[megasad]

I just post here so as to draw attention to this post in the MacBook Pro / PowerBook forum, for those who do not read in there too. Hoo-hah.

[Sethro]

I have read somewhere that its is possible to hack the Matshita drives that Apple uses in both the Macbook's and the Macbook Pro's if you use program that will flash the drive to make region free. Although its supposed to be very risky as you could permanently brick your drive making it useless.

Its risky if but what you could do is simply connect an external drive, but if you travel alot then it might be worthwhile to risk it and go ahead and try to flash it.

[megasad]

Originally Posted by Sethro 

I have read somewhere that its is possible to hack the Matshita drives that Apple uses in both the Macbook's and the Macbook Pro's if you use program that will flash the drive to make region free. Although its supposed to be very risky as you could permanently brick your drive making it useless.

Follow the link to the other thread I mentioned and you will be able to download such firmware patches your very self.

Originally Posted by Sethro 

Its risky if but what you could do is simply connect an external drive, but if you travel alot then it might be worthwhile to risk it and go ahead and try to flash it.

It's as risky technically as any other firmware update from Apple, only without the warranty recourse if something goes wrong. I've made my MacBook's drive region free without any problems, for what that's worth. And not only is it more convenient than using an external drive, it means I don't have to buy one in the first place.

[Sethro]

Well I went ahead and took the plunge, now does this mean that even if I reinstall Mac OS X, I will still retain a region free DVD drive? Or will I have to flash it every time I reinstall an operating system.

[rafalski]

Just did id on my MacBook Core Duo 2.0, worked like a charm!

System Profiler

Code:
MATSHITA DVD-R   UJ-857:

  Firmware Revision:	HBEA
  Interconnect:	ATAPI
  Burn Support:	Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
  Cache:	2048 KB
  Reads DVD:	Yes
  CD-Write:	-R, -RW
  DVD-Write:	-R, -RW, +R, +RW
  Burn Underrun Protection CD:	Yes
  Burn Underrun Protection DVD:	Yes
  Write Strategies:	CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO

Before:

Code:
DVD Info X v1.0.2, by xvi ([email protected])

[--warning text--]

  Vendor: MATSHITA
   Model: DVD-R   UJ-857
Firmware: HBEA
          RPC-2 (region locked)
          State is SET
          4 vendor resets left
          4 region changes left
          Region 2

After:

Code:
DVD Info X v1.0.2, by xvi ([email protected])

[--warning text--]

  Vendor: MATSHITA
   Model: DVD-R   UJ-857
Firmware: HBEA
          RPC-1 (region free)

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Sethro 

Well I went ahead and took the plunge, now does this mean that even if I reinstall Mac OS X, I will still retain a region free DVD drive? Or will I have to flash it every time I reinstall an operating system.

No, the firmware flash will stay effective even when you upgrade OS X. Actually, once your firmware has been flashed it will be RPC-1 regardless of the OS you booted from (OS X, Windows under Bootcamp, Linux).

[Sethro]

Cool thanks Simon, its great to know that my drive is now free from the silly region control that Apple implies. Just one more question when I insert a DVD from another region, will OS X ask me to change the region and tell me how many changes I have left?

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Sethro 

Just one more question when I insert a DVD from another region, will OS X ask me to change the region and tell me how many changes I have left?

From the region free firmware README:

Once your drive is region free you will need to use a utility such as "Region X" to handle the region changes for the region checks which are still present in the Mac OS X software itself. (Or equivalent software if you using the drive from Windows)

[megasad]

Originally Posted by Sethro 

Just one more question when I insert a DVD from another region, will OS X ask me to change the region and tell me how many changes I have left?

Apple's DVD Player application will and is unaware of region free drives so will insist that you can still only change it five times. So use this Intel build of Region X to reset that number every so often and you shall be fine.