they did that till the very end.
they just realized it was the ultimate killer feature so it was cleverly removed from the lower end models. the high end ones could always be turned region free. in the very end the ones with multidisk and what not could be factory reset to clear the 3 region change restriction.
Most "normal" TV-compatible DVD players, in the US, at least, were region-locked and had no way to change region (or at least, no such information was distributed with them).
Region-free players existed, mostly from sketchy/low-end sources.
> > You could change the "region" on your DVD player or computer, but only 3 times or so.
Before this law the shops selling DVD players (for TVs, not computers) would also give you a sheet of paper with a controller code to turn your machine into a region free player. You'd tap some numbers into the remote control.
After these laws (which were introduced across the world) shops would no loner do this because it was a criminal act.
The fact that I could not legally buy a DVD that was only sold in Japan (never sold in the UK) and play it was really weird and scary. It was now more legal for me to pirate that DVD than to buy a real copy.
So, when people ask me why I pirate so much, DeCSS and DMCA are why.