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marcel-v

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 25, 2006
239
0
I am trying to back up my DVDs but have only one more region transition left! Any suggestions?
 

swiftaw

macrumors 603
Jan 31, 2005
6,328
25
Omaha, NE, USA
the point is that vlc ignores the region encoding competely and will play most discs AFAIK. would be surprised to hear that vlc did not play a disc dt region issues.

This used to be true with older hardware (certainly pre-Intel). However, Apple changed to hardware region encoding which cannot be defeated by any software.
 

vandozza

macrumors 6502a
Jun 14, 2006
612
0
Australia
This used to be true with older hardware (certainly pre-Intel). However, Apple changed to hardware region encoding which cannot be defeated by any software.

ok now this makes more sense, as i know my 12" PB would play any region w vlc. have a macbook now, and must admit, I havn't actually tried to play any other regions dvds as yet.
 

costabunny

macrumors 68020
May 15, 2008
2,466
71
Weymouth, UK
Simple

Disable auto play of DVD's (set to always Ignore)

Then whenyou put a dvd in the drive - simply open vlc and choose Open Disc from the file menu.

VLC treats all dvds as data disks and as such it does not even read the region code.

I use this all the time and its flawless so far (with region 1,2,4 and 0)

:)
 

vandozza

macrumors 6502a
Jun 14, 2006
612
0
Australia
Simple

Disable auto play of DVD's (set to always Ignore)

Then whenyou put a dvd in the drive - simply open vlc and choose Open Disc from the file menu.

VLC treats all dvds as data disks and as such it does not even read the region code.

I use this all the time and its flawless so far (with region 1,2,4 and 0)

:)

this is what we were suggesting earlier, but it's since been suggested that it only works on ppc based macs, not intel. (or are you saying that this technique also works on intel based systems?)
 

marcel-v

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 25, 2006
239
0
what i want to do is backup my region 1 dvds with mac the ripper but im fearful of changing the regions of my dvd player. any solutions?
 

GoKyu

macrumors 65816
Feb 15, 2007
1,169
23
New Orleans
I found my drive's region free firmware on rpc1.org, and now have 2 unlocked drives - one Sony and one HP :)
 

p0llyw0g

macrumors newbie
Jul 5, 2008
1
0
Yep works on my MBA and Mac Pro (2008) :)

I have a plain ol' MacBook purchased in 2008, but is a late-2007 model. I have tried what you suggest, but it doesn't work. I insert the DVD and it comes up asking me to change the region, but I just pretend that window isn't there and open VLC. VLC sees the DVD (it didn't before) and makes an attempt to open it, but then spits it out. Am I missing a step? I've tried this several times w/ VLC open in advance as well.

I'm a new Mac user and so far I've been frustrated with a lot of things about it and this is the biggest...
 

hierik

macrumors member
Aug 1, 2009
52
0
Region free DVD-drive MBP ?

Hi Guys

So i'm from Denmark, and I've got some Seinfeld seasons lying around from the US :) So I decide to watch an episode and my MBP can't unless I change the region code for the dvd-drive ? So now I only have 4 changes left. Isn't there any way to make the dvd-drive region free ?

I Hope you can help
 

trojann

macrumors newbie
Aug 15, 2009
1
0
Yes VLC "Region Free" works, you just have to bypass the Built-in "DVD Player"

I have a plain ol' MacBook purchased in 2008, but is a late-2007 model. I have tried what you suggest, but it doesn't work. I insert the DVD and it comes up asking me to change the region, but I just pretend that window isn't there and open VLC. VLC sees the DVD (it didn't before) and makes an attempt to open it, but then spits it out. Am I missing a step? I've tried this several times w/ VLC open in advance as well.

I'm a new Mac user and so far I've been frustrated with a lot of things about it and this is the biggest...

Hi there,
VLC seemed to have worked. The reasons why initially this didn't "seemed" to have worked is because when a DVD is inserted to the DVD drive, the built-in DVD player fires up. This then fires up the Region Select "SOFTWARE". The way to by past it is to "FORCE QUIT" DVD Player before the Region Select software comes online. (ie. Right click on the DVD Player icon that just poped up on the DOCK, and select "force quit".) I just tested this a few times, and the Region Select Software counter still stayed at "5". I hope this clears up the air abit, as this has frusted a great number of the Mac Users.

Thanks to "costabunny", his 1 line comment suddenly dawned on me.....

Cheers,

Trojann
 

Tumbleweed666

macrumors 68000
Mar 20, 2009
1,761
141
Near London, UK.
Hi there,
VLC seemed to have worked. The reasons why initially this didn't "seemed" to have worked is because when a DVD is inserted to the DVD drive, the built-in DVD player fires up. This then fires up the Region Select "SOFTWARE". The way to by past it is to "FORCE QUIT" DVD Player before the Region Select software comes online. (ie. Right click on the DVD Player icon that just poped up on the DOCK, and select "force quit".) I just tested this a few times, and the Region Select Software counter still stayed at "5". I hope this clears up the air abit, as this has frusted a great number of the Mac Users.

Trojann

Unfortunately that doesn't work for me, first of all its impossible to force quit before the region select s/w kicks in (do you have a really really slow mac?) , and secondly, even if I don't start up dvd player at all (via preferences) and just start VLC, I get a corrupted screen due to the mild encryption of region coding.
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Am I missing a step? I've tried this several times w/ VLC open in advance as well.

I think the step you missed is that you either have to disable autoplay (set to ignore) as the bunny suggested above, or else force quit the DVD player as suggested in a subsequent reply. If you just escape out like you did, I don't think it works.
 

Tumbleweed666

macrumors 68000
Mar 20, 2009
1,761
141
Near London, UK.
I think the step you missed is that you either have to disable autoplay (set to ignore) as the bunny suggested above, or else force quit the DVD player as suggested in a subsequent reply. If you just escape out like you did, I don't think it works.

I have tried it;
1) with ignore, so nothing starts, then use VLC - playback corrupted then fails
2) start VLC instead of DVD player - same
3) Force quit - impossible to FQ before the region select code comes up

I have a 2009 iMac running 10.5.8
 
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