[MarkyP]

Hi all,
I'm the proud owner of a rev A 17" pb which I have had for 1 year now and am very happy with. My wife has recently bought a new 12" pb which I am also very impressed with.
We travel overseas for work and use our powerbooks for play as well as work and this brings me to my question: I would like to try to use the 12" pb to play region 1 DVDs on my 17"pb which is set to region 4. Is this possible? It's got me stumped.
Any ideas ?

[ginoledesma]

Hi, MarkyP

The PowerBook G4/17" (1GHz) comes with the Panasonic UJ-815 drive, if memory serves me correctly, and this drive can be "flashed" to a multi-region DVD player (technically known as RPC-1 drive).

However, Apple's DVD player software will allow you to switch the drive's region when a new disc of a different region is inserted. You can do this for 5 times until the drive is "locked" to a specific region. Has your drive been locked?

Also, the video player VLC is able to bypass the DVD region setting altogether, so you need not switch regions to play a DVD.

[MarkyP]

Originally posted by ginoledesma:
Hi, MarkyP

The PowerBook G4/17" (1GHz) comes with the Panasonic UJ-815 drive, if memory serves me correctly, and this drive can be "flashed" to a multi-region DVD player (technically known as RPC-1 drive).

However, Apple's DVD player software will allow you to switch the drive's region when a new disc of a different region is inserted. You can do this for 5 times until the drive is "locked" to a specific region. Has your drive been locked?

Also, the video player VLC is able to bypass the DVD region setting altogether, so you need not switch regions to play a DVD.

Ginoledesma,
Thanks for your reply. I know about the region free patch but am reluctant to use it as it voids my warranty and applecare. My drive is not locked yet but I only have 2 more changes to make.
I have also tried VLC as I have heard this before, but have had no luck in getting it to play other region commercial DVDs. If I back up the DVD and then burn it I can avoid the region code but if I just want to put a disc in and watch it I can't see how to make it read without getting errors.
This is why I thought it would be better to just send the video/audio from the 12" to the 17"screen. I just don't know if it's possible! Does that make sense?

[Tomster]

Originally posted by MarkyP:
This is why I thought it would be better to just send the video/audio from the 12" to the 17"screen. I just don't know if it's possible!

Not easily done. One can remotely view another computer via VNC, but that is a rather convoluted solution. Also, not sure how a VNC solution would do streaming video.

[tooki]

So (just to make sure I have this straight), the 17" is set to region 4, and the 12" is set to 1?

What you could try is using FireWire Target Disk mode. Originally it was only for hard drives, but in the latest rounds of Macs, it also works for the optical drive.

So if you wanted to play a region 1 disc, try putting the 12" into Target Disk Mode (boot while holding down the T key). Then connect the machines with a FireWire cable. The 12" hard disk should appear on the desktop of the 17", and the same should happen with a DVD inserted in the 12" drive.

The only possible problem (from my own experimentation with this) is that Target Disk Mode's optical drive conversion seems to be kinda slow. I don't know whether it's fast enough for DVD playback. But it's worth a shot, I suppose! (When I'm done with the forums tonight, I'm gonna give it a shot myself!)

tooki

[MarkyP]

Originally posted by tooki:
So (just to make sure I have this straight), the 17" is set to region 4, and the 12" is set to 1?

What you could try is using FireWire Target Disk mode. Originally it was only for hard drives, but in the latest rounds of Macs, it also works for the optical drive.

So if you wanted to play a region 1 disc, try putting the 12" into Target Disk Mode (boot while holding down the T key). Then connect the machines with a FireWire cable. The 12" hard disk should appear on the desktop of the 17", and the same should happen with a DVD inserted in the 12" drive.

The only possible problem (from my own experimentation with this) is that Target Disk Mode's optical drive conversion seems to be kinda slow. I don't know whether it's fast enough for DVD playback. But it's worth a shot, I suppose! (When I'm done with the forums tonight, I'm gonna give it a shot myself!)



tooki

Thanks Tooki,

This did occur to me, but I haven't tried it.... could it be that simple? I will give it a go.
You are right about the region settings.We live in Australia (region 4) but work for a U.S. company in various locations around the world. They have a DVD library of region 1 discs.
Thanks again and fingers crossed!

[macintologist]

The movie industry complains about pirated movies...well geez they brought it on themselves with these ridiculous DVD regions. I can't believe they got away with it. Could you imagine if audio CDs were also encoded with regions?

