DVD - region code ?????????

rgray · 10-04-2002, 06:40 PM

Is there some way to get around the region code "feature" on the DVD (TiBook 400, os 10.2.1)? I picked up a couple of DVD's while in England and get home to find that I have to change the region code on my drive??? The problem being that I only get to change the region code a total of 5 times before it LOCKs!!!! What the hell happened to globalization? Don't people travel? I legitimately bought those DVD's and my machine is giving me a hard time about playing them.

paragon · 10-07-2002, 01:39 PM

I found heaps of answers about my dvd rom here you may found them too.
http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/

Mikey-San · 10-07-2002, 02:51 PM

You really should have done more research about DVD region encoding before buying DVDs overseas. I equate this to "I bought this tape overseas, and found out it was PAL ... My TV is NTSC!"

There are firmware hacks to reset the "encoding switch count" on your DVD-ROM drive, but be warned that if _anything_ goes wrong (they're called "hacks" for a reason), your drive will not be serviced under warranty by Apple or any AASP/Specialist. If you're not under warranty (first, you should have bought AppleCare, but that's for another discussion ;-)), I still don't think you'd reasonably be into paying for a drive replacement if some hack went really screwy or rendered your drive incompatible in some way after an OS update.

If you can somehow return the DVDs, I'd go that route. If not, you might see about finding a console DVD player that's what they call "regionless"--that is, it doesn't have, nor does it conform to, any DVD region encoding setting.

-/-
Mikey-San

rgray · 10-07-2002, 03:13 PM

Quote:


	Mikey-San wrote You really should have done more research about DVD region encoding before buying DVDs overseas. I equate this to "I bought this tape overseas, and found out it was PAL ... My TV is NTSC!"

Not so! PAL and NTSC are distinct technologies. DVD is DVD - the Region code is a GREEDhead add-on and a form of censorship. The discs in question are simply not available in North America. I am a citizen of the world and I like movies from places other than Hollywood! Am I supposed to have a DVD drive for each region? I bought a portable computer which sort of implies that it can be used anywhere! In this age of alleged globalization regional restrictions make no sense. This kind of thing always brings out the anarchist in me

Quote:


	(first, you should have bought AppleCare,

What makes you think I didn't..... ??

Quote:


	If you can somehow return the DVDs, I'd go that route.

Hell, the airfare to do that would pay for at least a couple of drives...

Mikey-San · 10-07-2002, 04:03 PM

I'm not getting into a damned flame war (if you're so knowledgeable about DVDs and video technology, why you purchased different-region DVDs is beyond me), but allow me to repeat myself:

"IF" you aren't under warranty (bit about AppleCare) ...

Let's see ... If you've bought AppleCare, that entire sentence doesn't apply to you, obviously, the previous sentence does. That's why I used "if"--I had no way of knowing if you had AppleCare or not. By using the conditional "if", I can cover both scenarios in one post.

-/-

sbur · 10-07-2002, 04:34 PM

Lay off, Mikey. Most people I know (who happen to be pretty well educated) don't know what the hell region codes are or what they do. It confuses them when they pop in the first DVD and the player asks them to enter a region code.

I don't care if its greed or if it's copy protection, reasonable people don't know very much about it. Caveat Emptor and all that, it is still in poor taste to call someone, in so many words, stupid.

If you're having a crappy day, I'm sorry. Don't take it out on someone else.

poultryfarm · 10-07-2002, 07:18 PM

i couldn't agree more rgray.

i have a powerbook and travel back and forth between switzerland and the us.
if i want to watch a dvd in german with my family members here in switzerland i have to buy it here... but i would also like to see dvds from home in the us.
if i buy them why should i not be able to watch dvds from other countries. there are certain dvds (or language versions of a movie) that i am just not able to get in one country or the other.

needless to say i am hesitant to perform a hack, to have the posibility that something terrible goes wrong, to reset my drive.

