Multi-region DVD player?

I bought my white Macbook back in the States, as well as my collection of DVD's. However, I am currently studying abroad in the UK for well over a year, and am frustrated to no end that I cannot watch anything but region one on my computer, without switching over to region 2 (and thus, making myself unable to watch my own dvds) - other mac users in the halls have warned me that you can only switch back and forth between regions so many times before your computer is completely screwed up. Is there any way to fix your computer to be multi-region?

By licensing requirements of the owners of the DVD technology, computer DVD players and computer DVD drives limit you to five region changes before the drive locks to the region of the last DVD you use. Once the drive locks, you cannot play disks from any other region with the Apple DVD Player, and the drive itself may be locked as well; all current SuperDrives that I know of do indeed lock in the firmware.
I'm not aware of any hack that can remove the region lock in any current SuperDrive, so you'll have to look for an external DVD drive that lacks the region lock or can have it removed, and then use DVD playback software such as VLC Media Player that doesn't have a region lock included.
Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

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I am looking into buying a region free dvd player - if i upgrade to Quicktime Pro does it mean it will be able to play any DVDs?
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hotlife12 wrote: there is a dvd i want that requires a " multi-regional" dvd player. Does the HP G6x have a Multi regional dvd player??
Hello hotlife12, All of the CD\DVD drives have the capability to bet set to a specific region.
You can only change the settings a maximum of 5 times and then the 5 time locks the CD\DVD drive in the last region you select.
This approach allows those that have these CD\DVD drives that may move form one location(country) to another, for example Europe to the United States, to change the location to the United States.
Please click the White Kudos star on the left, to say thanks.
Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem.

Multi Region DVD Please?

I've travelled around a bit and I must now have DVD from pretty much every DVD region there is. Just bought the Mac book Pro and realized that you have to select one region and are limited to just 4 region changes
Does anyone know (apple are you listening?) how to make it multi-region? Apple, do you have a upgrade? Is there software out there to help me (that does not invalidate my warranty). Or am I just destined to download TV and films from the pirate bay as it is the only way to ensure I can actually watch things rather than pay money for things and end up being locked out of watching them.
Thanks to all in advance
R

neuroanatomist wrote:
Mr-Richard wrote:
Is there software out there to help me (that does not invalidate my warranty).
No.
Buy an external optical drive, and use that to play your DVDs - those do not have the limitation in the drive firmware.
You can submit feedback to Apple: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.htm
this isn't true! apple has to do this because they pay for the codec & this is a requirement from the hollywood goons put on it, per license agreement for putting it on the machine. buying external drive is silly!
Use VLC, it plays anything.
http://www.videolan.org/

Multi region DVD playback

I have a 27" iMac and it's set to Region 2 for it's DVD playback. I used to have a cheap DVD player that could play any DVD region, but that went the way of the dodo sometime early last year. Now I have a stack of Region 1 DVDs that I want to rip to my hard disk, but any application I try (even VLC and Handbrake) refuse to play or rip the disk. It either crashes or appears to have frozen before spitting the disk back out at me.
I was going to buy a cheap USB DVD drive in the hopes that it would play the DVDs, but I'm not sure if the region lock is part of the OS (therefore making the USB drive worthless) or part of the firmware on the internal drive (making the USB drive plausible).
Does anybody have a solution? Free if possible.
Thanks

I'm in the same boat, but a bit worse off. I'm a Canadian, with a Canadian-purchased late-2008 Aluminum MacBook. BEST laptop I've ever owned. Except for the Matshita DVD drive, which has now used up its 5 allowed region swaps. I made sure the last one was to Region 2 (Canada/USA). But since I've been living in a Region 4 region now for years, my MacBook can't play any media coded for this region. There is also no firmware flash available for this drive (MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868).
There is no logical or commercial reason for region coding. It is particularly onerous for those of us with portable Macs who travel / live internationally....

Multi region dvd players (external)

Hi,
i have a lot of region 1 dvds, however my drive on my imac is locked to region 2. If i bought an external drive (eg... http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3435234/Freecom-Lightscribe-Pro-20x-External-USB-2 -0-Firewire-DVD-RW-Drive/Product.html?cmmmc=Froogle-_-PC-_-Upgrades-_-Freecom%2BLightscribe%2BPro%2B20x%2BExternal%2BUSB %2B2.0%2BFirewire%2BDVD-RW%2BDrive&source=5066&engine=frooglepc&keyword=FreecomLightscribe+Pro+20x+External+USB+2.0+Firewire+DVD-RWDrive ) and locked that to region 1? will i be able to play region 2 on my imac, and region 1 on my external drive?
any help would be great, why can i play any dvd on a 9.99 dvd from asda and not on a computer that cost me over a grand is beyond me....

