Brand New Matshita Superdrive and its region locked??

[thefoodie]

I had my DVD drive replaced in my 15 Inch MBP by Apple the other day - it wouldn't burn DVDs so they put in a brand new Superdrive - great!

Previously the DVD drive was region locked - as this is my first Mac I didn't realise that you can get Region X to keep the superdrive region free.

So now that I have a new DVD drive in my MBP, I downloaded Region X 2.1 and it still won't work, even though its a brand new drive which I haven't set a region on. I get a message from Region X saying Superdrive is not region free and application is shutting down.

Using DVD Info 3, I get the following output.

Vendor = MATSHITA
Model = DVD-R UJ-868
Firmware = KB19
Status = RPC-2 (region locked)
Region = Not set yet

Changes left = 5 Vendor resets left = 2

I dont understand? Anyone have similar issues and can help me out here?

Thanks

 

[jlc1978]

I had my DVD drive replaced in my 15 Inch MBP by Apple the other day - it wouldn't burn DVDs so they put in a brand new Superdrive - great!

Previously the DVD drive was region locked - as this is my first Mac I didn't realise that you can get Region X to keep the superdrive region free.

I dont understand? Anyone have similar issues and can help me out here?

Thanks

Region X only works with region free drives - Google Region X and your drive model and you'll see what I mean.

Region X basically replaces the drive's region setting but needs a region free drive to work properly, as the firmware otherwise rejects DVD's with the wrong regional coding.

 

[iMacDragon]

Region X only works with region free drives - Google Region X and your drive model and you'll see what I mean.

Region X basically replaces the drive's region setting but needs a region free drive to work properly, as the firmware otherwise rejects DVD's with the wrong regional coding.

Correct, and region free does not mean region not been set, it's a different thing called an RPC1 drive, all drives as sold now have to be RPC2, and have been for many years now, so they need firmware hacking to turn them into RPC1 ( or RPC2 auto reset in some cases ).

RPC1 means the regioning is handled by the OS/software, RPC2 means it's handled by the drive.

 

[thefoodie]

Thanks!

So I need to wait until there has been a firmware hack for KB19 and then make my drive RPC1 or RPC2 (no region set) and then I can install Region X?

I have heard that messing with your DVD firmware can go wrong and so I guess I should wait until my Apple care runs out before doing this?