Region-codes up?

[lieb39]

Hello everyone,

My friend has a Powerbook 17" with a superdrive (Not the newest ones but the revision before that) and he's currently over here (Australia) from Canada. He's been switching between his own DVD collection and rentals over here, and subsequently changing the region codes a few times. Now he is locked up, at least on north America, but still annoying anyways.

Is there a solution that can put it into region-free or he can view Australia DVDs? He tried on VLC with no luck.

Thanks,

lieb39

 

[carpe diem]

There are cracks but it cannot be discussed here.

 

[tsaxer]

The only "legal" thing to do at this point is take it to an apple tech, who should be able to reset it. You ony get about 5 switches before it locks up, 'cuz you know the world would end if I were watching Japanese DVD's and American DVD's back to back...ugh

Anyhow, now I have a Q for everyone else, if you get an external DVD drive, can you set it to be another region? or is the coding tied to the OS?

 

[josepho]

The only "legal" thing to do at this point is take it to an apple tech, who should be able to reset it. You ony get about 5 switches before it locks up, 'cuz you know the world would end if I were watching Japanese DVD's and American DVD's back to back...ugh

Anyhow, now I have a Q for everyone else, if you get an external DVD drive, can you set it to be another region? or is the coding tied to the OS?

The region lock is a hardware feature, and as such would be "as new" in a new DVD drive. If it were in the OS then it would no doubt be easier to "get 'round", however this is not how it works...

 

[dogbone]

what if you redownloaded the dvd drivers.?

 

[grapes911]

what if you redownloaded the dvd drivers.?

As said before, it is a hardware thing. Hacking the firmware is what you'd have to do.

Another option is to us VLC. It can play DVDs and doesn't care about region.
Edit: I see VLC didn't work, but I'd try it again. VLC Should not check regions. Something else may be wrong.

 

[dubbz]

He tried on VLC with no luck.

XinePlayer might be worth a shot, but it use the same decoding library as VLC so there's a chance it won't work if it didn't work with VLC.

 

[stevep]

The region lock is a hardware feature

It's a firmware thing - there are a load of firmware patches on the net for all sorts of drives. As for it being illegal, well Amazon UK sell DVD players AND provide the information on how to make them region-free (which is what you want to do) - so if its ok for Amazon, I reckon its also ok for us to tell you how to get yours sorted out.

For some general info try http://www.macos.utah.edu/Documentation/DVDRegionFree/RegionFree_Utilities.html - although it looks to be about OS 9 vintage it might help.

 

[Gokhan]

k

try searching for cynical.net for links to ur drive he has some pb's firmware so that helps check it out

 

[skubish]

There are some newer DVD drives that require a region code check to do anything. VLC won't work on those drives.

 

[Gokhan]

k

http://superdrive.cynikal.net/

then go here http://xvi.rpc1.org/ u will find just keep looking

good luck

 

[lieb39]

And on another more personal note, can I do anything for my Mac-mini? It has a superdrive. [MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835F]

Thanks,

lieb39

 

[Gokhan]

k

cynical the godfather who create's the firmware hacks is wroking on it but it may take some time !!!

so for the min nothing for the mini

 

[lieb39]

The drive on the 17" PB is Matshita DVD-R UJ-845E
Can anyone help me out? Websites doesn't show me anything.

Is there anything I can do?

Thanks!

-lieb39

 

[untamedhysteria]

here ya go...for powerbooks yo:

http://www.powerbook-fr.com/dossiers/dvd_region_free_en_article30.html

 

[Zoowatch]

DVDs is a great technology

but i simply cannot find a good reason to justify having regions built into them
people travel around the world with their computers these days
and if they wish to buy DVDs in another part of the world while they are abroad, they have to think twice.
market segmentation is taking its toll on us the consumers.

as if having region 1,2,3,4,5,6 .... is not bad enough
those who want to write DVDs have to struggle with compatiblity issues like DVD-RAM, DVD+R, DVD-R...

why can they make the technology simple like buying, listening, writing a CD?

 

[grapes911]

as if having region 1,2,3,4,5,6 ....

Because that way the movie can be released on DVD in one part of the world and in the theater in another part of the world

those who want to write DVDs have to struggle with compatiblity issues like DVD-RAM, DVD+R, DVD-R...

Because when companies were developing the technologies, certain companies worked together. Other companies worked together to achieve the same goal. Things are never exactly the same so every group created a slightly different technology. Its the price we pay to live in a capitalistic society.