... frustrating

sbur · 10-08-2002, 07:36 AM

While its kind of pricey, and it skirts the core issue....I have heard of a number of people who have purchased external DVD drives for just this reason.

funwithstuff · 10-08-2002, 09:22 AM

You have three options:

1. Use the tools at http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/ to remove your a) hardware and b) software region locking.

2. Use DVD Backup (at above URL too) to duplicate the DVD, stripping out region coding (and other things too if you like) as you go. If the DVD is short (4.3G or smaller) and you have access to a DVD writer, you can write it out to a new DVD, or you can just view it from the hard drive using the File > Open VIDEO_TS... command in DVD Player.

3. Use VLC to play the disc (check versiontracker). With QT6 and the current version of VLC, you'll have to switch back to thousands of colours or you won't see anything, which is a bit of a shame. But it's the easiest solution, as it happily ignores regions.

Good luck.

rgray · 10-08-2002, 09:56 AM

Quote:


	funwithstuff wrote 3. Use VLC to play the disc (check versiontracker). With QT6 and the current version of VLC, you'll have to switch back to thousands of colours or you won't see anything, which is a bit of a shame. But it's the easiest solution, as it happily ignores regions.

Wow, thanks funwithstuff! Now we're looking like making progress!

Actually a versiontracker search on 'VLC' (and variations) turned up nothing, but a Google search found http://www.videolan.org/vlc/macosx.html with good info - Doc's, How-to's, screenshots.

I can't wait to get home this evening and try this out. I'll do a mini review....

phidauex · 10-08-2002, 11:38 AM

I'm glad there are some solutions. Let us know what works best!

Region coding was a bad idea, and should be illegal. If you purchase the DVD, you should be able to watch it wherever you want. Region coding was invented soley for the purpose of making money for the entertainment industry, despite being shrouded in the claim that it protects copyrights.

peace,
phidauex

rgray · 10-08-2002, 11:54 AM

Quote:


	phidauex wrote: ...If you purchase the DVD, you should be able to watch it wherever you want.......

Exactly. Imagine buying a book at, say, Heathrow and having to have it sealed shut when you touchdown at JFK! Nobody would stand for THAT!.. and the analogy is exact.

Anyway, I will tryout funwithstuff's tip to VLC and report...

rgray · 10-08-2002, 07:10 PM

Hmmmm.... So far the performance of VLC (v 0.4.4) is not encouraging.

Downloaded and installed without problem and runs region 1 DVD no sweat, but choked on a region 2 disc.......... nothing on the screen except the controller, it is "hunting" - DVD eventually spins down but the it seemed to be searching the hard disk - as if it tried to find something on the DVD and continued on the HD.... ???

Stumped for the present....... Any clues, anyone???

AKcrab · 10-08-2002, 07:52 PM

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10-04-2002, 06:40 PM	#1
rgray Major Leaguer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: NB <-> ON Posts: 364	DVD - region code ????????? Is there some way to get around the region code "feature" on the DVD (TiBook 400, os 10.2.1)? I picked up a couple of DVD's while in England and get home to find that I have to change the region code on my drive??? The problem being that I only get to change the region code a total of 5 times before it LOCKs!!!! What the hell happened to globalization? Don't people travel? I legitimately bought those DVD's and my machine is giving me a hard time about playing them. Last edited by rgray; 10-04-2002 at 06:48 PM.

10-07-2002, 01:39 PM	#2
paragon Major Leaguer Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 307	try this I found heaps of answers about my dvd rom here you may found them too. http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/

10-08-2002, 07:10 PM	#13
rgray Major Leaguer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: NB <-> ON Posts: 364	first try of VLC Hmmmm.... So far the performance of VLC (v 0.4.4) is not encouraging. Downloaded and installed without problem and runs region 1 DVD no sweat, but choked on a region 2 disc.......... nothing on the screen except the controller, it is "hunting" - DVD eventually spins down but the it seemed to be searching the hard disk - as if it tried to find something on the DVD and continued on the HD.... ??? Stumped for the present....... Any clues, anyone???

