Old Hippie Posted November 3, 2002 Report Share Posted November 3, 2002 "...BTW, am I right in thinking that all computer DVD players are 'region free'?..." As I understand it, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 3, 2002 Report Share Posted November 3, 2002 BTW, am I right in thinking that all computer DVD players are 'region free'? Technically, NO. The companies that write legit software for computer DVD players are "obligated" to write their programs such that a user can change the region 5 times. Upon the 5th change, the program is "required" to lock onto the last region used. Typically a PC DVD player will detect the region of the DVD and tell you: "this is a region 'X' DVD. The program will change the region-encoding to play this DVD. You can now change the region-encoding 'n' more times before it locks." The program counts-down how many times you've changed the region, then locks on the 5th change. Of course, the ubiquitous cracks for both the DVDs and the PC software render region-encoding moot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaronTT Posted November 3, 2002 Report Share Posted November 3, 2002 AS mentioned in another post, you need to get a sofware hack to get region free for a computer DVD. Generally, that means a firmware hack in addition to the software hack. And not all of the FW hacks are successful. I did a FW hack on one of my DVD players and then Windows XP wasn't able to ID the drive correctly. It thought it was a CD ROM, even thoough it's a DVD ROM/CD RW Combo drive. Luckily, I had saved the original Firmware so I reprogrammed the FW back. There are some FW hack sites that you can look into. Do a web search. The sites include lists of DVD models and whether they are region free with a software hack or region free with a firmware and software hack. Bottom line, you'll need a software hack. And in many cases, a Firmware hack as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALHOLK Posted November 4, 2002 Report Share Posted November 4, 2002 Hi! Absolutely correct. I would just like to add that changing the firmware should not be done by people without any knowledge of what they are doing. The player can easily be rendered useless. regards ALHOLK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyberbeno4 Posted November 4, 2002 Report Share Posted November 4, 2002 before you change the firmware of a computer dvd download region killer(freeware) from the net,works fine for me and all my buddys.if you want to look your dvd's via tv-out at the tv,you need a program like tvtool(cost 10 bucks),removes the macrovision files too,but works only with gefoce cards. cyberbeno4 p.s.:well,as we are talking here about copied stuff,how would the customs act in case they find them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaronTT Posted November 5, 2002 Report Share Posted November 5, 2002 http://www.firmware.fr.st/ is a site that has info on what drives are region free and which are not. Also has Firmware. Be careful flashing the FW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 5, 2002 Report Share Posted November 5, 2002 I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. My knowledge of anything technical extends to plugging it in and switching it on. If it doesn't work then I'm in big shit. All I wanted to know was if the DVD's worked, but this technical stuff is up to you guys. Thanks for all the help anyway. Uniformguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 10, 2002 Report Share Posted November 10, 2002 [color:"blue"]"before you change the firmware of a computer dvd download region killer(freeware) from the net,works fine for me and all my buddys."[/color]I have a notebook (Toshiba) with a built-in cd-/ dvd-drive. I am usually using VCD, never used a DVD. As far as I can remeber, it is possible to change the region 4 times. Do you have an url to share, so I can try some dvd /wo damaging my drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyberbeno4 Posted November 12, 2002 Report Share Posted November 12, 2002 you can download it here: http://www.chip.de/downloads_updates/downloads_updates_67595.html plenty of different other download sites if you do a web search,but this is a german one cyberbeno4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALHOLK Posted November 12, 2002 Report Share Posted November 12, 2002 Hi! I might add that VCD's aren't region coded. You should be able to play them on any computer. regards ALHOLK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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