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portogaio

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 30, 2006
2
0
Topanga, California
i just bought a MBP 15" and need to watch and copy both region 1 and 2 DVDs. have been following discussions on the forum but got confused about the optimal (and easiest) solution:
1) install windows and enable Region Free CSS to read all regions DVDs
or
2) buy a region-free mac-compatible external drive / burner?

if 2, can anyone suggest a specific manifacturer and model?
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
Since all you want is region 1 and 2 why not set the internal drive to one region and the external to the other and be done with it? Stick w/the cheapest external you can get...

B
 

dops7107

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2005
995
0
Perth, Oztrailya
portogaio said:
2) buy a region-free mac-compatible external drive / burner?

if 2, can anyone suggest a specific manifacturer and model?

That's what I did. I got the Lacie d2 16x DVD burner (fiwewire). It's very good, and fast, though pretty bulky - not recommended for portability. It is available with Toast 7 Titanium, for a bit extra, but a much better deal than buying Toast separately. I have internal drive on my mini set to region 2, and the external to region 1. Having two drives makes disc copying a breeze.
 

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Dec 27, 2002
24,837
850
Location Location Location
What sort of DVD burners are Mac compatible? I didn't know it had to be Mac compatible in order for you to use it, but I guess it does make sense. Never thought about it.

I was thinking about buying an internal DVD burner and a separate casing for it. Wonder if I'll have to rethink my plans now... :confused:
 

Faraday

macrumors member
Mar 25, 2004
38
6
Melbourne Australia
Buy a Liteon external drive

If you are going the external DVD drive route, buy a Liteon DVD drive - whatever the latest version is at present. They are cheap and fast. I've personally found them reliable, but YMMV.

This little Liteon utility (windows only) lets you turn DVD region coding on/off entirely, set the region code, and reset the number of region changes remaining counter. Very useful. Works with all Liteon drives I've ever tried.

http://dhc014.rpc1.org/LtnRPC/LtnRPC.zip
 

YS2003

macrumors 68020
Dec 24, 2004
2,138
0
Finally I have arrived.....
Since all you want is region 1 and 2 why not set the internal drive to one region and the external to the other and be done with it? Stick w/the cheapest external you can get...

Can someone confirm that setting up the external FW or USB2 DVD RW unit as a different region (say, region 2) does not interfere nor affect the internal Super Drive (say, region 1)?

If you run one of those "firmware patches" on the external DVD RW unit, does the patch properly go to the external drive instead of internal one? The last thing I want is the patch applies itself on the internal drive instead of the external one.

Also, RCE encoded DVD disks may refuse to run on the region free DVD drive. To get over this, is it the easiest way to just get an external DVD (read only or RW or Dual RW) for each region of your DVD disks you may have?
 

mturner8

macrumors newbie
Jan 26, 2008
1
0
How????

So HOW do you set up an external DVD player to run R2 DVD's? That would be GREAT for me as I'm English (now living in the States) and I have LOADS of R2 discs...

Thanks!!!!
 
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