Most PC's nowadays can play movie DVDs. However, when playing region specific DVDs on your PC, there is something you should know: you can change the region setting 5 times, that is it.  After  that, you are stuck with  the setting that you used  last, forever.

A friend of mine travels between US and Japan for business often. The region setting on his laptop is now stuck in 2 for Japan. He can no longer watch DVDs made for the US market.

You can check how many changes you have left from the Control Panel of your PC. If you are using Windows XP, under Performace and Maitenance you can find Administrative Tools. Double click on it, and then double click Computer Management. Click on Device Manager in the left pane, and then expand DVD,CD-ROM drivers. Right click on the DVD drive that you want to check, and then select Properties. Click on the DVD Region tab at the top, there it is: Changes remaining