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Region Free MacBook/Pro

NJuul said:
Well, I just played a region 1 DVD on my MBP using VLC, and it worked. And I'm Region 2.
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Are you sure the disk wasn't region 0 or somehow allowed region 2 playback? Newer drives (from about 1.33GHz iBooks on) used RPC-2 firmware that did not allow software direct data access. This is how VLC used to get around the region coding of the drive as the old drives allowed it to read the raw data regardless of region.

Newer drives do not permit this, which I have tested on a 1.42GHz iBook as well as my MacBook Pro.

If it is truly a region 1 disk and your drive is still set to region 2 then you're somehow lucky (or the VLC guys found a way around the firmware). What version of VLC were you using and what DVD drive do you have?
 
Are you sure the disk wasn't region 0 or somehow allowed region 2 playback?
Click to expand...

Think you might be on to something there...
I just tried with another region 1 disc, and it wouldn't play at all.
Dang...

The first only played in VLC though, not DVD player. DVD player said I could only play region 2 DVDs on this mac.
 
NJuul said:
The first only played in VLC though, not DVD player. DVD player said I could only play region 2 DVDs on this mac.
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That is very odd! I wonder if the DVD wasn't mastered quite right. I would expect DVD Player to play region 0 disks.
 
Faraday said:
I think the Windows/Bootcamp/Windows region cracks tools/ option might not work, as if I remember correctly the Windows partition in Bootcamp needs to be Fat32 to be read/writable by Mac OSX, and this FS has a filesize limit of 4GB ??. Perhaps you can make the Windows Bootcamp partition NTFS, which OSX can at least read, and NTFS can handle the large filesizes created with DVD ripping. Don't know if any windows software will be able to get around the Matshita region locking issue. Never tried.
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I don't know the technical details, but I have a 15 gb Fat32 permission for Boot Camp on my Macbook, and I can read/write just fine. I just need to know if software on Windows can get the job done with these Matshita drives. Anyone able to test this out?
 
Phatpat said:
I don't know the technical details, but I have a 15 gb Fat32 permission for Boot Camp on my Macbook, and I can read/write just fine. I just need to know if software on Windows can get the job done with these Matshita drives. Anyone able to test this out?
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The issues with FAT32 is that the maximum single filesize in FAT32 is 4GB. This will prevent you from creating full DVD disc image files as they are likely to be > 4GB in size. Perhaps if you use DVD ripping software that creates a number of smaller files this may be OK.
 
Faraday said:
The issues with FAT32 is that the maximum single filesize in FAT32 is 4GB. This will prevent you from creating full DVD disc image files as they are likely to be > 4GB in size. Perhaps if you use DVD ripping software that creates a number of smaller files this may be OK.
Click to expand...
DVDs have similar restrictions that limit individual files to about 2GB I believe. This is why a full movie is split over lots of VOB files instead of being stored in a single file.

You will not have a problem making a DVD backup on a FAT32 partition.
 
External Regio-Free DVD drive/burner

Hi guys,

i am new to the mac world and forums, so bear with me! i have read all of the postings on the topic of being able to play all regions DVDs on a MacBook Pro and it seems to me that the most efficient / less time consuming / secure option is to buy an external mac-compatible DVD player/burner RATHER than installing Windows and use windows programs that allow playing DVDs of all regions (as I used to do myself when i had a Dell). Did I get it right?

If so, can someone suggest a specific brand and model of external region-free DVD player/burner that I can easily purchase on line and will allow me to both play any type of any-region DVDs AND also burn DVDs?
 
portogaio said:
it seems to me that the most efficient / less time consuming / secure option is to buy an external mac-compatible DVD player/burner
Click to expand...

I'm with you. It looks like flashing the built in drives on the intel macs is gonna be a lot harder now that the main ROM flasher guy has retired.

Any suggestions for a specific brand and model of external region-free DVD player/burner that is known to work with the Mac? I'm looking too...
 
rdas7 said:
I'm with you. It looks like flashing the built in drives on the intel macs is gonna be a lot harder now that the main ROM flasher guy has retired.
Click to expand...

I doubt it'll ever happen. It's pretty much impossible at the moment to make the built-in drives in the currently-shipping Macs (with RPC-2 firmware) to operate region-free. VLC won't do it. In fact, I've heard that these drives will refuse to mount a DVD from another region. Which means we can't even access the raw data.

I say, **** the DVD CCA. Give us control over our hardware!
 
My MBP came from factory Region Free

Hey guys, you probably won't belive me, but last friday I've got my new MBP 17" and I tried to play a region 4 DVD for the first time (I'm in Brazil and a friend brought me the MBP from the US) using front row. It didn't ask me to choose a region...so I thought it was set to region 4 already...but then I put a region 1 dvd and it played too....how awesome is that! Can anyone explain to me how did this happen?

Thanks
 
viatik said:
Hey guys, you probably won't belive me, but last friday I've got my new MBP 17" and I tried to play a region 4 DVD for the first time (I'm in Brazil and a friend brought me the MBP from the US) using front row. It didn't ask me to choose a region...so I thought it was set to region 4 already...but then I put a region 1 dvd and it played too....how awesome is that! Can anyone explain to me how did this happen?
Click to expand...

