region codes on DVD's - anyone know how to fix this?

[doug3030]

This has been driving me batty for a week.

We found some kiddie DVD's for the grandkid at an OP-Shop for $1 each, bought 8 of them, cost $5, interesting maths in op shops.

Well I got them home and put one in my computer to make sure it worked before showing it to the granddaughter, aged 4. Well the computer chucked a spazm and said they were the wrong region code and i had to change my DVD player to region 2. It warned me that I could change regions - I think it was - 4 more times. My first thought was what bull$#!t is this in 2014, an age where a DVD full of data can travel round the world at the speed of light?

I understand that the region codes were there to stop people sharing pirate movies before they are released in a particular country, but seriously, these are probably 10 year-old DVD's. Anyway, enough of my rant on the stupidity of the relevance of region codes in 2014. I may choose to pick that up later but for now I have a more pressing problem.

Although I declined the message offering me the option to change the region code to 2 because I was concerned as to what the impact would be on my ability to play the other DVD's in my collection and a small number of opportunities to change between regions, I elected to leave the DVD region as it was. However, since then, I cannot get the DVD player to read anything. Well not quite, I have gotten it to recognize other DVD's twice by swapping the DVD in the drive for others, be they some of my Taunton Press woodwork ones, or music or Monty Python or whatever but it is totally random and it seems the one the computer recognizes is not the one you want to play.

But it then reverts back to not recognizing anything else for a couple of days of trial and error.

I am not trying to do anything illegal. It started with trying to play a region-coded DVD that was released years ago in another region; I am not trying to infringe anyone's copyright. The "protection" placed on the disks is unfairly depriving me of the use of my DVD player which I also bought and own outright. This is just stupidity on a grand scale.

Interestingly, in my experiments to find out what will and what wont play, the only DVD's that do play are surprisingly some disks that can only be described as "girlie " left in my care by a female friend while she went on holidays, so that her 17-year-old house sitter cannot stumble across them. Lets just say that I have interesting friends and an interesting life and leave it at that before I get into trouble .

Does anyone know of a fix for this problem? I have done google searches that tell me that you can download a non-region specific DVD player and when you search for and try to download them the virus scanner goes ballistic.

Any suggestions of what to do?

Cheers

Doug

[_fly_]

Plenty of websites that will tell you how to make your machine region free.
Its usually done from the remote, things like press open, right, up twice etc.

But you need to search for your machine and model.

OR get someone with a computer to rip them (that makes them region free) shrink and re-burn to another disk.

[A Duke]

Hi doug,
You are not alone. I got given the 2013 Formula 1 season on DVD for Christmas and when I put it in the computer I got the same BS. so tried it in the DVD player and got told it was wrong area code. The interesting bit is the disc is area 2 UK and EU, my computer is area 1 USA and the DVD player is area 4 Asia Pacific but I have never had this problem before things have just played in which ever one I put it in, maybe I've just chosen the right player but some have been played in both. So it's lucky I stayed up late and watched the races as they happened. I am thinking of fitting a second deck to the computer. (some time)
I will be watching this thread with interest.
Best of luck with it all.

[A Duke]

Plenty of websites that will tell you how to make your machine region free.
Its usually done from the remote, things like press open, right, up twice etc.

But you need to search for your machine and model.

OR get someone with a computer to rip them (that makes them region free) shrink and re-burn to another disk.

Or buy a second hand player from a Pom.

[doug3030]

Plenty of websites that will tell you how to make your machine region free.
Its usually done from the remote, things like press open, right, up twice etc.

But you need to search for your machine and model.

OR get someone with a computer to rip them (that makes them region free) shrink and re-burn to another disk.

It is the DVD drive in my laptop computer that I am trying to play them on. No remote control. I have legitimate copies of a lot of disks that I currently cant play. I am looking for a better solution than trying to rip them all.

Thanks for replying all the same

Doug

[Master Splinter]

Download VLC - http://www.videolan.org/ - it's a region free DVD (and other media files) player.

