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Region settings on DVD player

H

hmbebe

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 22, 2007
8
0
Hi

New user to the Macbook and just tried to use the DVD player, which then prompted region change option. I'm surprise there is a limited number of times you can set the region, does this mean that whatever the region setting is on the 5th (ie the last) change is the only region it will ever play? How does this work? Surely it is capable to read multi-region dvd if it allows you to change 5 times?

Anyway around this or have I mis-understood?

Thx
Bebe
 
Yes, after the 5th change it is stuck in that region forever.

A multi region DVD shouldn't require the region to be changed so should be fine.

This very unfortunate behavior is the fault of the movie industry, they require the 5 change limit on all computer DVD drives sold in the US and most of the world.
 
Can I by pass this by using VLC? I'm confused if this is a software or hardware issue? I would have thought the Superdrive is a multiregion player in Macbook?

It's so stupid why users have to lock themselves in a region setting after 5 times when it is the dvd player is installed in a "laptop"? :confused:

Any suggestions?

thx
Bebe
 
It might not be possible to work around it with VLC. You used to be able to do it but many of the newer drives have the region settings in the hardware and there is not way to work around it.

It sucks and isn't fair. Region codes at all are the work of the movie industry in order to make more money, and they don't care if it is a desktop or a laptop.
 
It used to be a software issue, so you could bypass it with. However, in the last few years they have made the region part of the hardware, and thus it is not bypassable via VLC.
 
Boot Camp + Windows + your pick of different pieces of software that can bypass region checks = region free DVD playback.
 
swiftaw said:
It used to be a software issue, so you could bypass it with. However, in the last few years they have made the region part of the hardware, and thus it is not bypassable via VLC.
Click to expand...

Not quite true. VLC mounts the disk as a data disk, not as a DVD - and the hardware protection is then bypassed.

Apps such as MacTheRipper and HandBrake do the same thing.
 
Newer DVD drives do not allow the data access to commercial movie DVDs. In which case it is NOT possible to bypass the region coding no matter what software or operating system you have.
 
There is one way around it. If you can flash your DVD firmware to be region-free, then with software like RegionX you can play any region. I have done this on my MacBook but you need to have a DVD drive for which a region-free flash has been written. Try this site www.rpc1.org to see if your drive is one of the lucky ones.
 
yippy said:
Newer DVD drives do not allow the data access to commercial movie DVDs. In which case it is NOT possible to bypass the region coding no matter what software or operating system you have.
Click to expand...

Completely false.

There are a number of pieces of software available for Windows that allow you to play movies from ANY region without any kind of modification to the drive.
 
I just popped a DVD into my Macbook this morning and became aware of these region settings. My question is, are most DVD's multi-region, or is there a region that most DVD's are set to? I don't really understand how they can do this. Either way, when I tried to change my region code it wouldn't even let me. I clicked the lock to unlock it so I would be able to change, but then when I clicked on the 'select region code' box it just had region 1 come up, that was my only choice?? Hmm... anyone have any ideas? :confused:
 
mosx said:
Completely false.

There are a number of pieces of software available for Windows that allow you to play movies from ANY region without any kind of modification to the drive.
Click to expand...

Actually, you are wrong. Sort of. Most DVD drives, you are correct, you can get region free using software. However, there are more and more DVD drives turning up that have the region coding hard coded into the firmware and it is not possible to use software to bypass the region settings on these few drives. However, usually a firmware flash can fix the problem.

The key though is that it is not always possible to bypass region coding with software.
 
yippy said:
Actually, you are wrong. Sort of. Most DVD drives, you are correct, you can get region free using software. However, there are more and more DVD drives turning up that have the region coding hard coded into the firmware and it is not possible to use software to bypass the region settings on these few drives. However, usually a firmware flash can fix the problem.

The key though is that it is not always possible to bypass region coding with software.
Click to expand...

Actually, you are wrong and I am right. Region coding has ALWAYS been a part of the firmware. Always.

However, there are so many pieces of software for Windows that make this irrelevant. AnyDVD, DVDIdle and countless others can bypass region coding without any kind of issue.

Just because it can't be done on OS X doesn't mean it can't be done elsewhere, even on the same computer.
 
mosx said:
Actually, you are wrong and I am right. Region coding has ALWAYS been a part of the firmware. Always.

However, there are so many pieces of software for Windows that make this irrelevant. AnyDVD, DVDIdle and countless others can bypass region coding without any kind of issue.

Just because it can't be done on OS X doesn't mean it can't be done elsewhere, even on the same computer.
Click to expand...

True for most drives but unfortunately not the Matshita (Panasonic) drives used in Macs

http://club.cdfreaks.com/f88/matshita-uj-812-a-101267/
 

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yippy said:
It might not be possible to work around it with VLC. You used to be able to do it but many of the newer drives have the region settings in the hardware and there is not way to work around it.

It sucks and isn't fair. Region codes at all are the work of the movie industry in order to make more money, and they don't care if it is a desktop or a laptop.
Click to expand...

I've seen people saying this for a while now, but I haven't had any problem bypassing using VLC on my year-old MBP with plenty of foreign disks that won't play using Apple's DVD Player program.
 
flopticalcube said:
Not calling anyone a liar. Just pointing out a fact. She may have a different drive or maybe she flashed her drive, like I have done with mine. Just saying that there are Mac drives out there that will not work with ANY software solution, Windows or OSX.
Click to expand...

Because a small number of people in a thread with the majority of posts having been made nearly half a decade ago say so?

Sounds more like specific system issues than a "known problem".
 
mosx said:
Because a small number of people in a thread with the majority of posts having been made nearly half a decade ago say so?

Sounds more like specific system issues than a "known problem".
Click to expand...

Nothing has changed since the original cdfreaks posting was made. It is a known problem amongst many (most?) but not all Matshita drives. By all means use software to try and defeat region coding on your drives but be aware that, in some cases, its just not going to work. I don't see why its so hard to accept this.
 
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