General DVD Region Questions

bomber18 2006-03-30 21:59:58 UTC #1

Got a DVD of the Office in Region 2/4 and so DVDShrink says I need to change my DVD burner to those regions to read the DVD.

-is there any way I can change my region without having my computer count down the number of times I change my region?
-once I can read the DVD, can I burn the DVD to any region I want, or region-free?

The first question is more important because I'm going to be stuck in one region if I have to keep changing region settings.

Thanks for any help.

sonoluca 2006-03-31 00:19:46 UTC #2

you can use anydvd, to play or backup DVD with different regional coding.
second question - DVD Shrink is set (default) to produce region free output, if im not mistaken

rapid_fire 2006-03-31 03:58:18 UTC #3

RPC1 Firmware.

nwg 2006-03-31 06:08:15 UTC #4

Also, don't forget the DVD will still be in PAL. Shrink cannot change that. You need a NTSC/PAL DVD player or try to convert the DVD to PAL. This can be a daunting task though.

If you play the DVD on the computer it won't matter if it is PAL or NTSC as it is shown in RGB and will be in colour.

reasonsnotrules 2006-03-31 07:24:30 UTC #5

this may not be an issue since he hasn't named his country. he could very well be in a PAL country.

and to answer the questions:

1.
- if you have a Matshita drive you're stuck (you haven't named your drive model)
- if your drive has rpc-1 firmware available for it then you can load this firmware to make the drive itself recognise all regions.
- if there is no rpc-1 firmware available, a software solution like anydvd will be able to make discs appear region free to your drive and will therefore be readable regardless of drive region and disc region.

2.
the backup you make will be region free (or region 0 or "locked to ALL regions) depending on the software you use. it all means the same thing though - no region restriction.

3.
if you are, in fact, wanting to play PAL dvds on an NTSC system, i'm not going to explain it here as this is asked every third post on the forum. Do a search for the disadvantages of software solutions in this sense and the up-side sof purchasing a multi-format standalone player.

nwg 2006-03-31 08:11:57 UTC #6

True but, this situation comes up all the time and so far it has been 9 out of 10 times it is someone from the US asking the question. This comes up all the time on the Shrink forum and it has always been the same.

bomber18 2006-03-31 10:38:15 UTC #7

Thanks for the help. AnyDVD solves all my problems.

secretcodebreaker 2009-06-29 12:46:52 UTC #8

[QUOTE=reasonsnotrules;1366732]<snip>

if your drive has rpc-1 firmware available for it then you can load this firmware to make the drive itself recognise all regions.
[/QUOTE]

How do you determine if your drive has rpc-1 firmware available? And if it does, where can you get it?

I have two HPdvd1040 drives and I am faced with this regional coding problem using DVDShrink.

If one un-installs (removes) the driver and then re-installs it, using Windows plug and play, will that reset the counter that keeps track of the number of times you change the regional coding?

Thanks

secretcodebreaker 2009-06-29 19:06:42 UTC #9

While waiting for a reply to my post, I did some experimenting and found a ‘work-around’ for the Regional Coding problem.

My free version of DVD Decrypter (3.5.4.0) will rip a regionally coded DVD without changing the DVD drive coding using what it refers to as ‘brute force’ It warns that it will take longer, but it was my experience that it increased the ‘ripping’ time by less than 30 seconds.

When you do this you have all the files (VOB, BUP and IFO) in a directory (folder) on your hard drive, which you have named the name of the video. Create a folder labeled VIDEO_TS in this directory and move all the files into this folder.

You now have a folder (name of video) of VIDEO_TS files which DVD Decrypter has eliminated the regional coding. NOT the formatting, which in my case was PAL.

You can use it with ImgBurn, DVDShrink, etc.

The DVD drive Regional Coding has not been changed.

Admittedly this is a bit cumbersome, but for a newbie like me I feel more confident than having to mess with the drives firmware, not to mention the OS (Windows XP) which also seems intent on limiting the changes to Regional Coding.