Region-Free players aren't sold by major retailers. Also, there's a much better solution for playing movies from anywhere in the world a Region-Free player. It's a risky decision to try and hack your player, and the benefits aren't always worth the cost of a broken unit. Often times, the hacking results in a player that locks up or gets stuck on a different region, eliminating the possibility for playback of local discs. There are many ways that people go about hacking their players but the methods aren't always effective. Some people have found that they can hack their players, giving them the ability to play DVDs and Blu-ray discs from other countries regardless of the disc encoding. Of course there are ways around these regional limitations. Each region uses it's own disc encoding, and the players from each region are set to only decode discs that originate from that home region. This is solely due to the encoding and decoding process. Attempting to use a European-bought disc in a North American player will result in an "error" where the player will tell you that the disc format is not supported. Likewise, a European Blu-ray player will only play discs local to Europe. Normally, a Blu-ray player purchased in North America will only play discs purchased in North America. With the basic intentions of maximizing profits and protecting copyright status, production companies and manufacturers work together to limit the playback capabilities of DVDs and Blu-ray discs purchased from other countries. However, there's a slight setback to owning foreign film titles on DVD or Blu-ray disc - they're usually not compatible with your player.
The age of the internet has made it remarkably easy for cinema fans and movie collectors to acquire films from various countries, and you can even shop for movies by region from stores who specialize in selling foreign discs. Many independent films are also not for sale internationally and anyone interested must purchase them from the country where they were produced. Certain genres such as Kung-Fu and Japanese Animation are available around the world, yet often the best titles are only sold in the countries of origin. A few examples are that some countries censor films and exclude critical parts of the story, some films may not be available in your country, and films from other countries are often cheaper to purchase. There are plenty of reasons for purchasing movies on DVD or Blu-ray from overseas.