5.1 What is Regional Playback Control?
5.2 Does Regional Playback Control apply to DVD-Video discs viewed on BD players?
5.3 What is HDCP?
5.1 What is Regional Playback Control?
In addition to incorporating technologies that manage legitimate or discourage unauthorized copying (AACS, BD+, ROM Mark), BD-ROM AV discs employ Regional Playback Control (RPC) to help commercial movie publishers regulate sales of their products throughout the world.
BD Regional Playback Control (RPC) groups countries into three geographic areas (see table). Consumer electronics (CE) players and BD-ROM AV (HDMV/BD-J) discs contain information that specify in which of these they are to be marketed. To prevent movies designated for one part of the world being distributed elsewhere, a BD-ROM AV disc contains a checking program that automatically compares its own RPC details to those encoded in the player and stops operation if both do not match. Discs can be authored to play in one (A, B, C), multiple (A/B, B/C, A/C) or all (A/B/C) regions (region-free) but CE players are region-specific.
Computers, on the other hand, function differently. Rather than the BD drive containing RPC information, the region code is managed in the playback software, is set manually by the user and, optionally, may be changed up to five times.
BD license agreements mandate that RPC can be applied to a movie in a specific region for up to 12 months, after which new production runs of the title must be manufactured region-free.
(simplified)
| Region Code | Geographic Region |
| A | North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia |
| B | Europe (EU), Africa, Middle East, New Zealand, Australia |
| C | China, India, Russia, Rest of the world |
(expanded)
| Region A | Region B | Region C |
| American Samoa | Albania | Afghanistan |
| Anguilla | Algeria | Armenia |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Andorra | Azerbaijan |
| Argentina | Angola | Bangladesh |
| Aruba | Australia | Belarus |
| Bahamas | Austria | Bhutan |
| Barbados | Bahrain | China |
| Belize | Belgium | Georgia |
| Bermuda | Benin | India |
| Bolivia | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Brazil | Botswana | Kazakhstan |
| British Virgin Islands | British India Ocean Territory | Kyrgyz |
| Brunei Darussalam (Brunei) | Bulgaria | Mongolia |
| Cambodia | Burkina Faso | Nepal |
| Canada | Burundi | Pakistan |
| Cayman Islands | Cameroon | Russia |
| Chile | Cape Verde | Sri Lanka |
| Christmas Islands | Central African Republic | Tajikistan |
| Cocos Islands | Chad | Turkmenistan |
| Columbia | Channel Islands | Ukraine |
| Cook Islands | Comoros | Uzbekistan |
| Costa Rica | Congo | |
| Cuba | Cote d’lvoire (Ivory Coast) | |
| Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) | Croatia | |
| Dominica | Cyprus | |
| Dominican Republic | Czech Republic | |
| Ecuador | Democratic Republic of Congo | |
| El Salvador | Denmark | |
| Falkland Islands | Djibouti | |
| Fiji | Egypt | |
| French Guiana | Equatorial Guinea | |
| French Polynesia | Eritrea | |
| Grenada | Estonia | |
| Guadeloupe Martinique | Ethiopia | |
| Guam | Faeroe Islands | |
| Guatemala | Finland | |
| Cooperative Republic of Guyana | Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia | |
| Haiti | France | |
| Honduras | Gabon | |
| Hong Kong | Gambia | |
| Indonesia | Germany | |
| Jamaica | Ghana | |
| Japan | Gibraltar | |
| Johnston Island | Great Britain and Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) | |
| Kiribati | Greece | |
| Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) | Greenland | |
| Macau Special Administrative Region (Macau) | Guinea | |
| Malaysia | Guinea Bissau | |
| Maldives | Hungary | |
| Marshall Islands | Iceland | |
| Martinique | Iraq | |
| Mexico | Ireland | |
| Micronesia | Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran) | |
| Midway Islands | Isle of Man | |
| Montserrat | Israel | |
| Myanmar | Italy | |
| Nauru | Jordan | |
| Netherlands Antilles | Kenya | |
| New Caledonia | Kuwait | |
| Nicaragua | Latvia | |
| Niue | Lebanon | |
| Norfolk Island | Lesotho | |
| Northern Mariana Islands | Liberia | |
| Palau | Libya | |
| Panama | Liechtenstein | |
| Papua New Guinea | Lithuania | |
| Paraguay | Luxembourg | |
| Peru | Madagascar | |
| Philippines | Malawi | |
| Pitcairn (Pitcairn Islands) | Mali | |
| Puerto Rico | Malta | |
| Republic of Korea (South Korea) | Mauritania | |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | Mauritius | |
| Saint Lucia | Mayotte | |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Moldova | |
| Samoa | Monaco | |
| Singapore | Morocco | |
| Solomon Islands | Mozambique | |
| St. Pierre et Miquelon | Namibia | |
| Suriname | New Zealand | |
| Taiwan R.O.C. | Niger | |
| Thailand | Nigeria | |
| Timor | Norway | |
| Tokelau | Oman | |
| Tonga | Poland | |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Portugal | |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | Qatar | |
| Tuvalu | Reunion | |
| United States of America (USA) | Romania | |
| Uruguay | Rwanda | |
| Vanuatu | San Marino | |
| Venezuela | Sao Tome and Principe | |
| Vietnam | Saudi Arabia | |
| Virgin Islands | Senegal | |
| Wake Island | Serbia and Montenegro | |
| Wallis and Futuna Islands | Seychelles | |
| Sierra Leone | ||
| Slovakia | ||
| Slovenia | ||
| Somalia | ||
| South Africa | ||
| Spain | ||
| St. Helena ex. dep. | ||
| Sudan | ||
| Svalbard | ||
| Swaziland | ||
| Sweden | ||
| Switzerland | ||
| Syria | ||
| Tanzania | ||
| The Netherlands (Holland) | ||
| Togo | ||
| Tunisia | ||
| Turkey | ||
| UAE | ||
| Uganda | ||
| Vatican City State | ||
| Western Sahara | ||
| Yemen | ||
| Zambia | ||
| Zimbabwe |
5.2 Does Regional Playback Control apply to DVD-Video discs viewed on BD players?
Existing DVD Regional Playback Control (RPC) restrictions (see table) still apply when viewing DVD-Video discs on BD players, drives and recorders.
(simplified)
| Region Code | Geographic Region |
| 1 | United States, Canada |
| 2 | Japan, Europe, Middle East, South Africa |
| 3 | South East Asia (including Hong Kong) |
| 4 | Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Central and South America |
| 5 | Northwest Asia, North Africa |
| 6 | China |
| 7 | Unassigned |
| 8 | Special purpose (aircraft, cruise ships, hotels) |
5.3 What is HDCP?
High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is an encryption technology designed to protect audio and video signals from being copied when they are transmitted across High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), DisplayPort, Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL), Universal Serial Bus (USB), HDBaseT and other connections.
Since its release, HDCP has been upgraded several times to support additional interfaces, strengthen encryption and address various deficiencies. Be aware that all components in the signal chain (BD player, TV, A/V receiver, etc.) must support HDCP v. 1.x to view Blu-ray Discs and HDCP v. 2.2 for Ultra HD Blu-ray discs.
Developed by Intel and Silicon Image in 1999, the HDCP specification is administered and licensed by Digital Content Protection, LLC.