Regional Playback Control

RPC-1 and RPC-2 are designations applied to firmware for DVD drives to enforce regional lockout. Older DVD drives use RPC-1 firmware,[1] which allows DVDs from any region to play. Newer drives use RPC-2 firmware, which enforces DVD region coding at the hardware level. See DVD region code ยง Computer DVD drives for further information.

One reason that that the regional lock is used, is to prevent people from buying a DVD of a film in one country, then taking to it another country where the film may still be in cinemas.[2]

Some RPC-2 drives can be converted to RPC-1 with the same features as before by using alternative firmware on the drive, or on some drives by setting a secret flag in the drive's EEPROM.

References

  1. ^ Schofield, Jack (2011-09-01). "Playing DVDs in different regions". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
  2. ^ "Will piracy sink the DVD?". 2004-03-15. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
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