Since you were using Front Row, it is possible that Front Row automatically sets the region so that the disk will play. If this theory is correct then you have just used up 2 of the 5 region changes that the DVD drive will allow before locking itself to the 5th region set.

A way to check this theory would be to start up Apple DVD player (not Front Row) and put the region 4 disc back in the drive. Assuming that the last played disc was region 1 then attempting to play a region 4 disc will bring up a region change confirmation dialog. If this happens then it is fairly certain that Front Row just changes the region without prompting you.

Another way to check would be to download DVDInfo (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16366/dvd-info-x) and check how many region changes your drive has left.
 
mrichmon said:
Since you were using Front Row, it is possible that Front Row automatically sets the region so that the disk will play. If this theory is correct then you have just used up 2 of the 5 region changes that the DVD drive will allow before locking itself to the 5th region set.

A way to check this theory would be to start up Apple DVD player (not Front Row) and put the region 4 disc back in the drive. Assuming that the last played disc was region 1 then attempting to play a region 4 disc will bring up a region change confirmation dialog. If this happens then it is fairly certain that Front Row just changes the region without prompting you.

Another way to check would be to download DVDInfo (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16366/dvd-info-x) and check how many region changes your drive has left.
Click to expand...

I did it already. I've played another region 4 DVD with front row and with dvd player. Again, it didn't prompt for me to choose a region. I guess it's at least region 1 and 4 enabled...later I'll try with another region 1 DVD.
 
Nermal said:
If I can't find a firmware update then I'll contact Apple because I'm pretty sure that the NZ Fair Trading Act requires them to provide a region-free solution if I ask for one.
Click to expand...

Really? I'd be interested in that. Let me know how you get on please.
 
viatik said:
I did it already. I've played another region 4 DVD with front row and with dvd player. Again, it didn't prompt for me to choose a region. I guess it's at least region 1 and 4 enabled...later I'll try with another region 1 DVD.
Click to expand...

Region 1 and 4 enabled at the same time isn't possible within the RPC-2 spec. The easiest way to resolve what is going on is to download DVDInfo.
 
mrichmon said:
Region 1 and 4 enabled at the same time isn't possible within the RPC-2 spec. The easiest way to resolve what is going on is to download DVDInfo.
Click to expand...


Ok. Since I don't have the DVDinfo X and am unable to download it, I've decided to try again; only this time I've used DVD player without front row. I've played sucessfully a region 1 DVD and next I've played another region 4 DVD then a region 1 and region 4 again. It never prompted the choose region thingy and since I've done it more than 5 times already I think I can assume my drive is region free or at least regions 1 and 4 enabled...don't know how but I like it! I wish I had dvds from other regions so I could try with them.
 
viatik said:
Ok. Since I don't have the DVDinfo X and am unable to download it, I've decided to try again; only this time I've used DVD player without front row. I've played sucessfully a region 1 DVD and next I've played another region 4 DVD the region 1 nd region 4 again. It never prompted the choose region thingy and since I've done it more than 5 times already I think I can assume my drive is region free or regions 1 and 4 enabled...don't know how but I like it! I wish I had dvds from other regions so I could try with them.
Click to expand...

Sometimes DVD's are not encoded this may be the case here.
 
JDT said:
3. They often go wrong ... They often encounter complications and go wrong, meaning your internal drive is then totally useless -
Click to expand...

That's quite an unfounded statement; I think it's just your perception. Have you even tried flashing your drive at all?

I have done so with my DVD player in my Windows PC. Worked like a charm...
 
I found this site that allows you to change your DVD region to RPC-1 (almost region free). After that you can use Region X to change to region change count back to 1 whenever you hit the change limit.

Sound like what TS wants but only a limited number of DVD drives are supported.

I don't know about my DVD-R writer though (UJ-835E, firmware revision GAND, PowerBook G4 1.67Ghz) as it is not listed there.

[edit]If you google for RPC 1 you find lots of sites; for example this one that lists quite some Matshita drives as well[/edit]
 
lexus said:
Sometimes DVD's are not encoded this may be the case here.
Click to expand...

Nope. The DVDs are encoded all right. In my previous mac I had to choose a region to play these specific DVDs. Also with my DVD player I was able to play them all only after I unlocked the player (it was a samsung DVD player to use with a TV). Besides, the boxes say they are encoded.
 
Could someone please tell me whether a firmware hack has been found yet for the MacBook Pros?
 
floptical, what is the UJ-844? I assume it's some model of drive but from what?

And pmartin, yes, I believe so, though if you are successful and aren't prone to compulsively offering up the truth I'm sure they'd be unlikely to find out. If you are concerned about voiding your warranty don't go ahead with it because, apparently (from what I've read), Apple is very unsympthetic towards people who try this and fail. I don't have to worry, because my 1-year warranty has just expired. AppleCare is a rip-off if you upgrade every 1–1.5 years.
 
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