[truth_in_nyc]

Is there any way to make this safely happen?

[truth_in_nyc]

I should say I have an 867MHz Powerbook.

[n_lim]

I think if you use VLC you can play discs from any region. Give it a try.

[truth_in_nyc]

Originally posted by n_lim:
I think if you use VLC you can play discs from any region. Give it a try.

VLC?

[mosch]

Originally posted by truth_in_nyc:
VLC?

videolan

[truth_in_nyc]

Originally posted by mosch:
videolan

What is a videolan?

[tritonus]

Originally posted by n_lim:
I think if you use VLC you can play discs from any region. Give it a try.

I can't play my region 1 DVD with VLC (0.5.3). I get error messages every time. Region 2 DVDs no problem with VLC. My drive is set to region 2 (Europe).

[wulf]

I haven't heard of the VLC trick, so I can't comment on that (and I'm at work, so I can't try it out).

AFAIK all new and recent Macs use RPC-2 (i.e. region-locked) drives and you will need to patch your DVD drive firmware to make it region-free.

You can find (some) modified firmwares here. There are links from that page to various helpful utilities as well. You can find out what model of DVD drive you have in Apple System Profiler.

Bear in mind that technically you are voiding your warranty if you patch your drive, though that page above does have some original firmwares as well, so you can patch your machine back, in case you need to send it in for repair

[truth_in_nyc]

Originally posted by wulf:
I haven't heard of the VLC trick, so I can't comment on that (and I'm at work, so I can't try it out).

AFAIK all new and recent Macs use RPC-2 (i.e. region-locked) drives and you will need to patch your DVD drive firmware to make it region-free.

You can find (some) modified firmwares here. There are links from that page to various helpful utilities as well. You can find out what model of DVD drive you have in Apple System Profiler.

Bear in mind that technically you are voiding your warranty if you patch your drive, though that page above does have some original firmwares as well, so you can patch your machine back, in case you need to send it in for repair

Thanks, so what would I use for a Powerbook 867?

[truth_in_nyc]

any other thoughts as to my last question?

[Mastrap]

Originally posted by truth_in_nyc:
any other thoughts as to my last question?

Read the page wulf pointed you to. It answers your question.

[GlobalNomad]

Don't know why ppl don't use VLC to play dvds from any region!

[xpander]

VLC works perfectly on mine...I've been playing region 0,1,2 and 5's with it.

[threestain]

So if you use VLC, does this over-ride the drive's region coding? Surely it doesn't and you need additional firmware update. Would love it to work though as I have a UJ-815 superdrive - no firmware yet!

Also, does anyone know how to overlay in Quicktime - ie how to output fullscreen to a tv from a small quicktime player, so you can watch on tv and use the mac to work on. Any ideas? I know windows media player does it, so quicktime or some such should manage it!

[Simon]

Originally posted by threestain:
So if you use VLC, does this over-ride the drive's region coding? Surely it doesn't and you need additional firmware update. Would love it to work though as I have a UJ-815 superdrive - no firmware yet!

Threesatin, thanks for mentioning. I have a Sony RW DW Superdrive in my iMac. There is no region-free firmware out for this drive. I have VLC, but what should that help if the drive's code is locked?

[tritonus]

Originally posted by xpander:
VLC works perfectly on mine...I've been playing region 0,1,2 and 5's with it.

I use VLC 0.5.3 and get this error with my region 1 DVD:

main: failed allocating a new buffer (decoder stuck?)

My SuperDrive is set to region 2. No problems with those (VLC and Apple DVD Player).

[bamchum]

If you've got an RPC-2 drive (region control in firmware), which all current and recent apple hardware has, then VLC is not going to provide a way to play DVDs from outside the region your drive is set for.

In order to play a DVD, it has to be "authenticated." If you try to play it with VLC, or copy it with something like DVDBackup, you'll get error messages as long as it hasn't been authenticated. You authenticate the DVD by launching the Apple DVD player (don't know if there are other ways). If you do that and the disk is from another region, you will be asked if you want to change the region for your machine. You can only do that 5 times before it locks you into a region, though dealers can reset the machine to give you another 5 (and they can do that up to 5 times, after which it is well and truly locked). If you change the region, you can play the DVD or back it up, but at the cost of one of your region switches. If you don't change the region, the DVD will not be authenticated and you won't be able to play it or copy it.

There might be some way around this. There are products for PC that claim to get around region restrictions without firmware upgrades, but I don't know if they really work.

For now, on the mac, the only way to play disks from all regions is to get an illicit firmware upgrade. No such upgrade yet exists for the superdrive on recent powerbooks.

[tritonus]

Originally posted by bamchum:
In order to play a DVD, it has to be "authenticated."

Thanks for your information. I was aware of most of these facts.

Question: Does it work with VLC if you "authenticate" the drive once and switch back? Or is it just during the period that it is set to the current region. For example:

RPC-2: set to region 2 (4 remain)
set to region 1 (3 remain)
back to region 2 (2 remain)

Can VLC handle a region 1 disc if the drive has been on region 1 sometime before? I don't think so. If not, you can skip VLC and just use Apple DVD Player!

[tritonus]

Originally posted by GlobalNomad:
Don't know why ppl don't use VLC to play dvds from any region!

No success here! See my post above. VLC 0.5.3 can't play my region 1 DVD on my RPC-2 region 2 SuperDrive.

