DVD Region settings

Question

I'm not sure if you know but Apple restrict the region code of the DVD drive so that you can change it, but only 5 times - on the 5th change, that's it - it's set at whatever it was changed to last. There seems to be only 2 ways round this. The first is to flash the firmware - which is a.very dodgy, b.invalidates any kind of warranty you have and c.depending who you listen to, is no longer even possible. Either way it's not an option I'd like to explore.
The other option is to buy an external DVD drive.....and that's where my questions start.
1. As I'm sure you all know, the region setting isn't just controlled by the drive - so is getting an external drive really an option? Is the MAC OS just going to say 'uh uh' and block the playing of any DVD in any drive - unless it matches the region setting that's restricting the use of the internal drive? If this is the case then it's game over for any ext drive options.
2. If an external drive is an option, will I be limited (like the internal drive) to a max number of region code changes? In which case I could just buy 3 ext DVD drives and only use each one for a specific region - but again...is this an option - don't know......i.e. will the OS stop me using multiple ext drives or will it see each one as different and therefore not care.
3. If I can find a multi-region external DVD drive - that would be the best option, but would it work? i.e. could I use it as a single external DVD drive without having to change the region....i.e. back to square one, if this was the case then it's not really an option but it would be the simplest if it were possible.
Any advice/ Assistance or guidance would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

Thanks for the reply
I do use VLC player however since the dvd player has been locked to its last region change of region 1, it won't read dvd's other than region 1. I would like to reset the dvd player back to region 2 as the majority of my DVD's are region 2, and i use "Front Row" a lot which uses the dvd player app.
I have tried to copy the DVD using mac the ripper but i get a message saying that the disk has bad sectors. However if i try copying it on my powerbook (whih is set to region 2) it works fine. It makes me think that the dvd drive won't read any disk properly unless it is set to the corresponding region. I may be wrong though.
Although changing my drive to a region free drive is a good idea i am worried that it may void my warrenty, and because the machine is so new i would prefer not to do this. But as a last resort i would consider doing so, however i havent managed to find any region fre firmware for the drive. The specs are as follows:
Model: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-846
Revision: FA0G
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
if anyone knows where to get one that would be very helpful
thanks very much
powerbook g4