There are many forms of physical media, and while I don’t find myself looking for DVDs all that often anymore, there are a lot of people who still value the format. I don’t judge them as DVD still offers a cheap entry point for people to own their favorite shows and movies, and although they’re lower quality than Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray, it’s still nice to know that I’ll never have to worry about them leaving a streaming service.

The main drawback of DVD to me is the quality. You aren’t going to find a Dolby Atmos audio track included with one, and you’re locked to 480p — at least in Region A. I live in the United States, so all the DVDs I come across are in this low resolution, but Region B doesn’t have those same restrictions. I was shocked to learn that Region 2 discs are at 576p, so there’s a big jump in quality when you compare it to Region A. On top of that, the Region 2 DVDs are sped up just a tad at 25 FPS versus 24 FPS in Region A. With those two changes, DVDs are quite different between the regions.

A different experience in different parts of the world

An interesting decision

You would think every disc would be the same around the world just to ensure artistic integrity stays intact, but that’s not the case. In Region B, the framerate is ever so slightly sped up, but there’s a precedent for that. If you’re interested in retro game collecting or emulation, you might know that PAL games run at 50 FPS instead of the typical 60, just because European TVs had a lower frame rate due to a different electrical grid.

DVDs run at 25 FPS due to the need to match TV standards as well. This leads to the audio being slightly off pitch, and studios could fix it, but sometimes they leave it as it is. In practice, you probably won’t notice the difference between the two, so it’s not as big of a deal as it sounds. However, you might notice some differences when you pop in a Region B DVD of a movie you’ve seen a million times.

Perhaps the bigger change is the bump in resolution. Going from 480p to 576p is a sizable jump. Sure, both of these are well under the full HD of 720p, but I know I’d rather be closer to 720p than further. This is again due to the PAL standards, which means Region B DVDs have a bit of a tradeoff. Yes, the movies are a little sped up, but they also look better. It’s not like you can go wrong with either region, and you’re essentially forced into a specific one depending on where you live. I wouldn’t say one’s outright better than the other, but I’d say they are just different.

If you grab a region-free player, you can import a disc and see what’s all about yourself. It’d probably be fun to pop in a Region B disc once, but I can’t imagine I’d continue doing it. This all went away with the Blu-ray format, so it’s just something exclusive to DVD.

The case for a region-free world

Quirks like this aren’t a thing anymore

While Region B and Region A differences are fun to look at, I’d much rather everything be on the same footing. That’s the case now with Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray, but we still have region-specific players for some reason. It feels like an antiquated thing considering TVs are on the same playing field now. There’s no real reason to keep them separated like this anymore, and that’s something that 4K Blu-ray has finally realized.

4K Blu-ray, for the most part, is completely region-free. You will have no problem importing Region B discs to Region A discs and playing them on your player. This is stuff I want to see become the standard for everything going forward. Game consoles have gotten with the program, as well as Xbox Series X, PS5, and the Nintendo Switch don’t have limitations like this anymore. However, when you treat those consoles are Blu-ray players, then you have the same limitations in place where DVDs and Blu-rays need to be from the correct region. 4K Blu-ray doesn’t have this problem, however.

It’s fun to look back at quirky things like these Region B DVDs, but I’m glad that’s something from the past, unless you’re somebody who still likes to collect DVDs. It’s a bummer to come across something in the wild while thrifting or browsing a used game shop only to realize I don’t have the correct hardware to play it. On the bright side, I no longer get upside when I see a movie getting a cool special edition 4K release in another region because it means I can usually import it without an issue. This is good news across the board, so I won’t complain.