My iMac is presently set to play region 1 DVD's. When i insert region 3 DVD's it allows me to set it to region 3 but only to a maximum region change of 4 times.:redface: I have a lot of DVD's both on region 1 and region 3. Is there a way to set the DVD player to multi-region? If not, to what region do most of you set up your DVD player on your Mac?
Use the free VLC Player for region DVDs oustide of your preferred region: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html If you don't mind putting your drive in harm's way, try flashing it using the instructions from this site: http://www.powerbook-fr.com/dossiers/dvd_region_free_en_article30.html Read all precautions and proceed at your own risk.
Naku... huwag Raffy There's NO region free firmware for the iMac. The problem is that the manufacturers have gotten a lot better and as of 2005, most new optical drives (at least the ones used by Apple) can't work region free. Personally, I don't play DVDs on any of my Macs. I do play "Dibidis" on them since the discs are already region 9 (all region). If you must choose a region. I choose the region where the mac will be staying most of it's life, not the region I have most DVD movies for. Both my last 2 macs have never even had their region set yet.
That's right, there's no DVD region free firmware hack for the iMac. Even if you find a hack for your particular drive (probably an LG), flashing will most likely void your warranty anyway. Not worth the risk. There used to be this app, LG Reset X, that allowed you to change regions a lot more than 5 times, but it's since been pulled down. Tough luck. Go VLC. Painless, no-risk and FREE. Just disable Apple's DVD player to autorun when you insert any video DVD: System Preferences -> CDs & DVDs -> When you insert a video DVD -> Ignore Then run VLC Player.
Thanks Dave and booblanco. I really don't plan to watch DVD's on the iMac. That function would be better made in the real DVD player on a home theater set-up. However, there may be times when I might want to recode region coded DVD's to mp4 or other formats to play on iPOD video or to re-edit these DVD clips for inserts. Might just have to do these task on my Win XP desktop.
Or if you can find a DVD drive that has a region free firmware for it, ikabit mo sa external enclosure tapos connect it to the iMac via USB.
I have the same problem. However, some DVDs don't play properly with VLC 0.8.4 e.g. no audio, DVD menu navigation don't work, etc. I'm currently downloading the most current VLC nightly build to see if the bugs have been fixed.
Even the latest nightly build of VLC can't play this new region 3 DVD or Serenity I bought a week ago. I think its one of those funky 'smart disks' that refuse to play in region free media players like VLC if the drive's region isn't correctly set. Looking at Roxio Toast 7 Titanium, it says that it could copy DVDs - can Toast go around the drive's region check of the DVD? If not, I'll be forced to watch it on windows where apps exist to go around the problem. Too bad. I really like Apple's DVD Player app...
does the ibook have a region free dvd drive? i have been playing region 1's and region 3 dvds and also "dibidis" in my ibook but it doesn't ask to set the region code whatsoever
niel, those 'deebeedees' are already region free. This is a side effect of the ripping process. Try inserting original disks from different regions and you'll be prompted to change to the appropriate region.
thanks lamski, i tried inserting region 1 dvds (harry potter) and also watched original tagalog dvds. are the tagalog ones region free also or region 3? i don't get any prompt at all bro.
Try buying an original DVD from any retailer and look at the packaging - there should be a symbol stating what region encoding it uses. Almost all hollywood DVDs sold here are region 3. I don't know if the local studios secure their disks with CSS, macrovision, and region locks as these processes cost a lot. If your drive still doesn't prompt you when you insert a region 3 disk then good for you. You have a region-free dvd drive. What mac model and OS are you using by the way?
i have region 1 dvd's and tagalog originals too. checked the tagalog ones and it says "region free" i think i have to test on other regions as well. by the way, i have a 12inch ibook G4 with 10.4.6 thanks again.
I have a Macbook Pro, am also having the same dillema playing dvd on my laptop. I also dont want to set my optical drive to any region. Am trying to watch Veronica Mars which is on Region 1 but doesnt work on VLC
My cousin's mac (dvd) player cannot play dvds anymore. He has used the maximum of 5 regions. How does she activate his dvd drive again?
