h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What's the legality of stores advertising and selling multi-region DVD players, then? In the UK, the Tesco superstore chain is openly advertising a special-edition Wharfedale DVD player that is 'multi-region capable' (you type in a code on the remote to activate it). They've actually called for the movie studios to drop region-locking completely, but somehow I don't think it's going to happen in the near future - annoyingly

http://www.tesco.co.uk/press/press-00feb17b.htm - the Tesco vs. Region Locking press release

And does anyone know what the Playstation2 is like at playing DVDs?

Azimuth

Hm, dunno bout the PS2 - maybe they act on "foreign" DVDs as they do an "foreign" games. I think this should'nt be a problem.

In Germany there is a discussion bout imported DVDs - they want to prevent the import by saying it is illegal. This is really bad, cause movies like "Blues Brothers" aren't even announced to be released in a German version...

Is it possible to purchase the chips needed to enable a US DVD player to play British DVDs? If so, where?

Strangely enough in Europe it seems that the cheaper the DVD player, the more likely that it is multi-region compatible. Expensive brands seem to be region locked to Europe, although there are plenty of sites on the internet with instructions on how to unlock them. At home I have a nice new super-duper DVD/Hard Drive recorder for Europeans and a cheap(50 Euro), no frills DVD player to play my US imports.