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10-07-2002, 02:51 PM	#3
Mikey-San Hall of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: twitter.com/mikeysan Posts: 3,481	You really should have done more research about DVD region encoding before buying DVDs overseas. I equate this to "I bought this tape overseas, and found out it was PAL ... My TV is NTSC!" There are firmware hacks to reset the "encoding switch count" on your DVD-ROM drive, but be warned that if _anything_ goes wrong (they're called "hacks" for a reason), your drive will not be serviced under warranty by Apple or any AASP/Specialist. If you're not under warranty (first, you should have bought AppleCare, but that's for another discussion ;-)), I still don't think you'd reasonably be into paying for a drive replacement if some hack went really screwy or rendered your drive incompatible in some way after an OS update. If you can somehow return the DVDs, I'd go that route. If not, you might see about finding a console DVD player that's what they call "regionless"--that is, it doesn't have, nor does it conform to, any DVD region encoding setting. -/- Mikey-San

10-07-2002, 04:03 PM	#5
Mikey-San Hall of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: twitter.com/mikeysan Posts: 3,481	I'm not getting into a damned flame war (if you're so knowledgeable about DVDs and video technology, why you purchased different-region DVDs is beyond me), but allow me to repeat myself: "IF" you aren't under warranty (bit about AppleCare) ... Let's see ... If you've bought AppleCare, that entire sentence doesn't apply to you, obviously, the previous sentence does. That's why I used "if"--I had no way of knowing if you had AppleCare or not. By using the conditional "if", I can cover both scenarios in one post. -/-

10-07-2002, 04:34 PM	#6
sbur Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Saint Peter, MN Posts: 330	Lay off, Mikey. Most people I know (who happen to be pretty well educated) don't know what the hell region codes are or what they do. It confuses them when they pop in the first DVD and the player asks them to enter a region code. I don't care if its greed or if it's copy protection, reasonable people don't know very much about it. Caveat Emptor and all that, it is still in poor taste to call someone, in so many words, stupid. If you're having a crappy day, I'm sorry. Don't take it out on someone else.

10-07-2002, 07:18 PM	#7
poultryfarm Triple-A Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 133	i couldn't agree more rgray. i have a powerbook and travel back and forth between switzerland and the us. if i want to watch a dvd in german with my family members here in switzerland i have to buy it here... but i would also like to see dvds from home in the us. if i buy them why should i not be able to watch dvds from other countries. there are certain dvds (or language versions of a movie) that i am just not able to get in one country or the other. needless to say i am hesitant to perform a hack, to have the posibility that something terrible goes wrong, to reset my drive. ... frustrating

10-08-2002, 07:36 AM	#8
sbur Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Saint Peter, MN Posts: 330	While its kind of pricey, and it skirts the core issue....I have heard of a number of people who have purchased external DVD drives for just this reason.

10-08-2002, 09:22 AM	#9
funwithstuff Prospect Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 1	You have three options: 1. Use the tools at http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/ to remove your a) hardware and b) software region locking. 2. Use DVD Backup (at above URL too) to duplicate the DVD, stripping out region coding (and other things too if you like) as you go. If the DVD is short (4.3G or smaller) and you have access to a DVD writer, you can write it out to a new DVD, or you can just view it from the hard drive using the File > Open VIDEO_TS... command in DVD Player. 3. Use VLC to play the disc (check versiontracker). With QT6 and the current version of VLC, you'll have to switch back to thousands of colours or you won't see anything, which is a bit of a shame. But it's the easiest solution, as it happily ignores regions. Good luck.

10-08-2002, 11:38 AM	#11
phidauex Prospect Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 37	I'm glad there are some solutions. Let us know what works best! Region coding was a bad idea, and should be illegal. If you purchase the DVD, you should be able to watch it wherever you want. Region coding was invented soley for the purpose of making money for the entertainment industry, despite being shrouded in the claim that it protects copyrights. peace, phidauex

10-08-2002, 07:52 PM	#14
AKcrab MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Wasilla, AK Posts: 1,043	Other Info