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iMac G5 superdrive can't work with other-region DVDs?

S

shidoshi

macrumors regular
Original poster
I just got my new 17" G5 iMac today (Rev B), and so far am mostly loving it. However, I've already run into a problem.

On my TiBook, with the DVD region set to 1, I could tell OSX to ignore DVDs, put in a non region 1 DVD, and then work with it. (Play it in VLC, rip it in Handbrake, etc.)

However, trying to do so on my new iMac gets me nowhere. It isn't an overall DVD problem, it is only with DVDs that aren't the region I currently have set. VLC refuses to do anything when I try to play the DVD, Handbrake says there are no valid tracks to rip, etc. I can't even straight copy over the files from the DVD - the DVD shows up in the Finder, but if I try to drag the folders off to the desktop to copy, I get an error.

Has anybody else run into this problem, or has anybody been able to do what I cannot do? If I'm SOL when it comes to DVDs from other regions, I'm going to be very displeased with my new machine.
 
shidoshi said:
I just got my new 17" G5 iMac today (Rev B), and so far am mostly loving it. However, I've already run into a problem.

On my TiBook, with the DVD region set to 1, I could tell OSX to ignore DVDs, put in a non region 1 DVD, and then work with it. (Play it in VLC, rip it in Handbrake, etc.)

However, trying to do so on my new iMac gets me nowhere. It isn't an overall DVD problem, it is only with DVDs that aren't the region I currently have set. VLC refuses to do anything when I try to play the DVD, Handbrake says there are no valid tracks to rip, etc. I can't even straight copy over the files from the DVD - the DVD shows up in the Finder, but if I try to drag the folders off to the desktop to copy, I get an error.

Has anybody else run into this problem, or has anybody been able to do what I cannot do? If I'm SOL when it comes to DVDs from other regions, I'm going to be very displeased with my new machine.
Click to expand...

Try mactheripper. It gives you the ability to rip and change the regions...
 
To enforce DRM, OSX (and Windows) is not supposed to easly be able to be changed to support mutiple regions. Special software is needed, and the theroy is that only professionals will have access to the software.

From DVD Help Changing the region code of your DVD drive

Many DVD discs include a region code. The first time you play one of these discs, your DVD drive is set to the region code of the disc. The drive's region code restricts DVD Player to playing discs with the same region code or with no region code.


Generally, the region code of your DVD drive matches the region code of the DVD discs available in the region where you live. However, if you insert a disc with a different region code from the one set for your DVD drive, a dialog appears to let you change your drive's region code.


You can only change the region code of your DVD drive five times. After that, the region code is set permanently and you cannot change it.


You should only change the region code of your DVD drive if you plan to play only discs with the new region code in the future.



The app above should help. Find it here
 
My guess is that some programs need to play the DVD before it can rip it. Some programs (like mactheripper) do not need the DVD to play at all. This is probably the best solution to getting around regions.
 
I think the newest superdrives have firmware that prevent you from actually performing any kind of reading operation on a dvd from another region. The older ones only stored the region code and apple's dvd player software was responsible for deciding if a disc could be played (so if you used "less-restrictive" software you could bypass the protection easily). But now it seems the hardware decides wether you can read a disc or not, so basically, it doesn't matter if you use VLC or Mac the Ripper or (your favorite app here), there's no way you can read another region dvd. Sad 🙁
I don't know this for sure, these are the impressions I got from my new powerbook...
 
Sorry to bump an old thread, but this seems like a common problem.

I ran into it. I inserted a DVD bought overseas which was a foreign official release of an American miniseries. The box had the globe with the 1 on top of it, indicating that it was Region 1, but when I inserted the DVD, DVD Player opened but did not play. It said the disc was not supported. The DVD didn't show up on my desktop.

So I ejected the disk, told Mac OS X to ignore video DVDs, and then I reinserted the DVD. I opened VLC and told it to "open disc," and the DVD works. I don't know if the region setting in OSX was switched, but I hope not. I'm guessing VLC just ignores all that stupid region crap.

Hopefully this works for everyone else.
 
Well I think I can rip it using MTR (doesn't eject automatically anymore, huzzah!), but doesn't look like VLC can open it.
 
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