[sugarkane]

get the patch and get the down grade patch!!!!!

use the patch (cause it kicks ass) and then down grade if you need to get your lapy serviced

get region X and your cooking....

if you both have wireless cards you might be able too share your optical drive
set em up using the adhock ( computer to computer ) wireless system and then mount the drives on the other machine ( make sure you have all your file sharing and apple talk settings set up right )

i don't know for sure if it'll work cause i have the x101 firmware


good luck

sk

[MarkyP]

Originally posted by sugarkane:
get the patch and get the down grade patch!!!!!

use the patch (cause it kicks ass) and then down grade if you need to get your lapy serviced

get region X and your cooking....

if you both have wireless cards you might be able too share your optical drive
set em up using the adhock ( computer to computer ) wireless system and then mount the drives on the other machine ( make sure you have all your file sharing and apple talk settings set up right )

i don't know for sure if it'll work cause i have the x101 firmware


good luck

sk

I've been trying the firewire target disc mode with no luck. It starts off all good and then seems to get jammed up and freezes - I guess it can't handle all the information fast enough (interestingly the DVD shows up as a seperate drive on my desktop with only the video ts files in it).
So I'm looking at the patch. Has it been smooth and hassle free for everyone? No known issues?
I think it's crazy that I have to void my warranty when all I want to do is watch a DVD when I'm overseas.
Thanks for the suggestions.

[Waragainstsleep]

Firewire is too slow for DVD video, and so is Wifi.
Thats why you can't watch movies from external DVD drives.

I had a minor issue when flashing my drive region free, but mine is a PC drive, installed in a Powerbook G3 Lombard.

I used a 'custom' version of the update made especially for my setup.
Patchburn 1 + 2 Solved the problem however.

Summary: I'm running a non OEM drive in a machine never built to take one, with software never designed to go on this machine.
None of these issues are true of your setup.

You'll be fine.

[Luca Rescigno]

Originally posted by Waragainstsleep:
Firewire is too slow for DVD video, and so is Wifi.
Thats why you can't watch movies from external DVD drives.

Not true. I have watched DVD movies on an external DVD drive before. Also, the optical drive in my PowerMac G4 (and all PowerMac G4s, and perhaps even the PowerMac G5 as well) is on an ATA/33 bus. Theoretical bandwidth on an ATA/33 bus is 33 MB/s. Firewire can do 50 MB/s. It won't always hit the stated maximum bandwidth, but neither will ATA/33.

Well, WiFi probably is way too slow, considering it's only 11-54 megaBITS per second (1.4-6.8 MB/s).

[Dr.Michael]

If you do the math you will find that a 90 min DVD with 4.5 GB needs a data rate around 7 MBit/sec. That works well for Firewire (400 MBit/sec) and Lan (100 MBit/sec).

Did you try to insert the dvd and mount the drive on the second powerbook over network? Then vlc should be able to play either the mounted drive or at least its video ts folder.

To network the two powerbooks you have to connect them with a lan cable (no hub necessary). Then you should have access via finder menu "go -> connect to server". Control and enable access in the System Preference "Sharing" before.

I did not try this. Just another idea.

Michael

[tooki]

Originally posted by Waragainstsleep:
Firewire is too slow for DVD video, and so is Wifi.
Thats why you can't watch movies from external DVD drives.

Nonsense, you can use external drives just fine. FireWire 400 is 50MB/sec. DVD video is variable bitrate, but with a maximum of around 9.5MB/sec.

802.11b is definitely too slow for DVD video, but 802.11g is fast enough for most DVDs (since most don't normally hit the maximum bitrate, or they'd fill the disc too quickly!).

tooki

[Waragainstsleep]

I'm just going on what I was told.
Tried to buy an external DVD back when firewire came out, and was told not to bother.

Still, despite all the theoretical performance figures, its skipping with the target disk mode.
You could always try a shorter cable, but the RPC1 patch is gonna make it a whole lot less fiddly, and and will run better too.

[MarkyP]

I've done a bit of research on the firmware update and it looks pretty solid, so I think I will go with that; just a little reluctantly.
All your suggestions were much appreciated - this is still the best forum for finding solutions and helpful people.
Thanks guys.

[macintologist]

I've had the firmware hack installed on my PB 12" since November and there have been absolutely ZERO problems. The only difference is that upon waking from sleep, the drive makes two noises instead of one but that's hardly anything to loose sleep over.

[sugarkane]

i've been rocking the firmware patch for 6 months also and have had no problems with it in any way!!!!


sk

[MM-o4]

get them drunk. Turn down the lights. Put on some soft muisc.
Sorry couldn't help it

MM-o4