Making my laptop DVD region free? Pls help!

caymanbabes

Hello - I am a complete newbie hoping for some help!

I have a standard Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop with Sony combo CD-RW and DVD-ROM drive CRX835E. When I bought the computer (in October 2005) they assured me I could play any region DVD... but of course I realised soon after that you can only change the region 5 times. Half of my DVDs are from the UK, half are from the US, so I need my laptop's DVD player to be region free. I hacked all our DVD players but this seems a whole lot more complicated!

I downloaded DVD Region+CSS Free Lite but it hasn't made any difference at all. I restarted, made sure it was enabled, but no difference. I put the DVD in, Dell Media Player starts up and tells me I have to change the region - and I don't want to do this as I only have 2 or 3 changes left!

I apologise if this is a really stupid question... but would be really grateful if you could help me!

keyap

The obvious option would be to used 'region free' firmware but i'm not sure any exists for this drive. You may also want to check the liteon forum as I seem to remember this sony is one of theirs - perhaps there's some liteon 'patched' firmware that is compatable.

BE CAREFUL though as this will probably invalidate any warranty you have.

Further options would be to consider applications which make the drive region free. Your original post seems to suggest you have tried a few however most people seem to have success with 'anydvd' which does require a 'chargeable' licence but is free for a trial period of 21 days.

Another option could be 'DVD43' which is free but probably not quite as good.

Hope this helps and welcome to the forums

caymanbabes

Thank you - I will try the suggested programs.

Just wanted to say that invalidating the warranty is not an issue - I live in the Cayman Islands where warranties aren't valid anyway (bought computer in the US though). Just as long as I don't break it!!

Here's hoping it works - will let you know!

keyap

Unless you know what you're doing avoid the firmware option. Flashing with the wrong firmware will break it

caymanbabes

Keyap you are an absolute star! Thank you SOOOOOOOO much! After many, many hours of messing about, I simply downloaded AnyDVD as you suggested, and it works perfectly!

I am so grateful! Thank you!

keyap

Glad to help . It's just a pity it costs USD 39.00.

Still give DVD43 a try - if that works it's free. If not you could just go back to anydvd.

caymanbabes

Just a note to any other 'newbies' like myself reading this thread - if you are changing programs, like I did from anyDVD to DVD43 make sure you uninstall one before installing another. I didn't - I thought disabling it would be enough - and had all sorts of problems. At one point my computer wouldn't recognise my DVD/CD drive and I thought I'd broken it!

The conclusion is, DVD43 works just as well, on my laptop, as AnyDVD (once I'd uninstalled it!), with the major bonus that its free, so no cost and no credit card numbers roaming around where they don't need to.

Thanks keyap for your help - my three kids can now watch all their DVDs on our various upcoming long haul flights - peace! Several planeloads of people will be grateful too!

Enchanti

Thanks so much for this keyap - read this message thread and dowloaded DVD43 onto our Sony laptop. So far, so good. I had the same problem as caymanbabes - US-bought laptop, DVDs bought all over the world, small children, long-haul flights!! Seems to work fine, thanks millions.

albod

THANKS LOTS keyap!!!
i had several region cds as i`m a substituteteacher.they all worked well then suddenly they all refused to work!!
thanks to `anydvd` alls well with trial download so will purchase( $49.95) but worth it for peace of mind!
Theres nothing worse than a dvd failure with 30 eager students waiting to watch then
ooops no show dvd!!!!(CHAOS!!)
ps i tried dvd43 but they aren`t compatible with 64 bit see comments of others who had same problems!
thanks again` keyap`i`ve spent most of saturday trying to solve this!
albod

coolcolors

Someone explain to me how we went off track from laptop region free to buying and using dvd43?? There is no such animal as region free laptop your cd/dvd drive may come in Region "0" but never Region free. So let's get this straight there is no such thing as Region Free laptop. Want a region free player only standalone cd/dvd comes in Region Free player.

~Jethro~

imkidd57

@coolcolors: please read the whole thread again, and this time with the notion prepared in your head that dvd43 can remove the region restrictions for playback of commercial DVD-Videos in some laptops. Then if you have something more constructive to add, that would be great.

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albod

re dvd43 ...............it doesn`t support 64 bit .visit their website to see comments on that!
my trial on `anydvd`works well I have and use dvds from many countries and they all now work REALLY WELL (so far) i`ll buy the prog.
Thanks again keypap have passed this along to mates with same problem!they`re rapped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can anyone explain to me how i found this all `on track`!
and lets get this straight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ANYDVDFORME!!ANYTIME!

_chef_

Waaah, fix your keyboard...

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