how to avoid region-code limits of dvd-player?

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
i'm working on an art project for which i need lots of film stills (for which i use dvd capture) - meaning i will be using dvds with varying regional codes. unfortunately there are restrictions built in to the dvd player app that limit how often you can change the regional code of the dvd player.

does anyone know how i can disable this limit?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    ringoringo Posts: 329member
    You might be able to make your DVD drive region-free by replacing the firmware, but it voids your warranty, may damage it, or may not even be possible. I'm not sure where to start on this, though. What kind of drive does your computer have?
  • Reply 3 of 12
    ringo - i have a DVD-RW DVR-103



    niji - thanx for the tip. unfortunately it seems that it won't work with the built in dvd-player ?
  • Reply 4 of 12
    a@rona@ron Posts: 201member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by bryan.fury

    ringo - i have a DVD-RW DVR-103



    niji - thanx for the tip. unfortunately it seems that it won't work with the built in dvd-player ?




    Here I will give you a direct link to the firmware you need:

    DVR-103 Region Free Firmware



    Good luck with that. In addition, you might want to try ripping the DVD to your harddrive using OSeX or DVDBackup 1.3 Hope it helps.



    A@ron
  • Reply 5 of 12
    amoryaamorya Posts: 1,103member
    There's a program called VideoLan Client (VLC) that'll play any DVD from any region.



    Search VersionTracker.





    Amorya
  • Reply 6 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Amorya

    There's a program called VideoLan Client (VLC) that'll play any DVD from any region.





    region-locking a DVD-video happens on both software and hardware level. VideoLan -might- bypass the software level locking (i didn't read into the specs though) but it sure can't bypass the hardware level lock. A DVD-video doesn't even mount on your desktop when your dvd-disc and dvd-player don't have compatible region settings.

    To be able to mount all regions you need a region-free dvd-player. Some olders mac's came shipped with one (e.g. powerbook Lombard). If you don't have a region-free drive, you need to patch the firmware to make it a region-free one. This might damage your drive and voids your warranty.

    Then you still need to -manually- set the software-level of the region-lock for applications like apple's DVD-player. You can do this by the application called 'regionX'

    This application and more in-depth info can be found (as mentioned above) at: http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd or at http://forum.firmware-flash.com/



    hope this sheds some light on the situation...
  • Reply 7 of 12
    albertoalberto Posts: 71member
    I have a Pismo with OS X and OS 9, so when I want to watch region 1 Dvds I use the Apple DVD player in OS X, and I want to watch some region 4 dvd I boot into OS 9 and play it there, is not the best solution but it will not void your warranty
  • Reply 8 of 12
    zozo Posts: 3,117member
    DVD Backup is your best solution. Downloads the DVD to your HD and gets rid of Macrovision, Region code, and something else I forgot.



    You can then make it into a toast image and run it off your HD with DVD Player.



    voila'



    PS New app came out for Mac called DVD2one. Its absolutely amazing and faaaaaaaaast. Lets you backup your DVD onto a blank DVDR and resize the movie so it fits on the 4.7GB DVDR disks.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ZO

    DVD Backup is your best solution. Downloads the DVD to your HD and gets rid of Macrovision, Region code, and something else I forgot.



    You can then make it into a toast image and run it off your HD with DVD Player.



    voila'



    PS New app came out for Mac called DVD2one. Its absolutely amazing and faaaaaaaaast. Lets you backup your DVD onto a blank DVDR and resize the movie so it fits on the 4.7GB DVDR disks.




    really, you can't do that with a disc that has an incompatible region code.

    From the DVD-backup's "read me":



    Code:


    * YOU MUST RUN APPLE'S DVD PLAYER ONCE AFTER INSERTING A DVD.

    This is to "authenticate" the DVD and allow the files to be copied.

    Usually DVD player will run automatically when you insert a disc.

    Stop or quit DVD Player before running DVDBackup.







    But you cannot run Apple's DVD player on a disc with an incompatible region-code, so you're stuck.



    Really: the only solution is to find a region-free drive (RPC-1) or patch your non-region-free drive (RPC-2) to a region-free one.



    Once you (or somebody) made a backup of a DVD and removed Macrovision, CSS and region code, then you can play back the disc-image (or the disc itself when burned on a DVD-R) regardless of the region setting on you drive.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    thanx everyone for your input!

    this seem more complicated than i had hoped.



    a@ron - have you or anyone you know had any experience with the firmware updater? your wishing me *good luck* makes me a bit hesitant to try it out ?
  • Reply 11 of 12
    a@rona@ron Posts: 201member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by bryan.fury

    thanx everyone for your input!

    this seem more complicated than i had hoped.



    a@ron - have you or anyone you know had any experience with the firmware updater? your wishing me *good luck* makes me a bit hesitant to try it out ?




    There are directions on that page the others have been posting. I've personally have never done it but I bet you could use OSeX (since it doesnt require they be played to DeCSS) and then use DVD2OneX (DTOX). The good luck was just wellwishing, I don't want anyone (not even you jk) to screw up their drives firmware and make it junk.



    A@ron
  • Reply 12 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by bryan.fury

    a@ron - have you or anyone you know had any experience with the firmware updater? your wishing me *good luck* makes me a bit hesitant to try it out ? [/B]



    don't wanne answer in a@ron's place, but:

    I'm dealing with these questions daily since working part-time in a video-store:



    Check the link to the forum I mentioned above: If there's a few people complaining that the patch didn't work, you know what 'might' happen to you. Also: keep in mind that people that succesfully patched their drives don't necessarily post their succes.



    So: bottom line (for me) is: patching your DVD-drive is illegal thus voids your warranty and can possibly damage your drive beyond repair. So you're messing with your computer worth a few thousand $$$, when you can actually buy region free drives for around 100$.

    The only reason for which it 'might' make sense to patch your drive is to do exactely what you wanne do: rip DVD's (which is also illegal)



    Not that I care about the legal issues: what I tend to do in this situation is: I play my DVD on my settop region free DVD-player (cost me $100), connect over S-VHS to my digital camera, record and bring that back to the comp. I know you lose quality, but most of the time it's a lot faster (don't have to deal with NTSC-PAL / 24-25-29-30fps / widescreen-fullscreen issues) and I don't have to screw with my $3000 powerbook...



    my $0.2
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