standard, but New Zealand probably uses PAL video standard. These video standards control the number of frames per second, number of pixels/lines in the picture, etc. A player made for one video standard won't play a DVD made for a different video standard. The above has nothing to do with the brand of the DVD player, all that matters is what country it's sold in. There are a few exceptions that may let you play a DVD in a different country anyway; first of all, some DVDs are "region free", which means they'll play in any player, and there are a few players that are "region free" too, which means they'll play any region DVD. There are even some players that automatically convert from NTSC to PAL and vice-versa. However, region free players, and players that convert between video standards, are hard to find - they are typically only available online and from specialty shops.