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Region Free on New Macbook?

J

james948

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 17, 2004
523
154
The new macbook's have the following:
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868: Firmware Revision: KA13

Is there any chance this is going to be cracked? If so, where should I be looking. I find it ridiculous that a laptop isn't region free!

James.
 
What about the one with early 08 MBP?
It's a Matsushita UJ-867 (HA13, HB01) model ... :(
 
How to tell which drive you have? I checked System Profiler on my alu MacBook and the drive is HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS21N Rev SA14.

Update: Never mind. Found out that mine is the LG drive. It seems that new MacBook ships with either Matshit or LG.
 
We're f***ed. Surfing the RPC1 forums it looks like MATSHITA drives are especially hard/often impossible to make region free.
My Unibody MacBook Pro has the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868 variant. The firmware is KA14.

:eek: Fearing the day of my last region switch. :eek:
 
flottenheimer said:
We're f***ed. Surfing the RPC1 forums it looks like MATSHITA drives are especially hard/often impossible to make region free.
My Unibody MacBook Pro has the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868 variant. The firmware is KA14.

:eek: Fearing the day of my last region switch. :eek:
Click to expand...

Someone trustworthy tells me it's illegal for manufacturers NOT to provide a way to make the device region free.

The law came about because the region coding is anti-competitive behaviour.

So, theoretically, there is a way.

I have the same drive in my MBP and want to change it too.
 
Here is the best/easiest way that I've found to keep your drive region free:

1. From the moment you purchase your computer (like the very first time you turn it on!), and before you insert any movie into the dvd drive, open System Preferences and set the CD/DVD's to "Ignore" when you insert a Video DVD. This will ensure Apple DVD Player does not launch automatically when you insert a DVD.

2. Never, ever use the Apple DVD Player. Download and use VLC to play all your DVD's.

And that's it...Your drive can play all regions!

I have this currently working on a 2008 Macbook and 2009 Mac Mini :)
 
Problem here with this solution is that playing DVDs with VLC is much louder on my MacBook Pro - the DVD seems to spin a lot faster, so much, that it is annoying watching a DVD with VLC. However, I tested this a few VLC versions ago, mabye it changed ...
 
how about this one?

Anyone know if i can make this region free and if so how?

Thanks

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868:

Firmware Revision: KA19
 
I just tried this, using the UJ-898 HC10 firmware on a HC09 drive.

I get an error message in console saying:

calling simple_flash with firmware file /Users/______________/Downloads/UJ-898_HC10_Stock_RPC1/UJ-898_HC10_RPC1.dat

simple_flash V 2.01 compiled at Feb 4 2010 00:22:16
Selected firmware: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-898 HC10
fatal: Selected drive (null) does not appear to be a matshita device

logout


Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
 
Last edited:
Matshita HC09

steveLONDON said:
I just tried this, using the UJ-898 HC10 firmware on a HC09 drive.

I get an error message in console saying:

calling simple_flash with firmware file /Users/______________/Downloads/UJ-898_HC10_Stock_RPC1/UJ-898_HC10_RPC1.dat

simple_flash V 2.01 compiled at Feb 4 2010 00:22:16
Selected firmware: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-898 HC10
fatal: Selected drive (null) does not appear to be a matshita device

logout


Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
Click to expand...

I am getting exactly the same message.
Dying to get some help, but it's not available anywhere. I think we need to wait till somebody gets us a hack. God help us!
 
Firmware update

blackburn said:
If you are on 10.6.5, you can't flash. I've tried with 10.6.0 with success. I didn't unlock the drive, I only updated the firmware. (But it's the same)
Click to expand...

Hi Blackburn, how did you update the firmware? It's so complicated on macbook. I have Macbook pro17, with Matshita UJ898, firmware HC09 & will like to update it to HC10. There is absolutely no help in sight! Please, guide.
 
so I have an australian macbook and Im about to head over to the states/canada. Im guessing dvds wont work in my computer. But what about Data discs. If for instance I want to buy os x Lion while im over there. Will I be able to buy it from canada on a dvd?
 
fatal: Selected drive (null) does not appear to be a matshita device

simple_flash V 2.01 compiled at Feb 4 2010 00:22:16
Selected firmware: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-898 HC10
fatal: Selected drive (null) does not appear to be a matshita device

logout

It's a compatibility issue with macs running version 10.6.5 and above
Those having this problem, there are 2 methods to solve this:
  1. Method 1 - Downgrade and Update
  2. Method 2 - Use a bootable drive

Instructions found at this article:
http://app-cloud.blogspot.com/2011/01/blog-post_28.html
 
Updated version of MatshitaFlasher

szesam said:
simple_flash V 2.01 compiled at Feb 4 2010 00:22:16
Selected firmware: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-898 HC10
fatal: Selected drive (null) does not appear to be a matshita device

logout

It's a compatibility issue with macs running version 10.6.5 and above
Those having this problem, there are 2 methods to solve this:
  1. Method 1 - Downgrade and Update
  2. Method 2 - Use a bootable drive
[/URL]
Click to expand...

Updated version of MatshitaFlasher confirmed working up to 10.6.7 here https://rapidshare.com/files/457842304/MatshitaFlasher_0.6.zip
 
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