DVD region codes

Hello, I am new to the world of Macs and just getting ready to buy one. I have noticed they are a lot cheaper in the US than in Europe so was thinking of buying one when I next come over there. However I have a question which I hope someone can help me with:

- If I buy a Powerbook with a SuperDrive in the US, what region coding will the DVD player/writer have? Do you have the choice of setting it to your local region when you first use it (like on a PC)? Or will I be stuck with a region 1 (USA) DVD machine?

Thanks in advance,

James.

i think it lets you change it like 5 times. after the 5th time, it gets stuck on whatever one it's on.

ok i should know this... but what exactly does a region code do... aside from the obvious..

i appologize for the question but... **** I ANSWER ALL YOUR QUESTIONS!!!

its pretty much to prevent piracy of movies that come out in one country earlier from being mass produced in another country

ill make an example

harry potter comes out here october and then 5 months later in the UK
without region codes major pirates could start selling it earlier over in the UK

its pretty much just so that movie labels have more control of when people see a particular movie

Yeah. If you have a region one dvd, it won't work in a drive coded to any other region. You can buy region-free disks, and I think VLC plays some disks that aren't from your region.

ah thats what i figured.. i just wasnt sure as to the purpose... thnx.