cant play region 3 DVDs

[colly]

hi,

i bought a Dell Inspiron 8500 laptop recently and it has a samsung cdrw/dvd SN-324B combo drive. it runs on XP.

i bought it in Europe so it's original region code was Region 2. however i'm living in korea now and the DVDs here are Region 3.

I bought some region 3 DVDs, so i went into system and Device Manager and changed the region setting to Region 3, thinkin that this would allow me to view the DVDs.

However when i try to play a DVD InterWin DVD just hangs and nothing happens. I've also tried to play it with Media Player and it just says that it is an "Unknown DVD". I've tried different DVDs and always have the same problem.

Does anyone have any idea what is wrong and how i can fix the problem?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I spent a lot of money on both the laptop itself and the DVDs so i am anxious to be able to use them!!

Also, how do i know if is a software/hardware DVD player and if it is RPC 1 or RPC 2

colly

[setarip]

"However when i try to play a DVD InterWin DVD just hangs and nothing happens."


Have you tried to open WinDVD, select "Properties" - and under the "General" tab, change the region?

[colly]

hi,

yeah i'd already checked that the region setting in Device Manager and in WinDVD were the same. They are both set to region three.

[colly]

problem solved

hi!

just wanna let you know that my DVD viewing problem is now solved.

even though the region in both device manager and Intervideo WinDVD were already set to region 3 i went ahead and installed DVD Genie and got it to force the region change.

then i inserted a dvd and ran windvd, however the dvd still wouldnt play. so, dunno why, probably just for the craic of it, i decided to eject the cd and put it back in again........and lo and behold the bloody thing worked!!!

dunno why i had to eject it and reinsert it for it to play...but it worked.

Anyway, while i could now play region 3 DVDs the sound and video was a bit jumpy. So i went into the options in Intervideo WinDVD and turned off Hardware Acceleration........and BINGO!!! I can now view my DVDs with proper sound and picture AND the whole having to eject the cd and reinsert again problem has cleared itself up as well.

so all is right in the world again. i can now piss my neighbours off with my Metallica DVD!

so thank you for your help, it IS/WAS greatly appreciated!!

__________________
Slán,
Colly

[setarip]

"so thank you for your help, it IS/WAS greatly appreciated!!"

Congratulations!

Keep those walls shakin' ;>}