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Play DVDs from any region
Authored by: defpo on Dec 06, '05 07:19:15AM

This will not work all the time. It depends on the drive in your computer. Some drives work fine doing this, some (MATSHITA in particular) won't let VLC run if the region code isn't set properly on the drive. And guess what drive ends up in portable, moving around, and traveling laptops?? (>_<)



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Play DVDs from any region
Authored by: tandle on Dec 06, '05 10:39:18AM

I can't say anything about all ibook/powerbooks but my ibook (1ghz 12") works fine with VLC and non-US region dvds. I purchase asian dvds a great deal, and not all of them are region 1 or 0. It is confirmed to have a mashita drive as well.



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Play DVDs from any region
Authored by: dmw on Dec 06, '05 07:08:20PM

I have no problem with foreign DVDs on VLC on either my dual G5, my mactel box, nor my powerbook.



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Play DVDs from any region
Authored by: fredshome on Dec 07, '05 06:35:44AM

Definitely doesn't work on my iBook with a Matshita CD-RW CW-8124 normally set for region 2.

I just tried it with a region 1 disk and while VLC briefly sees the title of the disk, it just stops without displaying an error. Opening the log window shows it just can't access the files on the disk so it finaly fails (cleanly) on a "nothing to play" message.

FWIW while I was at it I also tried a DVD ripping app called "HandBrake" (who thinks up names like these?) and it failed with "no valid titles found".

I don't think anything can be done without changing the firmware on that drive. Unfortunately last time I looked around it didn't seem to be possible for this specific model.



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Play DVDs from any region
Authored by: las_vegas on Dec 09, '05 11:02:41AM

The Matshita CW-8124 also won't override region encoding on a PC for the same reason. There are two simple solutions, but neither is free. You can add an external DVD drive that can be flashed or over-ridden (Any Pioneer brand will do), or replace the Matshita drive with a notebook version of the Pioneer (DVR-K05).



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Play DVDs from any region
Authored by: enidna on Sep 16, '06 02:43:34AM

There might be a solution to that. Sometimes I stick the disc in and force quit the DVD player -- but the DVD disappears from the Finder menu.

VLC has an File >> Open Disc feature. There are several options (it will even let you access the DVD menus!) and I recommend leaving it at the default and selecting OK.

I have a first generation macmini with the Matsushita CD-RW/DVD reader combo.

Hope that helps,
N

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Flip Out: http://filebox.vt.edu/org/tkd/



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