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New iMacs -- Region free DVD player? If not, is this possible?

Is there no way to get the iMac to remain region free?

What if you use VLC instead of the DVD Player?
 
Download Handbrake and copy them. You don't have to change regions to copy DVDs.
 
pcguru83 said:
This is by far the easiest way--VLC should play the disc no matter the region coding.
Click to expand...

Oh, really? So, I can have my machine's region set to "1" and yet it will still play region 2 discs? You're sure?
 
Amnesiac1 said:
Oh, really? So, I can have my machine's region set to "1" and yet it will still play region 2 discs? You're sure?
Click to expand...
In many cases, yes. But as VideoLAN suggests, you just have to try to know for sure.

Does VLC support DVDs from all regions?

This mostly depends on your DVD drive. Testing it is usually the quickest way to find out. The problem is that a lot of newer drives are RPC2 drives these days. Some of these drives don't allow raw access to the drive untill the drive firmware has done a regioncheck. VLC uses libdvdcss and it needs raw access to the DVD drive to crack the encryption key. So with those drives it is impossible to circumvent the region protection. (This goes for all software. You will need to flash your drives firmware, but sometimes there is no alternate firmware available for your drive). On other RPC2 drives that do allow raw access, it might take VLC a long time to crack the key. So just pop the disc in your drive and try it out, while you get a coffee. RPC1 drives should 'always' work regardless of the regioncode.
Click to expand...

http://www.videolan.org/support/faq.html

It's worth a shot, as it is by far the easiest method. If that doesn't work though, then Handbrake is your best bet.
 
Thanks.

There are a ton of Region 2 DVDs that I would like to watch. For instance:

the-trip.jpg
 
pcguru83 said:
In many cases, yes. But as VideoLAN suggests, you just have to try to know for sure.



http://www.videolan.org/support/faq.html

It's worth a shot, as it is by far the easiest method. If that doesn't work though, then Handbrake is your best bet.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, most recent SuperDrives are RPC2 with no raw access. If your drives firmware can be found on www.rpc1.org then you can burn that to your drive to make it rpc1 with no key. Handbrake gives garbled output on these drives if you can't make them RPC1.

Sirmausalot said:
Get one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ROM/RW+Drives+-+External-_-SAMSUNG-_-27151231 and set it to region 2. Then use VLC to watch your DVDs.
Click to expand...

this is by far the best solution I have found. No messing with firmware, no region bs. I use a LiteOn drive.
 
you could get an elcheapo external region free drive for those regions that the imac wont play...
 
The use of a cheap external drive to circumvent region locking on iMac seems a good idea, but I wonder whether iMac internal software will allow me to run an external and internal drive on two different regions. Has any one experience with doing this?
 
zap2 said:
Yes and no. Its legal to back up the video's you own, but not legal to break the copyright that is on the DVD.

But really, there is little legal recourse as the film producers have almost no way of knowing this was done.
Click to expand...

In several jurisdictions this is perfectly legal; stupidly draconian laws such as the DMCA only apply to the US, ya know...:rolleyes:
 
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