They're supposed to play EVERYTHING! The salesman and catalogue promised you that THIS machine can handle DVD's, CD's, MP3's, JPG's VCD, CD-R's, etc etc etc.

But that DVD movie you bought on internet from overseas absolutely refuses to play. With or without an accompanying error message on TV screen , you wonder whether you have just wasted good money.

But who to blame ? Maybe disc itself was faulty ? Perhaps salesman lied about what machine could do ?

None of above ! The disc is not faulty and salesman didn't lie, though I guarantee he didn't give you full story.

There are 2 compatibility issues to consider with DVD discs that you obtain from overseas. Both conditions need to be satisfied for disc to play !

REGIONS

The first is REGIONS (or zones).

Your DVD manual will tell you what region your machine is. Many machines also have a region logo at back. If your DVD player is multi-zone, congratulations, it will play all discs from all countries. Multi-zone is also known as "region zero".

However, if your machine is region locked,it can ONLY play discs with that particular region code. If regions don't match, disc won't play. The most common locked regions are region 1 (USA), region 2 (UK- Europe) and region 4 (Australia). I should emphasise here that this issue only applies to foreign discs. The retailers in your country will only sell DVD's in your local region designation.

There is an important exception to this rule - some DVD discs are released as "region zero" or "region-free"or "all-regions". These DVD's will play fine in any region-locked machine.

BYPASSING THE REGION LOCKING

About half of all locked DVD players can be permanently unlocked via remote control. It depends on brand and model. But don't go searching for magic button because it's not there - models that can be unlocked require a unique special sequence of key- presses to be entered. The code-sequences are one of those ridiculous pretend secrets that consumers are not meant to be aware of - but if you ask salesman, or local company distributor, or find right website, information can be obtained in a short amount of time.

This is because at DVD factory machines earmarked for various countries are basically same, except for electrical plug and a few software settings such as region code eg machines destined for Australia are software locked to 4, machines destined for USA are software locked to region 1. By discovering and entering special sequence, you are basically emulating what they do at factory and altering region coding. So a person in USA who has just bought a region 4 disc from Australia can alter region coding on their player to region 4, or more conveniently, region zero, which means all-regions are accepted. Once made, change is written to machine's long- term memory and does not need to be re-entered even if player is switched off.

PAL-NTSC

The SECOND compatibility issue with DVD's is TV signal.

The DVD player generates a signal and send it to your TV set.

PAL and NTSC are 2 types of TV signal.

Japan and USA use NTSC signals. The PAL system is used by Australia, UK and Europe. These signals were decided upon by governments 50 years ago.

Practically all PAL and NTSC DVD's will play fine throughout Australia, UK and Europe. This is because DVD's and TV sets sold throughout these countries are dual PAL and NTSC compatible.

Next to drop slot is what's known as 'discard tray'. Play starts after dealer shuffles cards, deck is 'cut' by a player using a 'marker card' (NOT bare hand), and finally dealer 'burns' a card (or throws it away in order to ensure randomness). Before cards are dealt, you make your bet by placing chips or cash into betting box. Be aware that you can sit out a hand or 2 if you like - maybe you need a break, or dealer is just on a lucky streak. Note that if casino is busy, you may be asked to give up your seat so another punter can take your place (or alternatively resume game yourself). If you really don't want to play, just get up and vacate seat - you can always come back later!

When all players who want to play in this round have placed a bet, 2cards will be dealt to each player going from left to right. Some casinos deal cards face down. Elsewhere cards are dealt face up, in which case NEVER touch them - assumption if you do is that you are cheating! The dealer deals himself 2 cards - 1 down and 1 up. Card values are, as everyone knows, 10 Jack Queen and King are worth 10, an Ace is worth 1 or 11, all other cards are worth their face values. In noisy casinos, be prepared to use hand signals to indicate whether you want to hit or stand.

How do you indicate 'hit'? If cards are dealt face down, flick cards gently across felt 2 times. If cards were dealt face up, point at cards with your finger in a jabbing style. You can nod your head to emphasise desire for a hit. If you'd prefer to stand, move your hand horizontally from left to right (palm down) to indicate 'no'. Always keep your hands a few inches off table to avoid suspicion. If you like, you can emphasise stand by shaking your head 'no' at same time.