View Full Version : DVD Region Coding Hell
Is there a way to bypass the DVD Region coding? A very long time ago, my kids bought a DVD from England (during the S Club 7 craze). They watched it again not too long ago as I recall, and when my daughter put in a DVD tonight the computer said that the region was wrong.....hmmm...what was that error message she got last time? Long story short, I think my G4/450 Sawtooth thinks it is in England, not America. After 5 times of changing the region you are not allowed to change it again. So all their movies are locked out because of that one.
Is there away around this snafu?
What the hell is wrong with Apple (and other engineers)? Why would you build in the capability to disable the use of a product? The only reason you would switch regions is because you had media from different places. How does my purchasing a licensed property give the creator control of where I am when I use it? This is total B.S.
What machine do you have?
Depending on the drive version there are links from Worm in the Apple (http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/) that will allow you to chage the firmware on your DVD drive. This will make it region free.
I have done it to all my Macs except my G5 (as the firmware patch is not available to the best of my knowledge - yet).
There are some risks, it can fry your drive as with any firmware update... but I have to say I haven't been burnt yet.
http://wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/download.html
DVDReset apparently resets your drive to "5 changes left". You can also download new firmware. And VLC will bypass region coding, IIRC.
Whoa whoa whoa! Don't be so quick to lay the blame on Apple, SteveC! This is a hardware restriction that is imposed by the drive manufacturers. You should actually be happy that you even have the ability to change regions five times instead of zero.
Most DVD players can only play one region. Period. You can blame greed on the part of the MPAA or the big DVD manufacturers or whatever committee is in charge of that sort of business. Regions exist to force people to buy more hardware or multiple copies of the same DVD. There is no other reason for it.
That said, you can buy region-free DVD players. They're not always easy to find, but they are out there. Also, if you're lucky, you might find a firmware patch as scratt mentioned that can make your existing DVD player region free.
Whoa whoa whoa! Don't be so quick to lay the blame on Apple, SteveC! This is a hardware restriction that is imposed by the drive manufacturers. You should actually be happy that you even have the ability to change regions five times instead of zero.
Regions exist to force people to buy more hardware or multiple copies of the same DVD. There is no other reason for it.
Brad is right. Apple have done the best they can with the rules that have been imposed by the big media companies.
However, I would comment that it is actually more to do with region releases of 'software' (movies and software proper) rather than an overt attempt to force you to buy more copies of the same 'software' and extra hardware - although that is the end result of the regulations. The whole DVD region thing is becoming as pointless as the asserion by big media companies that P2P 'sharing' affects their sales IMHO.
In essence movies and games get released at different times and with different restrictions in different countries.. The real idea behind region coding is simply to enforce and ring-fence the release of a DVD (or other media) in a region, or country so that that release should, in theory, be unusable in other regions or countries. For example, The Lion King was out on DVD in Japan at about the same time it was released in the cinema in the US (it came out in the cinema in Japan long before it was available in the US for political reasons) and it is understandable to a certain degree that Disney did not want that DVD making it to market in the US at the same time. To a certain degree I can understand that.
It has become however, like so many other rules in the world, a system for restricting and controlling freedom, while making more money for the media giants. And as such causes a lot of mixed feelings.
I think it is a bit like religion, and politics.. A good idea in essense if you take it at face value but unfortunately it seems that humans are unable to follow the systems they create without bending the rules to their own benefit! As Brad has said.. The upshot is just that it feels like you are being forced to buy more copies of the same media, or denied the right to wwatch something you own.
In Thailand they have the right idea... Every DVD drive here is region free! I bought a Home Cinema system here for $100 and it plays anything!!
That said, you can buy region-free DVD players. They're not always easy to find, but they are out there. Also, if you're lucky, you might find a firmware patch as scratt mentioned that can make your existing DVD player region free.
I bought my region free player at Target, $40. Try the DVD player hack list at www.videohelp.com for your own personal stand alone player mod. Not always available for every model....
I hate DVD regions and similar systems designed to lessen competition and free trade.
The best thing to do regarding them is to never buy region locked hardware, or hardware you can't unlock by a hack.
Yes, you are right it isn't Apple's fault that they don't actually Think Different when it comes to enforcing the rules. Still, what is the point of the protection if it is okay to change it 5 times? Wouldn't a bootlegger buy a second machine? Since there are collectively few players in the computer industry, I would hope they could figure this 5th grade logic out...guess not. The purpose of standards is not to create artificial divisions!
The DVD drive is working again in Zone 1, but for some reason the original DVD that started this problem doesn't work. Since it was borrowed from the library, it isn't a big deal.
Thank you for your help, everyone. :-)
this is what happens when lawyers get involved with creating products, the ultimate example was the divx dvd that circuit city and the movie moguls were trying to push down our throats.
the reason for region coding is record labels always hated seeing import sales from records or versions of records they decided not to sell in the first place. or in some cases, less expensive versions of product they released stateside, although this was rare.
the movie industry created region codes to "protect" their product stream.
kumrabai
2005-03-29, 06:58
Worm in the Apple seems to have been shut down - the domain name is for sale. Any ideas on where to get the region hack instead?
Cheers
Worm in the Apple seems to have been shut down - the domain name is for sale. Any ideas on where to get the region hack instead?Try here. (http://forum.rpc1.org/index.php)
Have you tried just playing DVDs with VLC? I'm pretty sure it ignores (or can ignore) the region encoding.
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