You can find region-free firmware hacks on the web for many DVD drives.
Google your Superdrive's manufacturer/model# + region-free + firmware.
AFAIK, it's perfectly legal to give your own DVD player a region-ectomy.
I've been meaning to neuter mine ...as soon as I get a round tuit.
Looby

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I have edited my video in Final Cut Pro and its NTSC format. I want to burn it to DVD but I wasn't sure how to make the DVD multiregion so that no only a person from the USA can see it but a person from the UK can see it as well?
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FWIW you may need to make a PAL DVD to be most assured of success (though many people in Europe have NTSC set ups, at least more than here in the U.S. who have PAL)
So the video, menus and the DVD itself will need to be changed to PAL.
The menus need to be laid out in the PAL size, the DVD SP project set to PAL and the footage made to PAL. (FWIW Compressor has some built in conversions but there are other tools, such as plug ins for FCP out there which probably give better results.)

My disk drive says that it has one change of region left, as it should do, however my dvd player software will not change it back and does not respond, how can i solve this problem?

Basically, everytime i try to runa DVD it comes up with the select disc drive region option. I select the region of europe over north america and press change and then the dvd application doesn't respond. Is there anything i can do to solve this without going to see Apple.
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ausspain wrote:
Could someone tell me if this player will play multi region DVD´s.That is will it play DVD´s from other Regions( other countries) USA is Region 1 Europe is region2 etc.
Not likely. I'm not sure if it is even possible to legally sell a multiregion player in the United States.
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Hello Arnoldj,
Welcome to the HP Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience! To help you get the most out of the HP Forums I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.
I understand that you are having issues with your Optical drive not autoplaying you discs in Windows 8.1. Although this is not a Windows 8.1, but a Windows 8 document the steps will be the same and I believe is where we should start. Please review the HP Support document: HP PCs - Drive Cannot Read Discs (Windows 8), which should address the issue you are having.
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DVD Player: multi-region or not?

I have just had my original ailing CD/DVD drive replaced by a new one: Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-107D. I inserted a new DVD to watch — a definitely European one — and a message came up, showing Region 1 (which is, I believe, North America), asking me to select a region and warning me that I would only be able to change the region four more times. I was alarmed: my old drive never asked me and was obviously multi-regional. So I ejected the DVD without selecting a region and without playing the DVD and inserted a DVD (again a European one) that I had played before on my old drive. It played with no questions asked. I then went back to the first DVD, and it, too, now played with no questions asked.
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Or is my drive (details as above) in fact multi-regional and was the message asking me to choose a region a red herring? I should be very grateful for any information or guidance.

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Fussy DVD Player; will play Region 0 but plays Region 1 only occasionally.

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You don't say where you are, but I suspect it is the USA?
Your DVD Player is set for the region where you purchased your Mac. Region 1 is the USA, Region 2 is Europe. (Region 0 is non-regional, for the DVDs you make yourself, and has no effect on the following).
You can only change that setting up to five times, after which it is carved in stone for all eternity, as it is embedded in the firmware of your Superdrive. There is no hack for making a Mac multi-regional like there is for stand-alone DVD players.
If you want to play DVDs from a different region to your own, use your stand-alone DVD player and TV, not the Mac!

What DVD region is my imac DVD player?

i brought my imac new in the UK 18 months ago. if its not already multi region can it be converted?

The DVD Player on your Mac purchased in the UK is actually Region 2.
You can change this up to five times. The fifth change will remain carved in granite for all infinity.
There is no multi-region hack like there is for stand-alone DVD players.
So don't play DVDs from anywhere but Europe on your Mac. For DVDs from other regions use your DVD player.

What region is my DVD player on my iMac set to as default?

Canb onyone tell me what region my DVD player on my iMac (Intel) is defaulted to? I'm trying to work out whether some movies that I have are region 2 or not and all of my other DVD players are multi-region.

Canb onyone tell me what region my DVD player on my iMac (Intel) is defaulted to?
The DVD player on your iMac does not have a region code initially; it gets one the first time you insert a region-encoded DVD into the drive, and will prompt you for confirmation before any additional region changes are made. If you want to check on the first change, create a non-admin account in the Accounts pane of System Preferences if you don't have one already, and insert the DVD while logged into that account.
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The link to this software on MacUpdate doesn't work, and the current version may not be available for download anywhere.
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How many times can I change the DVD Player region setting?

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Upto 5 times.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2397

Multi-region DVD player?

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