Newbie to Forum, need to get region free??

[Cainy]

Hi all, I hope this is not in the wrong forum so please excuse as this is my first post, I have just got a new computer with XP and want to burn some DVd`s but I think my writer has only 5 attempts before locking on the final region, is there any way to make a drive region free please, as I`m not too techie can you please make any replies nice and easy. Many thanks for any replies I may get.

[blutach]

What sort of drive is it? You might be able to download region free firmware. Or there are software solutions.

Regards

[Cainy]

Thanks for the reply mate, I ran Belarc Advisor and it has told me I have a "Sony DVD RW DW_G120A (CD-ROM Drive)" Does that make sense to you? Could you tell me what I have to do now to get this thing region free or is it a no go? Many thanks for any replies I may get.

[blutach]

First, go to this link and read it. You might update the drive's firmware while you are at it.

There is a utility to get it region free (LtnRPC).

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=2246

Regards

[Cainy]

Many thanks blutach you have been a great help, are you really in Aussie? I used to live in Perth, once again thanks.

[blutach]

Yup - Melbourne. And ...



Regards

[sean.mcg]

Hi again. Well, I'm not quite a newbie but thought I might as well ask before region-freeing my burner.

I have a Liteon SHM 165-P6S and want to region-free it.

This page here

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=2176

tells me to use LtnRPC.exe to do the job. The only thing that bothers me is that LtnRPC.exe is a 2003 version (nearly 3 years old). Is this OK? I.e., nothing's changed since then and it's OK for my burner? The page was updated last in July this year so I'm guessing it is OK.

So, before I pull the trigger, is LtnRPC.exe the right thing to use?

Thanks.

[sean.mcg]

OK, I hunted around the net and couldn't find anyone saying anywhere that they'd had a problem (I'm just a bit phobic about such applications, I always expect something to go horribly wrong) so I LtnRPC'ed and DVD Region Killer'ed it, and all is fine.

So no worries.

[katzdvd]

Hi Cainy,

I haven't made my drive region free, but some like to. Reason is for me, 'cause I only ever backup discs from my region - 1!

Since I will never need to change from region 1, it works out fine for me.

cheers,

[sean.mcg]

Hi katzdvd.

I suppose that's the advantage you Region 1ers have over us Antipodeans. Anyone could walk into any DVD rental outlet here and most titles will be Region 4, but some will be Region 1 or Region 2. This is because plenty of obscure titles are never made into Region 4 (being one of the 'minor' regions) so the rental outlets simply buy the title from one of the other regions.

For this reason it's virtually impossible to buy a stand-alone DVD player over here now that isn't region free, nobody sells them as nobody will buy them (or more to the point, the manufacturers who region-free their players had a major competitive advantage over those who kept them at Region 4.)

I own plenty of non-Region 4 DVDs (mostly Region 1) as:-

1) I'm impatient and don't want to wait the standard 8 months after US release before it becomes available down here (e.g., I bought March of the Penguins from a US online retailer last December, it didn't even hit the cinemas here for another 5 months)

2) Some titles I own have never been released in anything other than Region 1, e.g., Diva, which is a French movie (should be Region 2) but was released in Region 1 in 2001 but no other regions,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082269/dvd

3) Sometimes DVDs are a lot cheaper from US online retailers (including airfreight postage Downunder) than they are locally, so I end up with a Region 1 version. Sad but true.

This all shows how ludicrous and short-sighted the Region system is/was. It's already failed down here, as nobody (including stand-alone DVD player manufacturers) observes it anymore. And what does it achieve in North America if absolutely everything is Region 1? How is that supposed to reduce piracy?

Having said that, I just ordered a Japanese DVD that's released next week in Region 4 (was released in Region 2 last month and in Region 3 in 2003), but there are currently no plans to release it in Region 1! So, any American who's a Studio Ghibli fan may well be ordering this Japanese movie from New Zealand or Australia or UK, airmailing it to the USA and region-freeing their DVD player. This has nothing to do with piracy, this is simply because they wanna watch a movie that they've f***ing bought!

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/video/opp/

Anyway, I don't want my PC DVD player/burner to be the only DVD player in my house that doesn't play all my DVDs. Hence I just de-regioned it.

But don't get me started on the global corporate habit of building a perfectly good device, then seriously sabotaging it because they think it will improve their profits.... it applies to sooooo many devices in so many industy sectors these days. Self-destructive behaviour.

Oops, sorry for the rant. I'm sure this has all been said 1,000,001 times before.

[blutach]

I own plenty of non-Region 4 DVDs (mostly Region 1) as:-

I will never understand why someone blessed to live in PAL-land would acquire a Never The Same Colour twice DVD - except under extreme duress.

Regards

[sean.mcg]

I will never understand why someone blessed to live in PAL-land would acquire a Never The Same Colour twice DVD - except under extreme duress.

Regards

Because Never The Same Colour twice is better than a scratchy 20-year-old VHS with a muffled worn out soundtrack..... or a blank screen. So yep, call it extreme duress.

BTW, I rented a Region 4 DVD a year or so ago (Logan's Run actually), and it was.... wait for it... NTSC! I kid ya' not. I've no idea why this was ever made.