And you'll find that Hollywood's preferred model is that you pay them money every time you watch the disc you 'own'. This is not greed on their part - it's simply because movies cost so, so much to make. You probably didn't know it, but the Lord of the Rings trilogy made 'horrendous losses'* despite having an average billion dollar gross per film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

*New Line Cinema quote

(or take the easy way out...torrents are region free and don't come with unskippable FBI warnings, unskippable previews, and anti piracy ads that used pirated music - that 'you wouldn't download a car' ad? The music was used without permission of the artist, and he had to take them to court to get royalties)

[_fly_]

there is also http://www.videohelp.com/
search for "region free" you'll either get anydvd or the code to make it region free.
or use the free VLC player written about above

[jimbur]

It is the DVD drive in my laptop computer that I am trying to play them on. No remote control. I have legitimate copies of a lot of disks that I currently cant play. I am looking for a better solution than trying to rip them all.

Thanks for replying all the same

Doug

there is a solution but more complicated than for home players. I solved it be buying a new dvd drive for the pc and making sure it was region free when I got it.

[FenceFurniture]

Thanks for that link MS, just downloading it now for my PC.

Went to Videohelp for my lounge room DVD player, and wouldn't you know it - the model OPPO BDP103 is not there (or at least the codes aren't). I remember the sales guy six months ago offering me a region free player for an extra $200 - nice bit of gouging for two minutes work.

I did a G search "make DVD player region free" and it came up with quite few hits, including an England based mob who ask for 10 quid, but once more the Oppo wasn't there (I didn't pay btw).

As a slight aside, on my PC I have PowerDVD, and the damn thing comes up every time I bring the PC out of hibernation. Once I have installed VLC, should I just uninstall PowerDVD? I'd never seen it before I borrowed a DVD from Claw Hama, now it's there all the time.

[Cliff Rogers]

google AnyDVD & have a play with that.

[FenceFurniture]

google AnyDVD & have a play with that.

Just for PCs isn't it - not for lounge room players (judging by the headers in the search)?

[_fly_]

Yes anydvd is a pc software thing, it makes the machine think its a different region to what it actually is.
You can change region over and over again (it does not actually change the physical drives region).

If you search the web for your model and the words 'region mod' or 'region free' you'll find the mods to change them somewhere.
http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-1...-modifications is a oppo one.

I remember when I got my pioneer original dvd player one for 700 bucks.
All manufacturers agreed to ship machines regioned (thats why its usually a hidden keypress (remote) thing).
But pioneer AUS are not manufacturers so they region free them when they land here, not bound by the worldwide manufacturers agreement.

[oldrose]

Region locking is a major PITA - thankfully most stand alone DVD players sold in Australia today are or can be region unlocked. Laptop computer drives on the other hand are very selective as to what can and cannot be unlocked. On the desktop the simplest solution is to buy external DVD drives and change them to the region you need (I have 3 for regions 1, 2 and 4).

For the laptop a search on google for you drives model and revision number (use device manager on windows to give you this information) may reveal a simple hack, new firmware you can install or often nothing at all.

VLC may be able to get around the restrictions depending on the version of region locking on the dvd. Other solutions like AnyDVD etc work with varying amounts of success.

There are a large number of DVDs region coded to both region 2 and 4. I've never had a problem with these on a stand alone player but on a computer they read region 2 first and don't look for the region 4 setting - you may have bought some of these.

Anyway to fix your problem playing previously successful DVDs on your computer make sure you've powered your computer off completely, restart and try setting the region code again using a normal region 4 dvd.

[doug3030]

VLC may be able to get around the restrictions depending on the version of region locking on the dvd.

Hi Oldrose, and apologies to Master Splinter who first suggested VLC. VLC turned my computer into nothing better than a paperweight. It took me 24 hours to make the computer work at all after attempting to install it.

I have tried powering the computer right down and then inserting one of my previously playable disks. It doesnt even offer the choice to switch to another region, it just makes noise for a minute then doesnt do anything.

I am not going to try anything else for a few days because I need a working computer for a few things I am organising and cant afford another 24 hours of downtime.

Thanks to all who have offered suggestions.

Cheers

Doug

[rrich]

All I can say is "Thank you, Hollywood".