DVD Firmware

[clariza]

I hope I'm not breaking any policies here....

1. How do I flash the firmware of my Combo drive from OSX?
2. Are there any negative effects of doing so?

Reason: I have DVDs in different region codes.

What I've done so far:
1. Checked the web for available RPC1 firmware. Found 1 but, according to the site, it runs under OS 9.x. My PBook runs under OS X 10.3.4.
2. Went to some international forums and they say that the upgrade went well for them. Not that I do not believe in the honesty of the members of those fora, I just have more faith in the word of someone I can "make kurot" at the next EB should something go wrong.

My drive is a Matshita CW-8121 currently set to Region 1.

My technical experience insofar as flashing drives go:
1. I have a DVD-CDRW combo drive and a DVD+/-RW drive on my PC (both LiteOns) that have a WinXP based software that switches the drives to RPC1.
2. I have a QSI DVD ROM in my old notebook that I've flashed from RPC2 to RPC1.
3. Insofar as the mac is concerned I am a total newbie with a couple of days experience.

I hope someone can help me. Thanks in advance.

[Edited on 7-22-2004 by clariza]

[clariza]

Couldn't wait for a reply...

Went ahead and tried it. Success!

Need Region X to change regions, though now unlimited number of changes.

[Melancholy]

Hi Clariza,
Where can I buy that region X? I also have a fair amount of region 1 dvds so my book is set to region 1. But I also want to switch it to 3 when I want to rent DVDs made here. Thanks in advance.

[clariza]

Hi, Melancholy,

You'll need to patch your drive with an RPC-1 firmware. Region X only works with RPC-1 drives.

For procedures and downloads, I went to The Mac DVD Resource Page. My pbook is already off warranty. If your mac's still in warranty, I must tell you that this would probably void your warranty.

The firmware and the region setting utility are freeware.

How I did it...

1. Played my copy of LOTR (R1) to ensure that the drive is set to a region. [drive must be region coded already BEFORE patch is to be applied]
2. Boot to OS 9.2 [firmware patch for my drive only works in OS 9.x]
3. Run firmware patch
3. Boot to OS X
4. Install DVD Region X
5. Run DVD Region X and selected Region 1 [a region must be selected else the drive will not read a dvd according to the site]

A few words of caution. I've read many successful results in other fora but there were reported failures ranging from unsuccessful patching (nothing changed) to outright failure of the drive. If you're uncomfortable with the possible negative effects of the firmware patch, I recommend you NOT risk it.

I hope this helps.

Good luck.

[Henjie]

Originally posted by Melancholy
Hi Clariza,
Where can I buy that region X? I also have a fair amount of region 1 dvds so my book is set to region 1. But I also want to switch it to 3 when I want to rent DVDs made here. Thanks in advance.

Region X is a free utility for changing the drive region settings of an RPC-1 (region-free) drive. Direct download link here.

Do note that you have to flash your DVD-ROM/combo drive using a hacked RPC-1 firmware first (assuming an RPC-1 firmware is available for your particular drive). Which model Mac are you using? Which DVD-ROM/combo drive model?

Another option is to use VLC instead of Apple DVD Player as your default DVD player. VLC bypasses the drive region settings entirely, effectively making your DVD-ROM/combo drive region-free without having to flash the firmware. Just make sure that VLC is set to run whenever a DVD is inserted in your Mac (System Preferences -> CDs & DVDs). ;-)


~Henjie

[Henjie]

Originally posted by clariza
If your mac's still in warranty, I must tell you that this would probably void your warranty.

Yup, that's true. Flashing the drive with a hacked/unofficial firmware voids its warranty. You can always flash back to the original firmware (using an official firmware updater) anytime you want though. ;-)

A few words of caution. I've read many successful results in other fora but there were reported failures ranging from unsuccessful patching (nothing changed) to outright failure of the drive. If you're uncomfortable with the possible negative effects of the firmware patch, I recommend you NOT risk it.

As long as you don't interrupt the flashing process, everything's gonna be okay. A simple rule is to quit all running apps before firing up the firmware updater and keeping your hands off your Wintel PC/Mac until after the flashing process is completed. ;-)

I've flashed a number of optical drives over the years and haven't had a single failure yet (fingers crossed). :-) Flashed everything from CD-RW to DVD-ROM drives to DVD writers, using both Windows 98/XP and Mac OS 9/X. I'm using a trio of optical drives right now and two (including my DVD writer) are using hacked firmwares (flashed using Wintel PCs) which are much better than the official firmwares. :-) Great stuff.


~Henjie

[Melancholy]

Clariza and Henjie,
Thanks for the advice. As I'm out of warranty and have not touched my g3 700mhz combo cept for installing MS word and Palm desktop, I think I shall go with the easier install of VLC.

Thanks again for all the trouble.

[clariza]

Originally posted by Melancholy
Clariza and Henjie,
Thanks for the advice. As I'm out of warranty and have not touched my g3 700mhz combo cept for installing MS word and Palm desktop, I think I shall go with the easier install of VLC.

Thanks again for all the trouble.

No trouble at all. I'm actually having fun playing with the pbook. Not getting much sleep. Seeing what I can do with it.

Eventually, I'll have to buckle down and start doing some serious work. From what I've seen, done and read in the past few days, I think I'll need to upgrade the RAM (from 512MB to 1GB, at least), calibrate the color profiles, etc.

For now, though, it's the "getting to know" each other period and sharing the experience is part of the fun for me.

[Dinkydoo]

Another option is to use VLC instead of Apple DVD Player as your default DVD player. VLC bypasses the drive region settings entirely, effectively making your DVD-ROM/combo drive region-free without having to flash the firmware. Just make sure that VLC is set to run whenever a DVD is inserted in your Mac (System Preferences -> CDs & DVDs). ;-) ~Henjie

This is a good option. I have also been wondering about the region issue of my DVD drives. Thanks for the tip.