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Region Free MacBook DVD Drives
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2002
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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.
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BayBook (13" MacBook Pro, 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 1TB HD) // BayPhone (iPhone 4, 32GB, black)
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jun 2007
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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.
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2002
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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.
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BayBook (13" MacBook Pro, 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 1TB HD) // BayPhone (iPhone 4, 32GB, black)
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jun 2007
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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.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Feb 2007
Status:
Offline
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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)
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in front of my Mac
Status:
Offline
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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).
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jun 2007
Status:
Offline
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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?
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in front of my Mac
Status:
Offline
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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)
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2002
Status:
Offline
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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.
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BayBook (13" MacBook Pro, 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 1TB HD) // BayPhone (iPhone 4, 32GB, black)
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