One of the great advances brought about by the introduction of the Ultra HD Blu-ray was, in addition to the higher resolution and the expanded contrast range, that these discs no longer have a so-called regional code.

As a reminder: For video DVD and Blu-ray Disc, it was specified at the time that discs could only be played in the distribution zone provided by the respective rights holder. With DVD, the world was divided into eight regions (1-8), with Blu-ray Disc into three (A, B and C). The discs were only played if the disc and player had the same regional code.

This was to prevent users from other regions from importing and viewing discs with films, which may not even have been shown in the cinema in their country. This technology for digital rights management (it is not a copy protection) was never really effective, but was bypassed again and again by users in practice.

Back to the regional code with a trick Against the background of the omission of the regional code, it is understandable that some Americans who imported the UHD Blu-rays “Death Wish” and “Greenland” from Sweden, in internet forums express their amazement that their players refuse to play them with reference to the wrong region code.

In the meantime, the riddle seems to have been solved: The Swedish distributor SF Studios is said to have discovered that on the software side the Playback of an Ultra HD Blu-ray check the Blu-ray region code of the player. Background: Every UHD Blu-ray player can also play Blu-ray discs and has a Blu-ray region code for this (in order to meet their specifications). If the software developed by SF Studios determines that the UHD player does not return the region code “B” (for Europe), it blocks playback.

If this were to be the case, SF Studios would clearly bypassing the specifications of the Ultra HD Blu-ray – which then raises the question of how the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), as the master of the format, reacts to this. It is also conceivable, however, that SF Studio accidentally reused code for UHD BD authoring that was written for Blu-ray authoring. c’t has asked the studio and the BDA in this regard, answers are currently pending. (nij)