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Hawkeye_a · Mar 24, 2007, 10:43 PM

Is there anywhere i can buy one of these brand new to replace the one in my 20" iMac CD ? the reason...friggon region codes and no firmware upgrades to get rid of them.

I'm ging to cave in and dish out for a new drive+installation.

I do see a class action against Apple and/or MATSHITA for enforcing region codes in their products with no legal requirements to do so, as feasible. The Better Business Bureau aught to do something as well imo, since fair rights use of legally purchased hardware and software cannot function.

From a customer's standpoint, this should be illegal.

But back on topic, anyone know where i can purchase one of these drives or one that isnt so draconian as far as region codes go ?

Cheers

Eug · Mar 25, 2007, 01:36 AM

I do see a class action against Apple and/or MATSHITA for enforcing region codes in their products with no legal requirements to do so, as feasible. The Better Business Bureau aught to do something as well imo, since fair rights use of legally purchased hardware and software cannot function.

WTF are you talking about?

Anyways, you might be able to install a Pioneer DVR-K06 (depending on whether or not your config supports it I guess). There are region free firmwares available for it.

I did this for my Cube. I took out my old optical drive and with some mods (including a new bracket, and a hacked IDE adapter), I now have a region free Pioneer DVR-K06 SuperDrive in my Cube.

Hawkeye_a · Mar 25, 2007, 02:33 AM

Originally Posted by Eug

WTF are you talking about?

The drive gets region locked after 5 changes. So now the perfectly legal DVDs i own from different regions around the world, will not function in the DVD drive in my computer. there are DVD players soldeverywhere that are region free. So why does Apple/Matshit have to enforce this crap on paying customers ? There certainly is no legal requirement to have region codes and the 5-change rule, so why do customers have to put up with it ?

PS>> my powerbook has a pioneer that i upgraded the firmware on to make it RPC1(region free)..... however the Matshit drives have absolutely no firware upgrades that make em region free...trust me ive looked. And it's not just my drive, its any drive made by this manufacturer.

ghporter · Mar 25, 2007, 09:42 AM

The region code thing is part of the software licensing that all DVD drive manufacturers are stuck with. They either agree to region coding limits on their hardware, or they don't get the licenses needed for their drives to legally decode DVD data. It's business-forced down the manufacturers' throats by the MPAA-but it's just business.

But why have you not used one of the free, software-based DVD players that gets PLAIN data off the DVD drive and sidesteps the whole region code issue in the first place?

Eug · Mar 25, 2007, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by Hawkeye_a

The drive gets region locked after 5 changes. So now the perfectly legal DVDs i own from different regions around the world, will not function in the DVD drive in my computer. there are DVD players soldeverywhere that are region free. So why does Apple/Matshit have to enforce this crap on paying customers ? There certainly is no legal requirement to have region codes and the 5-change rule, so why do customers have to put up with it ?

That is the requirement.

The easiest thing to do is simply to get a $40 drive that is known to be flashable with an RPC-1 firmware and a $20 external enclosure.

Hawkeye_a · 11:05 AM

But all around Asia, DVD players are sold without an region coding, they seem to work just fine, and its all legal (Heck theyre made by Sony and Toshiba, not just some no-brand).

And the thing with the region coding is 2 fold, hardware and software..... if it was just a software issue i could get around it (VLC), but the fact that the region on the hardware is set, if i put in another region's DVD, all i see is junk.

I do have 4 changes left o nthis drive, but im not going to be using them up. Like i said, this is not a software issue, but rather an issue with the drive.

Another thing about this whole scenario is......i didnt get ANY warning from Apple's DVD player that it was setting the region on the drive (which it does automatically the first time). As far as i'm conceerned, anytime someone i know buys a mac, im going to recommend they delete Apple's DVD player and use VLC instead.

But thanks guys....i was just venting, cause i had no warning of the region being set, and now im blocked out of using what i legally own..i guess im going to have to get a friend to rip my DVD's and burn em as region free discs on a PC so i can use em ..... would this be classified as piracy ? am i stealing or doing something wrong ? (rhetorical questions)

Eug · Mar 25, 2007, 10:55 AM

That's one reason I like HD DVD. For the most part, all the regions are the same frequency (24 Hz or 30 Hz) and the same rez (1920x1080p), and there is no such thing as HD DVD regions.

Too bad that DVD will dominate for a very long time to come, and of course there is that stupid Blu-ray vs. HD DVD war.

ghporter · Mar 25, 2007, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by Hawkeye_a

But all around Asia, DVD players are sold without an region coding, they seem to work just fine, and its all legal (Heck theyre made by Sony and Toshiba, not just some no-brand).

Note how much pull the MPAA has in the Far East. Almost none. They don't even bother to suggest now and then to get tough with the Chinese government and get them to stop the HIGH VOLUME pirates that churn out tens of thousands of bootlegged, perfect, bit-for-bit copies of DVDs all the time. THAT is one of the biggest real threats to their marketing, but they're too meek to mention this for some reason. Maybe because they can't sue anyone in China, but there are plenty of folks that make ONE copy here in the States that they can target and terrorize-despite the fact that this has no effect on the enormous Asian production and marketing of pirated DVDs for literally pennies.

But no, I don't have any strong feelings on the matter. Why do you ask?

I do like Eug's suggestion of getting a region-free drive and an external enclosure for your non-Region 1 (or whatever your home region is) DVDs.

peeb · Mar 26, 2007, 01:28 AM

Most drives in the UK are now region free too. Region coding sucks. It's pointless, more of the MAFIAA's war on customers. It means that the pirated version has more functionality than the legit version.

mfbernstein · Mar 26, 2007, 12:29 PM

While not as elegant, you could just get one of the standard firmware-upgradable drives and stick it in an external USB enclosure. As a bonus, you can use cheaper standard-height drives then.

chipchen · Mar 26, 2007, 01:00 PM

erase and install will reset your 5. if you just want it working again, backup your hard drive, erase and install the OS, and then copy back your hard drive.

Eug · Mar 26, 2007, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by chipchen

erase and install will reset your 5.

Not for the drive. Once a drive is locked, it's locked.

peeb · Mar 26, 2007, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by Eug

Not for the drive. Once a drive is locked, it's locked.

The drive's firmware tracks this - I think vendors can reset it up to three times.

Eug · Mar 26, 2007, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by peeb

The drive's firmware tracks this - I think vendors can reset it up to three times.

There are vendor resets with some drive firmwares, but doing an erase and install like chipchen suggested will not trigger a vendor reset.

peeb · Mar 26, 2007, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by Eug

There are vendor resets with some drive firmwares, but doing an erase and install like chipchen suggested will not trigger a vendor reset.

Absolutely - I did not mean to imply that it would.

Kar98 · 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by chipchen

erase and install will reset your 5. if you just want it working again, backup your hard drive, erase and install the OS, and then copy back your hard drive.

Uhm. No.

You can insert a DVD from a different region, ignore the Apple DVD player app, rip the DVD with MacTheRipper and burn a region-free copy.

What I am wondering is if you can boot into Vista and use one of the many firmware patches to make a drive region free and then use it in OSX without too much hassle.

ghporter · Apr 5, 2007, 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by Kar98

Uhm. No.

You can insert a DVD from a different region, ignore the Apple DVD player app, rip the DVD with MacTheRipper and burn a region-free copy.

What I am wondering is if you can boot into Vista and use one of the many firmware patches to make a drive region free and then use it in OSX without too much hassle.

If you actually BOOT, (as in Boot Camp) then either Vista or XP should be able to apply one of those firmware patches. But I would worry a lot about trying to do this with Parallels.