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If 2nd DVD in Mac Pro, each can be a different region?
- Thread starter netdog
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Yes it can be done, no hassle at all and have done it myself. I used a Sony drive in mine, only takes a couple of minutes.
Great question!
I have movies from all over the world where I have lived and never thought of this.
In fact, I really was not sure what I would use two drives for in a Mac Pro until now.
Thanks!
I have movies from all over the world where I have lived and never thought of this.
In fact, I really was not sure what I would use two drives for in a Mac Pro until now.
Thanks!
Yes there is.
I know this is true as I have researched this before.
If you Google the question, you should find an answer (sorry, I am lazy today and don't feel like doing it for you).
However, I never did the hack because of the risk of losing the DVD player altogether.
not to get off the original topic, but if you do a reinstall of your operating system does it reset the Region settings or is it pre-built to the Optical Drive itself?
thanks!
thanks!
soooo, you mean to get off the original topic?
just playin with ya, I'm bored waiting to get some balls and order this puppy
While the video files are the same, DVDs produced for the American, European and Asian markets each have regional codes on them which make them playable only on players that were produced for the corresponding region (or on players that are region-free).
Macs are really sticky about adhering to these standards and they make getting around these somewhat hard. You can change a drive's region under OS X a total of 5 times. By having two DVD drives in my Mac Pro, it seems that I can dedicate one to Region 1 (North America, others?) and one to Region 2 (Europe).
I think its purely a software thing and you could play any region with something like VLC.
In windows, it's software- in WMP, it's only one region, but get a third party app and you can play any region dvd.
In windows, it's software- in WMP, it's only one region, but get a third party app and you can play any region dvd.
My issue is with moving my collection to my hard drive with MTR. I can work around the region screen, but it would be nice to just have an appropriate drive for each region that I have in my collection.
Hi Netdog. Did you have any luck with this? I want to get the MacPro with two superdrives and do exactly what you're saying. I thought it would be physical drive specific, but would like to know what you discovered.
I'd like to hold off for Blue ray drives and will want to do the same thing. While the Blue ray will be fine for my region (only 2 instead of God knows how many), but my old DVD's are region one and I live in region 3...
I'd like to hold off for Blue ray drives and will want to do the same thing. While the Blue ray will be fine for my region (only 2 instead of God knows how many), but my old DVD's are region one and I live in region 3...
Yes, it works like a charm. I picked up a regular DVD writer as they were so cheap and will just replace it when cheap BR drives become available.
Thanks netdog! Do you think it would be the same if you bought a new MacPro with two preinstalled superdrives? Cheers!
I think so, as the drives aren't set to a specific region until you attempt to play a DVD in them
And even if they are pre-set to your local Region, most drives allow you to make up to five changes before the final change becomes permanent.
The region code is stored in the firmware of the DVD-drive, you set your region code when you play a DVD for the first time (OS X informs you btw) and you are allowed to change it a couple of times until the drive plays only DVDs with the region code of your last disc you played.
For Mac Pros with an Optiarc drive there is a firmware flash available to convert the drive to a code-free one which also unlocks some slightly higher burn speeds...
you find the needed infos here:
http://www.macbidouille.com/news/2008-03-26/#16061
For Mac Pros with an Optiarc drive there is a firmware flash available to convert the drive to a code-free one which also unlocks some slightly higher burn speeds...
you find the needed infos here:
http://www.macbidouille.com/news/2008-03-26/#16061
Thanks for the replies, although for the macbidouille one I'd have to learn French!
It sounds as though if the drives are independent from each other, the software reading the material shoudln't care what region it is, provided the drive is the same region as the disc. I'll try and confirm at a Mac Show room.
It sounds as though if the drives are independent from each other, the software reading the material shoudln't care what region it is, provided the drive is the same region as the disc. I'll try and confirm at a Mac Show room.
My thing is I am in the US. I have relatives in the UK and Australia. So Region 1 is no good to them. I'd like a region free solution since a 2 drive solution would still leave me 1 region short.
We're talking about sending over home movies of the kids. Do you think I would be able to rip my movie with something like MactheRipper and set the copy to be region free? Would that work? I don't want to install multiple drives in the event I make a home movie for the folks abroad.
We're talking about sending over home movies of the kids. Do you think I would be able to rip my movie with something like MactheRipper and set the copy to be region free? Would that work? I don't want to install multiple drives in the event I make a home movie for the folks abroad.
Your own videos should be region free. It is copyrighted material that is locked by region.
You may experience issues with different video standards (PAL/NTSC) but HD will soon take care of that problem.
Thanks for the replies, although for the macbidouille one I'd have to learn French!
No Problem, MacBidouille has a parallel edition of the page in english called HardMac.
Here's the english link:
http://www.hardmac.com/niouzcontenu.php?date=2008-3-26
Happy flashing!