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pbjudge · Nov 8, 2001, 11:21 PM

I am a teacher in Japan and I often use movies in my classes. Yet because I am from the US and travel back to America several times a year, I bought my new ibook in the states.

This presents a problem for me regarding DVD's, as Japan is in Region2 and America is in Region1. As I understand it, I cannot use DVD's from both regions, only one or the other. But, I am in America for at least two months of the year... What is an international person like me to do. The DVD region system punishes people who travel or live between two or more regional zones. Is there anyway around this?

Help!

neutrino23 · Nov 9, 2001, 05:56 AM

I have the same problem. I don't know of an easy solution.

There are some possibilities.

If you are running OS X I have heard that you can launch a movie, click OK when it asks if you want to change regions, then after watching the movie don't quit DVD player. Instead do a Force Quit (under the apple menu). I haven't tried it but they say that doing this it doesn't actually enforce the change in region. If you are careful you could do this indefinitely.

Search this site and the web. There are several places where people discuss this and swap utilities for getting around this problem. Note that the region code restrictions are not a legal restriction like copyright. Simply a tactic that the movie producers would like to enforce.

Here is one place to start. http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/index.html

Paulos · Nov 9, 2001, 07:38 AM

You need to flash your DVD-ROM drive with region free firmware.

Go here:
http://perso.club-internet.fr/farzeno/firmware/

You then can use XVI's Region tool (also found above) to change regions (as many times as you want) as the DVD Player still only allows one at a time. There is a version for both OS 9 and OS X.

vmarks · Nov 13, 2001, 06:57 PM

Yes, the region system punishes people who travel, or choose to use products they buy in other locales.

Using the region crack firmware or a software patch is a workaround, but not a real solution. A real solution is beating up, boycotting, beating in a court of law, or fixing the legislation that the DVDCCA and MPAA studios bought, for deciding to use the lousy region coding in the first place.

Josh Reid · Nov 13, 2001, 09:48 PM

One thing I've always wondered but never asked is, Iif you change your DVD firmware, does this do anything to affect your Apple Warranty? Also, how simple is the process, and is there any risk of messing things up when doing this? If it's as simple as it seems, I just wonder why more people don't do it.

Thanks,

Josh

pbjudge · Nov 13, 2001, 10:28 PM

Thanks neutrino23 & Paulo.

As for 23's above-mentioned trick of force quiting before the app finishes, I have heard of that, but am not sure it really works because I have no DVDs from a different region to check. When I get back to America for Christmas, I will get one and check it out. Either way, I will report back as to whether this works or not.

Paulo mentioned the firmware patches that are availible online, but I worry how safe those really are. The sites usually carry big warnings about not trying them unless you are prepared to risk the drive. Does anyone know how safe most of the firmware patches are that would allow you to circumvent the region codes? :

Parky · Nov 16, 2001, 10:57 AM

I have tried the 'force quit' option and it does work.
After a force quit, next time you are offered the option to change regions the counter has not moved on and the region has not changed from that previously stored (i.e. a normal quit)

Parky · Nov 16, 2001, 11:10 AM

I've just checked the 'force quit' method again. it still works OK.

I have OS X 10.1.1 on an iMac DVSE 400

I currently have the region set to 2 as I live in the UK, most discs I come across are region 2.

I just put in The Mummy Returns which is a Region 1 disc, I was asked if I wanted to change the region code to 1, I said yes (you need the root password to do it) It said Region was successfully changed.

I watched a good 5 mins of the film and then did a force quit to exit the DVD player. I then get a message which says 'changes will not be saved' I suppose this means the region change, because when I put a region 2 disc in it plays right away, no region change offered.

Ian P

pbjudge · Nov 16, 2001, 11:03 PM

Thanks Parky! I also use region 2. When I get to the US, I will try this method. I am glad to hear from someone who has successfully tried this, as it will mean that I do not have to try the riskier method of flashing the firmware. Thanks again!!

pbjudge · Dec 22, 2001, 11:37 PM

I am confused now. Parky and several other members have stated the "force quit" method works. However, I just returned from Japan and when I put in a Region 1 DVD, it indicated that this was my first region change (from Region 2) and that I have four more... even though I have always used the force quit procedure prior to the end of the Region 2 DVDs that I have viewed.

I am running a 600 Ice ibook on OS X.1

HELP????

edddeduck · Dec 23, 2001, 09:30 AM

There is a program called Region X bu XVI that resets the region but REMEMBER you need to have flashed your DVD drive to rpc-1 first all apple dvd players have a crack available the problem is I believe apple have broken the Region X program in 10.1.2. I have e-mailed the author and expect this to be fixed sometime after christmas.

