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Region-free workaround on Macbook

faizan

faizan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2007
22
0
Birmingham UK
I've been using a black Macbook for the past two years and I was frustrated with the region limitation on the DVD drive. I travel quite often and have DVDs in region 1 and 2. After switching the region on my Macbook 5 times, I could no longer watch my region 1 DVD's as it got locked on to region 2 permanently.

I looked for a workaround for ages but couldn't find one. I now have an Aluminum Macbook. I just inserted a DVD into the superdrive for the first time. And instead of following the DVD Player prompt (to choose a region for the first time), i just opened up VLC and the movies playing. I've left the DVD Player running because if I click cancel the DVD gets ejected.

I think this might be a credible workaround for the problem (at least for people who're buying new computers anyway). Has anyone else experienced this?
 
System Preferences -> CDs & DVDs -> When you insert a Video DVD: Open other application... -> VLC
 
You can just disable auto-play by going to:
System Preferences —> CDs & DVDs
Where it says 'When you insert a video DVD, either choose 'Ignore' or choose VLC.

mr_choose_dvdplay01.png


faizan said:
It might not work if you've already set the region on your DVD drive.
Click to expand...

It should work because VLC ignores the region code on your computer.
 
Thanks for the tips, I wish I could learn it earlier...

I just got my new Alu Macbook Pro a couple weeks. I was ignorantly let the built-in DVD player to open the region 1 DVD, and now it's stuck in region 1..... VLC player won't do nothing... Is that mean I'm screwed? :(
 
Sorry if this sounds silly... but I have to ask the OP, faizan, have you ever open any DVD movie with the built-in DVD player on your Macbook? I'm wondering if I go replace a new superdrive and follow the tips here will work?


I believe my MBP have the LG superdrive (HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS21N), which VLC won't help... :( What I did, was just put in a DVD movie and the built-in DVD player pop out and play(It didn't ask me to choose a region for the first time tho), then it start asking me everytime whenever I put a differ region disc in, and even I try the tricks that provided here won't help, VLC just crash or do nothing.... :(

Did I made a mistake by using the built-in DVD player run the disc for the first time, and that DVD player did automatically pick the first DVD as it's region code?
 
On my old Macbook, I did set the region using DVD player. I had to keep switching regions too. I might be wrong but I don't think there is a suitable workaround to fix this.

If you replace your Superdrive, it will ask you again to set the region for the first time. If you then disable DVD player as the default player in system preferences as indicated in earlier posts, you can use VLC for a region-free drive.

However, I'd suggest getting a region-free external DVD player instead because it'll be much cheaper.
 
Hi, having a bit of a problem running this method on my new macbook 2.4 aluminum. Just wondering if any who has got this to work could check the steps I'm taking to check if I'm doing it right.

1. I put my first DVD into the drive and the region option comes up/DVD player opens. (I have not selected any region previously)

2. I don't select any region but leave that and the DVD player open.

3. Open VLC player. Open DVD via File>Open Disc

The drive spools up for a sec then just spits the DVD out again. I have tried playing the DVD by both using the "DVD" and "VIDEO_TS directory" options in the VLC "Disc Menu", both have the same result.

I also tried playing the DVD via File>Open File and then attempted to play a .vob file but as soon as I click a file, VLC crashes and shuts down.

Any pointers? Thanks! :)
 
VLC trick doesn't work on recent (2009) MacBooks

Unfortunately VLC does not seem to be able to bypass the region code check on recent MacBooks. I have one bought this year (2009) with Matshita drive model UJ-868, firmware revision KA14. VLC cannot play a region 2 DVD. It shows a black screen for a few seconds, then stops playing. VLC works fine with Region 1 DVDs.

I also looked around but there doesn't appear to be any hacked firmware version available as of this date. I hope that this will change, but in the meanwhile I will have to rip and recompress all my region 2 DVDs, which is a royal pain. But I have to do it anyhow for the DVD player in the minivan---I doubt there will ever be a region-free firmware for that one.

Shouldn't it be possible to get the Australian or New Zealand version of the firmware? Don't those countries have laws that prohibit region restrictions?
 
