As I’m finishing up with stocking our pantry with new groceries tonight, the doorbell rings and it’s Murie, our French neighbor. We have not seen her in months as she’s been constantly travelling the world. This is a requirement if you are a first class flight attendant for Air France. Now, she doesn’t speak english as well as her husband, JB… but since I had a whole year of high school French (17+ years ago) it’s easier for me to understand her than it is for most others. She’s doing her best to explain an issue she’s having.
A new DVD player they purchased was giving her greif. Since they bought it here in the US it’s zoned to play only region 1 movies. By the way, it is a CyberHome CH-DVD 300 and they got it for $30 after a $10 rebate. Not a bad deal at all… it’s nice and compact, and even has component video and coax digital audio outputs. A nice little player for the bedroom or an extra room.
Anyway, back to the dilemma. Being from France and such, she purchased DVDs that are region 2 (Europe) … and their new player won’t play them. They put the disc in the player and showed me the screen… “Wrong Region” it said. Their friend, who is more technically savvy than them, happened to be at Best Buy at the same time. He explained that a quick search on Google should provide them with the dezone instructions they need to enable their French movies to be played. Well, this is pretty much true. However, a “quick search on Google” to JB and Murie would not be so quick.
I ran back to our place (next door) and did my quick “dezone dvd cyberhome 300” search on Google. The 3rd hit down I found a link to a forum that had the instructions. Rediculously simple: Menu, 1, 9, arrow down to 0, enter. Voila! (that’s French, I told you about my High School teachings) I slapped in one of their region 2 DVDs and it played. Murie danced a funny little jig and clapped her hands. into the cupboard she went and pulled out a 1997 Comtes De Champagne Taittinger (pictured above). I was dumbfounded! As JB was explaining to me how wonderful this will be (he knows his stuff, he’s a sommelier at Orange Hill restaurant) … another bottle appears. It’s a Bourgueil from Val De Loire (that’s the Loire Valley for all you non-French speaking folk). She explained that it is the same type of wine we had with the dinner they made for us. Before she got the chance to go back into the cupboard for more, I stopped her and said that 2 were more than enough.
10 minutes of helping our neighbors netted us a nice bottle of Champagne, and a nice bottle of red wine. I wonder what I’ll get for showing them how to copy photos from a CDR to their hard drive? (that’s scheduled for Friday evening)
Now, which one will go best with the nachos I’m making for dinner tonight? (that is a joke) No need to worry, we’ll have the J. Lohr Merlot with dinner tonight.
[image above hosted on flickr.com]
