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Playing region 1 dvd n region 2 laptop dvd drive?

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LadyMorticia
LadyMorticia Posts: 19,899 Forumite
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in Techie Stuff
Hello all.:wave:

I have a region 1 boxset but I don't own a dvd player, apart from my laptop dvd drive, which is set to region 2.

I know that region 1 won't work in region 2 dvd drives and that you can change the region of the drive a maximum of 5 times.

However, I was wondering if there's a LEGAL way of being able to play my region 1 dvds on my laptop for good? I really don't want to have to re-buy all my region 1 dvds on region 2 discs but I also don't want to either compromise my laptop or do something illegal.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you.
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Comments

  • KillerWatt
    KillerWatt Posts: 1,655 Forumite
    Post the make & model of your DVD drive, it's odds on there is a "region free" hack for it.
    Remember kids, it's the volts that jolt and the mills that kill.
  • LadyMorticia
    LadyMorticia Posts: 19,899 Forumite
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    KillerWatt wrote: »
    Post the make & model of your DVD drive, it's odds on there is a "region free" hack for it.

    Is that legal? :p
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  • Barneysmom
    Barneysmom Posts: 10,136 Ambassador
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    Why shouldn't it be legal? :o
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  • LadyMorticia
    LadyMorticia Posts: 19,899 Forumite
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    Barneysmom wrote: »
    Why shouldn't it be legal? :o

    I don't know.:o

    I'm always wary when it comes to things like this.:o
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  • KillerWatt
    KillerWatt Posts: 1,655 Forumite
    LadyMorticia wrote: »
    Is that legal? :p
    There are no laws whatsoever regarding region coding on DVD drives/players, however if you have any doubts then feel free to pay twice as much for the R2 version of what you have when it is finally released in Europe ;)
    Remember kids, it's the volts that jolt and the mills that kill.
  • LadyMorticia
    LadyMorticia Posts: 19,899 Forumite
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    This is what is listed as my dvd/cd-rom drive. :)

    TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L632H ATA Device.
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  • KillerWatt
    KillerWatt Posts: 1,655 Forumite
    Well there is a region hack, but it involves the manual tweaking of a firmware (that is the operating system for the drive), and then uploading the firmware to that drive in order to make it region free.

    If you don't fancy that, then your only other legal options are to buy a 3rd party utility that will let you switch regions using a software interface, or wait until your movie is released over here and then pay through the nose for it.
    Remember kids, it's the volts that jolt and the mills that kill.
  • LadyMorticia
    LadyMorticia Posts: 19,899 Forumite
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    Thank you for your help. :)

    I've been doing a little bit of research (or trying to lol) and I was wondering if VLC would allow me to watch my region 1 DVDs unlimitedly?
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  • KillerWatt
    KillerWatt Posts: 1,655 Forumite
    Most software based players will ignore region coding, but they can't ignore it when the region coding is being enforced at hardware level (namely by the drive itself).

    Free 3rd party utilities such as DVD Region Killer will work, although that particular utility hasn't been updated since 2002 so there is a high probability it won't recognise your drive.
    Paid for utilities such as DVD Region+CSS Free or AnyDVD will do it, you just have to pay for the software (circa £40 a year for the license).
    Remember kids, it's the volts that jolt and the mills that kill.
  • bat999
    bat999 Posts: 1,946 Forumite
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    edited 31 May 2010 at 3:17AM
    Hi LadyMorticia
    I think that VLC is able to read wrong-region discs when used with older drives. These are known as RPC1.

    Modern drives are RPC2 which won't usually read discs with VLC unless they are the correct region.

    There's only one way to find out though.
    VLC is available from here:-www.videolan.org
    Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
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