Unfortunately NZ and Australia are just as strict as everywhere else. I think I'll just have to buy an external DVD player :mad: Not that they are expensive or anything, but it is just a pain in the ass when you pay a decent amount of money for a laptop and are only able to play half your DVD collection, and have to lug an external DVD player around with you if you want to watch DVDs on the run.
 
I can't speak for recent Macbooks since I'm using one from a couple of years ago still but the problem most people are having is that they are trying to use VLC during/after DVD Player has tried the DVD. This won't work. You have to have DVD Player completely Quit *and* have your drive not autoplay DVDs (i.e. so it doesn't open DVD Player when you insert a disc) or the region check will be made. If you see the region select screen when trying to use the VLC method, it will not work and you'll have to eject.

I've never had a problem on any Mac using VLC (Command-D, OK) to play any region DVDs, and living in a terrible country where I have to import anything half decent I'm used to a wide range of regions.

If I get a funny disc VLC chokes on (it happens a few times, VLC seems picky) I just rip it to my drive temporarily with MacTheRipper. You'll want to delete it afterwards, especially on a laptop, as the space consumption adds up!

I miss the old DVD Region X when people were still making the Mac firmware updates for it. It made the whole thing so much simpler.
 
Yeah, I've been using the VLC trick on my MBP for a while.

Apple claims to sell a premium product, but this region encoding **** is for the proles. /snob

Really, I bought a $3000 laptop and I can't freely switch between NA/EU and Asia? One more brick in the wall that we should be using to stone the MPAA.
 
I just followed the VLC instructions and VLC still wont play it even if auto play is set on ignore

the disc drive makes some noises then VLC just goes back to a blank "controller" box
 
Uj-868 Rpc-1

semenzato said:
I have one bought this year (2009) with Matshita drive model UJ-868, firmware revision KA14.
I also looked around but there doesn't appear to be any hacked firmware version available as of this date.
Click to expand...

You might want to read this topic / post over here:
http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=44003

I know that there's an RPC-1 FW for the UJ-868 KB19. Dunno about KA14/KB14. Be sure to post your drives info and ask if there is any firmware you can test for the guys and you might be just about lucky enough.
 
How to Re-set the Region on a Macbook

I have a White Macbook, with an LG GS22N drive, Firmware CP08 and every time I reboot my computer I have the same 3 changes left that I had when I flashed the firmware! If I'd only had one change left when I flashed it then every time I reboot I'd still have one change left....

It's not so hard to do but you HAVE to be able to boot the Macbook into Win XP or Vista in order to flash the firmware and using Parallels is no good as OSX is still running, so you'll need to use bootcamp or pop another drive inside and install XP and use that. I had a spare SATA drive as I'd upgraded the one in my Macbook to a 7200rpm 320GB so I put the original drive back in, installed Win XP, flashed the firmware and then put my OSX drive back in and used USA, UK and Brazil Dvd's and still have and will always have three changes left every time I reboot!

Here's how to do it, taken from 'The Firmware Page':

I successfully applied the MCSE RPC2 Auto Reset patch to the CP08 firmware for my HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS22N (MacBook mid-2009) in the firmware database.

1. Downloaded CP08 firmware EXE from this board's firmware database.
http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php
2. Downloaded MCSE via this board's Utilities page.
3. Ran MCSE (Windows) via Crossover in MacOS - it worked fine. Used it to apply the RPC2 Auto Reset patch to the CP08 firmware EXE. That also worked fine via Crossover.
4. Rebooted MacBook into 64-bit Vista Ultimate (SP2) Boot Camp in Safe Mode.
5. Ran the patched CP08 EXE - it worked fine.
6. Rebooted into MacOS. Stuck in my first DVD and ran DVD Player, it said it needed to set my drive region for the first time, which I let it do.
7. Shutdown and restarted MacOS. Again stuck in DVD and ran DVD Player, and it again said it needed to set the drive region for the first time. SUCCESS!

GS22N: http://files.rpc1.org/index.php?act=category&id=1822
MCSE: http://ala42.cdfreaks.com/MCSE/MediaCodeSpeedEdit.zip

My story is a little different to the above as I did it all in Win XP and didn't boot in safe mode either but the results are the same. Good luck yawl!!
 
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
 
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