Why did no one tell me???? DVD Region Free

[adder]

I'm new to this forum and wanted to just give some feedback on my first brush with fixed region settings on DVD's.

Bought a laptop with a DVD / CDR-W drive and began watching DVD movies from all regions of the world. After a few cd's I get a message saying that my regional settings are locked at region 1 and I no longer can change or watch DVD's from any other region...this is completely new to me and I am agast. Had no idea what-so-ever that this was the way of the DVD world.Why am I not told the before the new settings can take effect???? At this point I'm really irritated so I get on the net and find this great forum. Do a couple hours research and download DVD Region Free. I have a Windows XP operating system, AMD 2 GHz, Power DVD software, and I live in Europe (region 2). I don't have the exact name of the pc-DVD player so I'll post it later). I install the trial version of the DVD Region Free program and voila, no problems at all!!! It works fine and I can play all my DVD's.

I am still rather mad at the industry for putting people like me (*who only know so much about pc's and DVD players...) in a situation where we suddenly can't use our DVD players. Being relatively new to the DVD world, I take it that it is reasonable to assume that there will be DVD region free players in the not-so-distant future..? What's holding it back? Am I being naiive?

Once again, thanks to all the wise people who post on this forum and who have helped me without knowing it

[qat]

you know its really fun cracking that software....thats one thing.
One of my relatives has a laptop, he used it to watch dvds regularly, now after i told him about the locking he is scared to load any dvds. Its nice to let friends help u.
You are right DVD locking is a really stupid idea anyway....the world becoming smaller....global village....and people getting connected......its really the electronic techonlogy that brought this dream a reality. So should they put a lock on it?

[spaceboy5367]

region ?

qat, sounds like you might be a good one to ask about this. there's a region 2 dvd at amazon.com.uk that i want. i've got an hp with a dvd-rom & an external sony dvd writer. when i'm backing up my dvd's, i usually rip them to the hard drive using dvd decrypter. i'd like to order this dvd & when i get it, make a region-free backup. is this possible? do i need to download this dvd region free software? i know there are options within dvd decrypter that allow you to select any or no region when backing up but i just don't want to be stuck with a dvd that i can't watch.

if anyone could help, i'd really appreciate any advice on the subject...and thanks to digital-digest for this great forum!

sincerely,

spaceboy



PS_i just noticed that the dvd region free software is, in fact, not free at all is there any freeware for this?

[qat]

I am sorry i cannot help u on DVD region free, my hardware has already been patched and i dont know how they did it.

Please ask KingElvis of this forum.
with regards

[spaceboy5367]

kingelvis, can you help??

[digidragon]

I'm not kingelvis, but I know that DVD Decrypter will make a region-free backup of most DVDs regardless of the region of the disc or the region of the drive.

[spaceboy5367]

WOW, thanks digidragon, that's pretty much what i was wonderin'!

space

[decryptit]

Did you lock them your self the regions.

[Quality's Proof]

As to why different regions, more profit for Hollwood. Many of the "hit" movies @ release will cost about $20.00 in U.S. More in I.K. and Europe. Whereas, you can go to the store in Thailand and Philippines and buy same movie for $2.00 to $3.00. This is same think as Microsoft's announcement that XP system will only cost $40.00 for Thais (after Thai government promised to go elsewhere (elsewise)).

Hollywood is like Japanese Corp's. were during "dumping" during 70's and 80's when they stole u.s. manufacturing (due to Reagan accepting bribes from Japanese corp'.s) This is real reason for Region encoding.

By the by, what"s the price of a dvd-writer in Thailand? You get @ least 4 region changes (anybody understand that?). Glad I have Thai friends.

[spaceboy5367]

no decryptit -- i haven't messed with changing the region codes on my drive...i'm just hoping that digidragon is correct. if i can make a region-free backup of any region encoded dvd, regardless of the drive's region, i'll be fine

thanks,

spaceboy

[decryptit]

For the sake of tryin use the following software.
>Dvd Decrypter (Region free)
(To be sure visit the Dvd Decrypter forum)

http://forum.dvddecrypter.com/

or

>Dvd Shrink

Both software are able of removing macrovision keys and other keys .Region codes will probably be removed aswell.

[Quality's Proof]

To all,

As decryptit said, use dvddecrypter to make a disc region free.

'Shrink will also do this but 'decrypter is alsoa free dvd burner and ripper.

What has been said is you can take a disc from another region and burn a back-up that region locked disc which can play in every region (if no NTSC/PAL or PAL/NTSC format problem).

[megamachine]

Let me just add to the great advice on this thread, for what's it worth, that I paid for DVDRegionFree, which was combined with DVDIdlePro, and found it to be worth the money. I had no one to help out with flashing the firmware and it seemed dicey to do myself, so I coughed up the bucks for the software, and am quite happy with it. You can play any DVD from any region with it, and if you get the IdlePro add-on, it has a cache function that cuts down wear and tear on your DVD drive. As for ripping, both Smart Ripper and DVD Decrypter will remove the DVD region settings.

[jonss]

I'm trying to stay 'on topic' here so excuse if this is another question. [bold]adder[/bold], in his first post was greived that his region coding was now locked in his firmware. Are there any utilities that can reflash the firmware of the DVD drive to make it region free?

[decryptit]

updating it perhaps