Page 1 of Trying to View DVDs on my computer from other regions

Hi,

I`m not sure if this is the right forum or not, but here goes. I have a new computer, a Compaq Presario desktop with a DVD drive. I`m in England and this is an English computer. However, I`m from the US and so I have DVDs from both the US and UK. How do I configure the computer in order to watch both?

Thanks,
Georgia

There are two things you need to consider: hardware region coding (in the DVD-ROM drive); and software region coding (in the program you`re using to watch DVDs - PowerDVD, WinDVD or whatever).

The software protection is easy to get around - just use DVDGenie to change or reset the region code.

Making the DVD-ROM drive region free is a bit more difficult, and may involve `flashing` the drive`s firmware (which can be risky). If you know the exact make and model of drive, you might be able to get a region-free firmware version from this site.

Alternatively, DVD Region Free is a safe, 100% software solution for making your drive region free, but given that it costs $40 (around the price of a new DVD-ROM drive!) I`d advise you to take your chances with firmware flashing before resorting to it.

Mike

This item was edited on Saturday, 21st February 2004, 16:38

I`m not sure what my exact make and model are. My drive is a DVD player / CD-WR combo drive. I`m not sure if that makes any difference. If I use the DVDGenie alone will that allow me to play Region one movies as well as Region two, or do I have to use more drastic solutions.

I`m not sure what `flashing` the drive means and what do you mean by "risky"? Can `flashing` the drive harm it? I`d rather not take the change on ruining my new computer if I can avoid it.

Georgia

I asked the same question a few months ago and got flamed for wasting everyone`s time!

I tried DVDGenie etc. as outlined above - it seemed to upset some other software I`d just installed (the notoriously buggy and sensitive Pinnacle Studio) so I had to uninstall the region hacking stuff.

The, a few weeks ago, I posted a similar question elsewhere and received the following reply:

"Have a look at afterdawn.com for DVD 4 3 - it lets you play any region dvds without affecting your hardware bios or player software."

It`s worked ok for me so far - anyone else had any experience of this programme?

Eb.

flashing your dvd means reprogramming the flash memory that contains the software on the DVD that includes the region checking element to a version that doesn`t. If the programming fails leaving a corrupt flash content your DVD drive will obviously no longer work.
There are some additional problems with playing dvds on PCs if your video card has a TV out but doesn`t support macrovision properly as the player software will complain in some cases that a copyright protected DVD can`t be played (this affects DVDs from any region) . The solution is generally to reinstall earlier drivers for the video card but this may of course cause problems with other software that requires the latest versions to work.

Georgia,

why don`t you just buy another dvd-rom drive (£28ish) and set it to region 1
leave your existing drive set at region 2, then you won`t have the hassle of
flashing the firmware.

Ste.

This item was edited on Sunday, 22nd February 2004, 18:52

Go to Control Panel in your start menu, then click System, Hardware, Device Manager and finally DVD/CD-ROM DRIVES. You should get a little icon with the name of your drive in it. Come back and tell us and we should be able to point you in the right direction.

If you have a new computer, any drive in it will be fixed to only allow five region changes before locking up to a single region. You may be able to flash the firmware in your drive (the free option, but it does involve a very very slight risk to the drive if there`s a problem during the flashing process), which will enable software like DVDGenie to work; otherwise, download DVDRegionFree for $40. Not all drives are flashable, because there isn`t hacked firmware available for every drive on the market.

J Mark Oates

This item was edited on Sunday, 22nd February 2004, 23:45

any dvd

the best

My DVD Collection

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. My DVD drive is a SAMSUNG SDRW/DVD SM-348B. Does that help?

This could be tricky. You can apply a firmware hack to this drive for free, but there are complications. Click here for a page that has all the relevant details. Go to "download search" and type in "Samsung SM348B". Sorry a direct link doesn`t work :/

You do need to be reasonably experienced with tinkering around with your computer to do a firmware upgrade as it can involve making a DOS system floppy disk and there is a chance you could find your machine no longer recognises the combo drive. If you don`t feel that confident, then don`t try the firmware option whatever you do. DVDRegionFree costs about £30 and works without causing problems.

The link at the top of this posting is for a site called "The firmware page". If you search it and its forum you`re bound to find enough information about flashing firmware to decide whether or not you want to give it a go.

Good luck either way.

J Mark Oates

This item was edited on Sunday, 7th March 2004, 21:26