Catalog numbers, part numbers and matrix codes on a DVD

A DVD carries more numbers than anyone needs to play it. The spine has one, the back has one above or below the barcode, the disc face has one, and the clear ring round the hole has a line or two of tiny etched text. Some of them name the release, some name a single part of it, and some only tell you which factory made the disc. This page goes through them in the order you find them, and says how to type each one into a release in the home video catalog.

You need good light and, for the ring, a magnifier. Tilt the disc under a lamp until the etching catches the light.

The catalog number is the string the parts share

A distributor gives the release one catalog number, then prints a longer version of it on each part: one for the sleeve, one for the disc, sometimes one for the booklet. Each part number contains the catalog number, with something added at the front or back.

That is why the number on the spine is not always the catalog number. The UK Toy Story DVD from Buena Vista says Z1 D888125 on the spine. Above the barcode it says D888125. The second one is the catalog number, and the spine code is the sleeve's part number built around it. Fox did the same thing differently: the UK Die Hard has 01666DVD as its catalog number, F1-SGB 01666DVD on the sleeve and F1 GB 01666 on the disc.

The rule of thumb: find the string that appears on every part. That is the catalog number. Everything wrapped around it is a part number.

Z1, F1-SGB and other prefixes

Contributors on the old Filmogs forum spent a while on the Z1 that sits in front of so many UK spine numbers. ultimathulerecords noticed it was never quoted as part of the catalog number by UK distributors, and worked out that on Warner discs the number after the Z tracks the country of sale. Among the codes they listed: Z1 for the UK and Ireland, Z4 for Spain, Z5 for Germany, Z7 for France, Z8 for Italy, Z9 for the Netherlands, and Z20 and Z21 for German and UK rental copies.

Treat that as codes seen so far, not a table of fact. The list has gaps (nobody found a Z2, Z3 or Z6), it cites no source, and ultimathulerecords said plainly that there were no guides to check it against. Another contributor found Z7 on Benelux Disney discs, which doesn't fit "Z7 is France", so Disney and Warner may not share a scheme. And sound.and.vision, who wrote the old wiki page on part numbers, read the same Z1 as part of the sleeve's part number rather than a country code. Both views were held and neither was ever settled.

Fox's prefixes look similar: F1-SGB on British sleeves, F2-SES on Spanish ones. The guess at the time was that the F number is the main language and the S code the country. That is also unconfirmed.

You don't have to decide who was right to record it. Type the catalog number without the prefix, and type the full string exactly as printed as a part number, saying where it was. Both facts are then on the entry.

The matrix ring

Turn the disc over. In the clear plastic round the hole is the matrix: text put there when the disc was mastered and pressed. It often repeats the catalog number, and adds a mastering code, a layer number and sometimes the plant's name.

A dual-layer disc usually shows two lines of matrix text, one on each layer, and you may have to change the angle to read the deeper one. They often end in L0 and L1. The UK Death Sentence DVD reads EDV9523L0 01 on layer 0 and EDV9523L1 02 on layer 1. Two codes like that are the quickest way to tell a DVD-9 from a DVD-5 without a computer; the DVD guide covers the difference.

Some discs also carry SID codes, short codes starting "IFPI" that identify the plant. A code like IFPI L402 is the mastering code, naming the place the master was cut. A code like IFPI 6866, with no L, is the mould code, naming the mould that pressed the disc.

The BBFC reference

UK releases print a reference number near the BBFC rating symbol, usually on the disc face or the back of the sleeve. Toy Story has VFB 27764. It is the number of the certificate the BBFC issued, and a different cut sent to the BBFC gets a different number. The rating itself goes in the classification field; see age rating symbols.

Typing them in

Each code is one row under Identifying Codes, with a Type and a Code. Type is free text, so use the names most entries already use:

• Catalog Number for the shared string. Add where it was in brackets if it helps, such as "Catalog Number (Above Barcode)".
• Part Number (Sleeve), Part Number (Disc), and so on for each part. On a box set, number the discs: "Part Number (Disc 2)".
• Barcode, with "(Slipcase)" or similar if there is more than one. The barcodes guide explains the digits.
• Matrix Layer 0 and Matrix Layer 1 for the ring, one row per layer. The catalog already has Matrix Layer 0 on 1,631 releases.
• Mastering SID Code and Mould SID Code.
• BBFC Reference.

Copy the code as it is printed, spaces and all. If a character is too worn to read, say so in the notes rather than guess.

Different matrix, same release

Big releases were pressed more than once, sometimes at more than one plant, so two copies with the same sleeve can have different matrix or SID codes. That on its own is a manufacturing variation. It stays on one entry, and you add the second set of codes beside the first. The Danish True Romance shows how: two sets of matrix codes on one release, labelled "(variant 1)" and "(variant 2)".

The opposite case is a new release. If the codes on the box match but the disc plays something different, such as a changed set of trailers before the menu, EK_ argued on the old forum that it is a separate release, and nobody disagreed. That is hard to spot unless you play both discs, so if you have compared them, say so in the notes. The wider question of what makes a separate release is in its own guide.