[nonhuman]

Does anyone know if the DVD-ROM that came with a Pismo is RPC-2?

[bamchum]

Originally posted by tritonus:
Thanks for your information. I was aware of most of these facts.

Question: Does it work with VLC if you "authenticate" the drive once and switch back?

You don't authenticate the drive. You authenticate the disk.

Or is it just during the period that it is set to the current region. For example:

RPC-2: set to region 2 (4 remain)
set to region 1 (3 remain)
back to region 2 (2 remain)

Can VLC handle a region 1 disc if the drive has been on region 1 sometime before?

No. That has nothing to do with it. Basically, authentication checks that the drive's region and the disk's region match.

[tritonus]

Originally posted by bamchum:
No. That has nothing to do with it. Basically, authentication checks that the drive's region and the disk's region match.

Okay, like I thought. But then, VLC will not help at all. Other posters praise VLC for region-override functions. GlobalNomad?

[neutrino23]

Originally posted by threestain:

Also, does anyone know how to overlay in Quicktime - ie how to output fullscreen to a tv from a small quicktime player, so you can watch on tv and use the mac to work on. Any ideas? I know windows media player does it, so quicktime or some such should manage it!

If you have a powerbook you can do this. Connect the video output to a TV Then launch QT Player and open the QT movie. Under the Movie menu select Present Movie...
With the TV attached it gives you the option of which screen to use.

[truth_in_nyc]

I am interested in playing Region 3 DVDs...

[Mohammed Al-Sabah]

Originally posted by wulf:
I haven't heard of the VLC trick, so I can't comment on that (and I'm at work, so I can't try it out).

AFAIK all new and recent Macs use RPC-2 (i.e. region-locked) drives and you will need to patch your DVD drive firmware to make it region-free.

You can find (some) modified firmwares here. There are links from that page to various helpful utilities as well. You can find out what model of DVD drive you have in Apple System Profiler.

Bear in mind that technically you are voiding your warranty if you patch your drive, though that page above does have some original firmwares as well, so you can patch your machine back, in case you need to send it in for repair

thanx for the info.. very helpfull

[- - e r i k - -]

Just a thought (since there are no firmware patches for the most recent superdrives):

Does the region encoding also apply to copied Video_TS-folders? Like will DVD-player still play the videos of your harddrive?

[Simon]

Originally posted by - - e r i k - -:
Just a thought (since there are no firmware patches for the most recent superdrives):

Does the region encoding also apply to copied Video_TS-folders? Like will DVD-player still play the videos of your harddrive?

The region code is part of the data in the Video_TS files. Unfortunately.

DVDBackup will allow you to strip the region coding (as well as the copy-protection) from the files before you copy them to your HD, but to do that the DVD has to first be authenticated by Apple's DVD player.

So if you're drive is region-locked even DVDBackup will not help you here...

[tritonus]

Originally posted by GlobalNomad:
Don't know why ppl don't use VLC to play dvds from any region!

Oh yeah? I got news for you:

VLC 0.5.3 on girlfriend's iBook 14" 600 (Sony Combo): all regions OK

VLC 0.5.3 on my PowerBook 17" (SuperDrive): doesn't work with code 1

Both drives are RPC-2, not patched. How can you explain this behaviour?

[Paul Guyot]

How can you explain this behaviour?

It's just not the same drive and firmware. The laptop SuperDrives (the Matshitas) don't let one use the VLC trick. It's sad indeed since viewing a DVD bought abroad or imported is perfectly legal (at least here).

The following trick works with at least the Pioneer SuperDrive (in desktop Macs) and probably your girlfriend's Sony Combo.

Insert the DVD in the Pioneer/Sony drive
Let Apple DVD Player say you need to change the region, switch it to background.
Use DVD Backup to remove the region and encryption.
Say no to Apple DVD Player (will eject the DVD).

Then, you can copy the VIDEO_TS folder to your PowerBook to play the movie (with VLC or Apple DVD Player, if you removed the encryption, both will read it, otherwise only VLC will).

Paul

[tritonus]

Originally posted by Paul Guyot:
It's just not the same drive and firmware. The laptop SuperDrives (the Matshitas) don't let one use the VLC trick. It's sad indeed since viewing a DVD bought abroad or imported is perfectly legal (at least here).

The following trick works with at least the Pioneer SuperDrive (in desktop Macs) and probably your girlfriend's Sony Combo.

Insert the DVD in the Pioneer/Sony drive
Let Apple DVD Player say you need to change the region, switch it to background.
Use DVD Backup to remove the region and encryption.
Say no to Apple DVD Player (will eject the DVD).

Then, you can copy the VIDEO_TS folder to your PowerBook to play the movie (with VLC or Apple DVD Player, if you removed the encryption, both will read it, otherwise only VLC will).

Paul

I'll definitely try it! Thanks for your suggestion.
Paris, France... marvellous...

[erichen]

I installed another set of Mac OS 10.2.6 on my Smart Disk Fire Lite 60GB (external hard drive), since it's a brand new system, I choose another DVD zone on that drive! So now my 17" PowerBook could watch zone 1, if I want to watch zone 3, I just swith to the external drive!

~Eric
http://homepage.mac.com/erichen

[mrmister]

That doesn't work--be careful, or you will use up your changes.

[truth_in_nyc]

Hmmm........