New Line Home Entertainment is following in the footsteps of its parent company, Warner Bros., and supporting both high-definition DVD formats. It’s great to hear that New Line is starting their disc business, because they’re the ones who will ultimately put out the long-awaited Lord of the Rings.

New Line’s first disc will be this summer’s hit comedy, Hairspray, but there’s a catch for the HD DVD release: Instead of coming out “day and date” (simultaneous release on all formats), New Line will release the HD DVD version next year because of HD DVD’s lack of region coding.

Region coding is something that’s common in the video game world, and has also made its way to DVDs. It works like this: If you try to play a movie or game from a foreign region, your player will refuse or reject the disc if region coding is enabled. There’s nothing wrong with your machine, and there’s nothing wrong with the disc. It’s just that the content provider has elected to enforce how and when the content should be enjoyed in your region.

One of the supporting reasons for region coding is that a DVD might come out in the USA while the movie is still playing in theaters in other parts of the world. In this case, the studio’s theatrical prospects would be jeopardized if moviegoers watch the USA disc instead of going to their local movie theaters.

Another scenario where region coding restrictions can make sense is in localization. For example, a Japanese disc is likely to come out with Japanese menus, whereas the USA release will probably have English menus, as well as a brand new box, and the disc might contain English dubs as well as other bonus material for the US market.

Region coding usually sounds cooler if you’re the studio or content producer, but consumers usually see it as a royal pain. Fans get frustrated over prolonged delays in disc releases for their region, and in a few situations (explained later), some movies don’t even come out in the format you want in your region.

One of the things that irks many consumers is that some discs cost a lot more in one region than another. It might be argued that prices around the world reflect variations in the cost of doing business in those locations. Perhaps one country or region has more taxes on these products than another, thus the higher price. Yes, perhaps…

Luckily, HD DVD players and discs are region-free, which means that you can import discs from other countries with no worries about them playing in your deck. The drawback is that importing is not cheap, and you might have big problems if there are any customer service issues. Some of this can be solved by getting your content from importers instead of importing on your own.

Another benefit of HD DVD’s region-free status has to do with Blu-ray exclusives. It turns out that the Blu-ray exclusivity of some titles is really just based on region. Buena Vista Home Entertainment is part of Disney, and Disney only makes Blu-ray. Wrong. Same with MGM, and, yes, Sony too. All of these companies distribute movies only on Blu-ray here in the USA, but some of those movies come out on both formats in other regions. The following list is not exhaustive, but here are a few movies reviewed at High-Def Digest (with corresponding links) which are Blu-ray in the USA, but HD DVD elsewhere:

• Oliver Twist, Sony
• The Fog, MGM
• The Brothers Grimm, Disney
• The Prestige, Buena Vista Home Entertainment (Disney)
• Total Recall, Lionsgate

It’s not that Sony or Disney secretly support HD DVD. What has happened is that they own the distribution rights for certain titles in the USA, while other companies have the rights elsewhere. In the end, those other distributors put the movies out on both formats, and thanks to region-free discs and players, HD DVD fans don’t have to be stuck without their favorites.

The other advantage to being region free is that you can skip a studio’s delays and possibly get a movie long before it’s even announced for release in the US. Here are some movies that have already come out in other regions before the USA (links go to corresponding international Amazon sites):

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Warner Bros.
• The Elephant Man, Momentum Pictures Home Entertainment
• Running Scared, EMS GmbH
• The Pianist, Optimum Home Entertainment

It’s possible, but probably unlikely, that HD DVD players may not be region-free in the future.

The one disadvantage about HD DVD being region free is that movies like Hairspray may come out on the competing formats first simply because the studio is coordinating the HD DVD release with the worldwide theatrical run. It only adds a couple of months to the release date, which is better than no release at all.