If you download the current region X app it has a great description of what you have to do..

The Mac DVD Resourse It has no dl at the moment as it has gone over its monthly credit.

Or this is the best site but its for pc's too.

The Firmware Page

Get the requite apps from here to check your drive settings, flash your drive and then reset your player everytime.

Cheers Edd

pbjudge · Dec 29, 2001, 12:34 AM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Parky:
[QB]I've just checked the 'force quit' method again. it still works OK./QUOTE]

Are you sure Parky?

I have tried on my machine and on one in the store (sneaky...). The Force Quit did not seem to get around the changes being saved. If ANYONE else has tried this, let us know...!

- Pat

rjenkinson · Dec 29, 2001, 02:51 AM

the only real solution is to flash the firmware in your drive. only then will you be able to switch between regions and not have your changes saved.

-r.

pbjudge · Jan 5, 2002, 07:36 PM

Originally posted by rjenkinson:
<STRONG>the only real solution is to flash the firmware in your drive. only then will you be able to switch between regions and not have your changes saved.

-r.</STRONG>

How dangerous is this? The websites that I have checked out all warn you that you may damage the drive irreparibly. How likely is this?

- Pat

rjenkinson · Jan 5, 2002, 09:41 PM

on my patented likeliness� scale which ranges from 0 to 10, i'd say it's about a 2.

-r.

Jansar · Jan 6, 2002, 06:26 PM

Originally posted by rjenkinson:
<STRONG>on my patented likeliness� scale which ranges from 0 to 10, i'd say it's about a 2.

-r.</STRONG>

You're giving it a 2? You're too nice.

pbjudge · Apr 5, 2004, 12:07 AM

Originally posted by Parky:
I have tried the 'force quit' option and it does work.
After a force quit, next time you are offered the option to change regions the counter has not moved on and the region has not changed from that previously stored (i.e. a normal quit)

THIS METHOD DOES NOT WORK UNDER OS10.3.3!�@Be carful! I just tried it on two machines at work and the region shift was permanent, Force quitting did not work.

- PJ

wulf · Apr 5, 2004, 11:50 AM

The only way is to flash the firmware on your drive. In theory this is always a risk, in practice I've flashed (I think) three PowerBooks and four PowerMacs - including SuperDrives - without a problem.

If you are worried (and I was with the first machine I did this on), only flash your drive if you can find an installer for the original firmware as well. That way if anything goes wrong you can always revert to the original firmware.

It is said there is still a risk of your drive being rendered unusable (and un-flashable) if something goes wrong during the flashing procedure, but I imagine the cases of this are few, since I have never heard of one. The FAQ on forum.rpc1.org says:

NEVER INTERRUPT THE FLASHING PROCESS. Aborting the firmware update will probably ruin your drive

But other than that I expect you will be fine.

Having said all that, no warranty implied, proceed at your own risk etc. etc.

The places to look for firmwares are:
http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/download2.html
and:
http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php

Spheric Harlot · Apr 6, 2004, 10:42 AM

One word of warning:

I was warned by my dealer that Apple may check the firmware of the drive when you bring your machine in for repair. If they find anything other than the original firmware, they may refuse to work on the machine.

So make sure you flash it back to the original firmware before repairs.

I've done this (region-free and back) with the Superdrive in my 12" Powerbook and encountered no problems whatsoever.

-s*

cszar2001 · Apr 7, 2004, 10:04 AM

I�ve done a firmware upgrade (no problems whatsoever) and use DVD Player for Region 1 and VLC for Region 2.
Works fine.

PacHead · Apr 10, 2004, 04:10 PM

Yeah, same here. I flashed my Pismo years ago, and it works just fine.

pbjudge · Apr 10, 2004, 09:39 PM

Originally posted by PacHead:
Yeah, same here. I flashed my Pismo years ago, and it works just fine.

Thanks for everyone's input, but unfortunately there is no firmware flash solution for the aluminum 15's & 17's yet.

It's a shame, but for now, (with VLC not able to work around the problem), I will use my comp for the single region and uses a cheap new mutlitregion player I bought for everything else.

Thanks anyway.
- PJ

willab · Apr 11, 2004, 05:28 PM

My solution is to put the DVD in and ignore the change region messages. Then open DVD backup to copy it to hard drive removing the codes. This would not be very convenient though.