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DVD playing and macs

07:41 / 04.04.03

This is a call for information on playing DVDs on the mac. I have heard that after playing dvds from a number of regions macs eventually lock so they can only play stuff from a single region.
Is this true? and is their any patch/bit of software to allow me to watch multi region DVDs indefiitely?

Rollo Kim, on location

08:18 / 04.04.03

Allo Sleaze. I had to puzzle over this on a Powerbook and a G4, and there isn't a way that isn't 'complicated'. Under OS. 9x you can only change the region settings 4 or 5 times before it locks to that setting. Not sure about OS.X.

http://macsupporters.gold.ac.uk/dvdhack.html

You can try some Firmware tweakage if you're feeling brave:

http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php

12:19 / 04.04.03

Erm...not too sure about Macs, but certainly on a PC most DVD playing software will behave similarly (change regions X time before it locks to whatever region was last used). The answer - rather predictably - is to uninstall the software, then redownload and install it and away you go for another X many region changes.

12:28 / 04.04.03

So reinstalling the os resets the *everything* the number of times you can change your dvd regions?

12:51 / 04.04.03

I'll look around for you this morning on the topic since it got my interest as well. Haven't heard of it to tell you the truth.

I'd imagine a clean install would restore your old settings but maybe there's a prefs file in the library that contains the region data. I do know of terminal commands that wipe specified info as a daily routine so maybe there's a script that can handle this...be back.

13:27 / 04.04.03

So far here's what I've found...and btw, what mac do you have?

Here a good FAQ to take a look at.

The VLC media player is a portable player that handles all sorts of protocols on many platforms. It seems there may be some region work-arounds by using this software.

13:30 / 04.04.03

Yeah. Like Rollo all I could find was info for 9, no software skirt-arounds for X. I tried digging through Slashdot.org for something but I'm running late for work.

This sucks though. I had no idea Apple was that much in bed with Jack Valenti.

14:10 / 04.04.03

Well on the slightly bright side, from what i read at least OS9 is only required to run the firmware updater (ie you only need to playabout with the memory on the dvd player once, and the software on the mac to enable you to play multiregion dvds perminantly)

but yeah messing around with firmware with all its inherant risks and warrenty invalidating consequences is very intimidating. Will have to think on this further.

In the meantime any further information is greatfully recieved as are any magic wands to make all the regions go away.

16:59 / 04.04.03

VLC is a software DVD decoder that pays no attention to regions. You should be able to use it to view anything. It just reads the data off the disc and plays it itself, rather than using hardware decoding. The legality of the DeCSS library that it uses kinda fades in and out, but I think it's legal at the moment.

Another advantage of software decoding is that you can take screenshots, rather than them just appearing as a black box. However, if you've got a slower machine it might be too slow. On my 800mhz iBook, DVDs are watchable with VLC, but don't try to skip around while it's playing them.

I believe the "number of changes" is stored in the drive hardware somehow rather than the OS.

All Acting Regiment

16:49 / 24.04.08

Bump. So what's the deal with Mac OS X and DVDs? Does this problem still happen?

19:14 / 24.04.08

I'm not sure with the 'official' OS X dvd player, but I know VLC is still good for multiple regions. It doesn't work quite as nicely as front row, as far as remote compatibility goes, but you can still use the remote.

ONLY NICE THINGS

08:01 / 25.04.08

Well, yes and no. The issue with recent Macs, apparently, is that the Matshita drives used in most Macs have region encoding built into their firmware. So, a region 1 drive will make it impossible to play region 2 DVDs in VLC, and if you play them in the bundled DVD player it will ask if you want to change the regional settings, and give you the five-changes countdown. I'm not certain this has not been fixed in the latest MBPs, but if it hasn't it is abominable practice.

One way to get round it _may_ be to disable opening DVD Player in System Preferences before you play a DVD at all, but I don't know if that would necessarily work. You can flash the firmware, but this invalidates your warranty, may brick your drive and may not be an option for some drives (in particular the ones Matshita makes for which there is no analogue, such as the 9.5mm slot-loaders) - not generally recommended for a non-expert user with a machine within warranty. If you have a desktop Mac you can replace the drive, or in the case of a Mac Pro add another, region-free drive (the issue here is hardware, not software). There may be a software solution like RegionX that still allows you to reset the counter indefinitely - I'm not sure. The easiest ways seem to be either to buy an external DVD drive and rip movies as video files to watch on the move, or to use Windows with Boot Camp and a few programs for region-freeing (I have heard good things about DVDRegion and CSSFree, but this may be old info).

It's a bit of a pig, really. This is how all computers are _supposed_ to operate, I think, to keep the MPAA happy, but Windows drives are so comprehensively broken that the campaign was abandoned. Apple's tight integration of software and hardware makes it possible to enforce the division.

All Acting Regiment

08:55 / 25.04.08

That is bad, isn't it? On the other hand, DVDs actually spin round in my mac which they weren't doing on the last bastard. Hmm. It's not a huge problem practically, but just let me check - all the DVDs I own have been bought in the UK, so they'll be Region 2 and that's the one to keep to in order ot avoid bother, right?

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:29 / 25.04.08

Assuming you don't want to watch DVDs you have brought in or from the US, yes - those will play, no problem. And, in fact, it's worth downloading and installing VLC, and seeing what happens if you play things in that instead - different models behave differently.

If your drive is firmware region-locked and you bought the Mac in the UK, it'll be set natively to Region 2, so either VLC will be able to play region 1 discs or not. If you really never play discs from other regions anyway, it's sort of a non-issue anyway, although the principle of the thing is still annoying...

All Acting Regiment

09:47 / 25.04.08

And it sets a nasty precedent, too ...

09:46 / 30.04.08

Getting VLC is highly recommended anyway.

You can find Region X here.

Also, you might like MacTheRipper for those DVD's outside of your selected region.

I flashed the firmware on my old G5's drive years ago. Since the new Mac Pro comes with an extra optical bay I I'm still using my old drive for watching DVDs (it's quieter than the new one too). I wouldn't risk it again today, but it's an option.