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Ich
11-29-2003, 09:38 PM
http://www.amber-net.de/img/dvd/cover/a/asterix_sieg_ueber_caesar/asterix_caesar.jpg
I just got a DVD from my aunt and it's pretty cool, except I can't watch it. It's a region 2 DVD. Are there any ways to get around this limitation?
AlexMax
11-29-2003, 11:20 PM
Ah, the joys of region encoded DVD's.

Region-free DVD players. Or chip your current one.
Pablo
11-29-2003, 11:24 PM
If your computer has a DVD drive, you can change the region, but there are only a certain amount of times you can switch it. I remember it being in one of the properties menus.
slothman
11-30-2003, 12:08 AM
I believe the DMCA and other copyright laws prevent you from legally changing it. You could face criminal as well as civil penalities and up to 5 years in jail. Now as a method try looking up google:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=change+dvd+region
In any case is it a computer of video DVD player?
Thunderbird
11-30-2003, 12:42 AM
DMCA prevents you from changing the region on a DVD-drive? Then why the hell is it an option? :P

Some console modchips will permit the consoles to play other region DVD discs. I actually have a region 2 DVD player (my Japanese PS2), but of course have nothing to play in it. Oh well ;).
inori
11-30-2003, 01:34 AM
I have the same problem (DVDs here are region 2 as well). The best advice is to try to avoid region-coded DVDs entirely; since that's not an option in your case, you'll have to look for some hardware that will play it (a region-free DVD player, or a way around the region coding's annoyances).

Many computer DVD drives will let you set the region X number of times. Unfortunately, X is generally small (between 1 and 5 in most cases). And this is a hardware thing built into the DVD drive, not a software thing... you can't reset it by changing a registry setting, wiping Windows, or even moving the drive to another computer.
slothman
11-30-2003, 01:43 AM
Maybe there is a way to hack the drive. Maybe a battery or something. It has to be storing how many times you did it somehow.
The Savior
11-30-2003, 04:18 AM
Many drives have hacked firmware that allows the region to be changed as often as necessary, or be region-free. I also seem to recall a solution that was software-only, without the need to re-flash your drive, but I could be imagining that. For standalone players, there is often a sequence of buttons that can be pressed to remove the region restriction of a player.
AlexMax
11-30-2003, 12:41 PM
Originally posted by slothman
I believe the DMCA and other copyright laws prevent you from legally changing it. You could face criminal as well as civil penalities and up to 5 years in jail. Now as a method try looking up google:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=change+dvd+region
In any case is it a computer of video DVD player?

Nobody is going to bust into your house and arrest you because of this. Whether it violates the DMCA or not is pretty much moot, since it's unenforcable, at least in this context.