You have with you DVDs from different parts of the world, including that British TV series DVD that you wanted to get for a long time. You are now back home and waiting for the opportunity to play that DVD. What could be a better time than this when you are off to a holiday with your car? You want your family to watch that DVD while you drive. When you try to play the DVD, you are surprised to see the words “wrong region” coming up on the screen. You do not understand what that is. Is your car DVD player not working? Or is it that the DVD is faulty? The packing in which the DVD came says that the DVD is region free, which would mean that the DVD is meant for Region 0, that it is region free. What could be the problem? You are not being able to figure this out.
A region 0 or a region free DVD plays on all DVD players, if the player is region free. But there remains the question of mismatching of the video formats. It is the question of compatibility between Phase Alternating Line (PAL) and National Television System Committee (NTSC). Your portable car DVD player, which you bought from the United States plays only NTSC standard DVD, while the DVD that you had bought from the United Kingdom has a PAL video standard. Even if the DVD is based on digital format, it matters less when the DVD has a PAL standard and you are trying to play it on your portable car DVD which is in NTSC. That DVD will not play in your portable card DVD player.