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Software Solution to DVD RPC2 Region Locking?
Martin writes "I just saw the DVD Region-Free utility, the other day. 'It allows you to watch all region DVDs on any DVD drive (especially RPC2) even if it has been locked. You don't need hack DVD drive (flash firmware) which is sometimes dangerous, useless or unavailable.' This seems really significant to me, yet I haven't heard anything about! Is this the first software based solution to RPC2?" Of course, it should be stated that the software mentioned above is for Windows only. Are there other similar pieces of software for other platforms?
I know you're a troll, but I'd like to nevertheless point out that it's 'Baliwood,' and they make more movies over in India than we do here.
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
And there's more wasted fucking open sores projects on Freshmeat than there are quality pieces of software from real programmers.
Quantity does NOT equal Quality, you child molestor.
I hate to burst bubbles
but keep up with the times
"bollywood/hollywood" is a movie
I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
If I buy a Japanese DVD, and find I can't play it on my machine, and I try a utility like this one to be able to watch something I purchased, am I stealing? Some movie companies think so. I strongly disagree with them. What about you?
It is actually Bollywood, not Baliwood. See google.
Bali is in indonesia. I thought everybody who even turned on the news lately would know that.
I was joking at the troll parent by being silly (I wonder how many factually incorrect people try and use this as an excuse). Ballywood makes crappy movies.
RPC encoding has *Nothing* to do with piracy. Its about enforcing market manipulation and price-fixing.
Disabling RPC is all about being able to play a disc you bought legally in a different region, on your own player. Such as me being able to visit the US and play a new R1 DVD I have bought, on my laptop, on the way home. Which according to the movie mafia, should only play R4 discs.
Anyone with a brain knows that a home-made pirated disc (as opposed to a lot of the mass-pirated stamped discs out of asia) wont even have a region code on it, and the region lock wont matter a bit. As for the mass-pirates in asia, I dont want that crap. I am paying store prices, so I demand the genuine article. Most mass-pirated discs arent dual-layer anyway, AFAIK.
Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random numbers is, of course, in a state of sin.-John von Neumann
IANAL, but stealing means taking someone's property without paying for it or otherwise obtaining their permission. It seems to me that you bought it, so it cannot be stealing. Now, the question is, once you buy something and it is your personal property, do you have to right to do whatever you want with it. In general, the answer is yes, as long as you don't break another law in so doing. I don't know whether breaking region encoding violates DMCA or other laws. If it does, then you are breaking a law, albeit a stupid law. Does anyone know what DMCA says about region encoding?
THIS IS NOTHING NEW
Region-Free Firmware. They also have tools for changing regions on another page.
Breaking one random law does not mean you are a theif.
If you break the DMCA, you are in violation of the DMCA.
If you break copyright, you are in violation of copyright.
You are not stealing until the law/dictionary say so.
Neither say using something you bought in any way whatsoever (wether it is illegal or not) is stealing, unless you are committing fraud, which the DMCA, AFAIK, isn't all about.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Rubbish. I've decided to give up modding of this thread to make this reply. A (-1, Overrated) wouldn't do this post justice. What you're saying is pure misinformation.
You think that some unspoken law gives you the right to ignore the contract you made with the DVD distributor when you purchased it? Fair trade applies to firms, not to individuals. If you've agreed to buy that DVD, you've almost certainly done so on their terms, which state that you're only allowed to watch it in your region. It's a contract, and you have to follow it down to the word.
If you're having difficulty understanding this, think of software licensing. The GPL says you have to release the sources of your program if you link to a GPL'd binary -- there's no law that states it, but it's part of a legally binding contract. Similarly, Microsoft licenses that say you're not allowed to release benchmarks of their products, no matter how ludicrous, are legally binding.
Like it or not, disabling RPC has *everything* to do with breaking the law, until you manage to change the law or the contract you entered.
I find it interesting that they've chosen to display the "Designed for" logo on their product page. IIRC, that logo is used as somewhat of a certification. IE. you're only granted use of that logo after you pass certain requirements from Microsoft.
I'd find it hard to believe they actually have official support from Microsoft for a DVD region hack utility.
I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.
.... since it's a software based solution! yet another post TASPTDEE ("there's a problem that dont even exists!").
well, check +Frog's Print for win 9x version... Learn HOW TO CRACK with the good old fravia'site, and more recent stuff on anticrack.de
freddo
-- search the web
Well of course anything which used libdvdcss under *nix already gets RPC2-agnostic CSS software-decoding. I, personally, have never set the region-code on my one-year-old drive and watch films quite happily using the wonderful players available.
Rich
The "designed for" logo does not mean that Microsoft supports a given product. The logo is given to software (or hardware) that meets certain requirements which are freely available.
In short software needs to fulfill requirements in Windows compatibility (Multi-Tasking, Fast User Switiching, etc), Installation / Removal Requirements (use Windows Installer, the Windows packet manager), Data and Settings Management (stores application relevant data in the registry and so forth)
For those to lazy to read through the documents, here a short summary (for the designed for WinXP logo):
1. The software does run on Windows (I'm not kidding).
2. It does not kill your OS, or your data (at least not as a "primary function")
3. Any kernel mode drivers must pass a compatibility testing (e.g. not cause blue screens)
4. Any device drivers must pass the HCT (Hardware Compatibily Test)
5. Perform Windows version checking
6. Support Fast User Switching and Remote Desktop
7. Support Multi-Tasking and not prevent Multi-Tasking
8. Use proper mechanism to add/replace dlls
9. Allow migration to newer versions of Windows
10. Doesn't replace other dlls with older versions
11. Do not require a reboot inappropriately (only required when installing a Windows Service Pack or a GINA)
12. Install in the proper folder by default
13. Install any file that is not fit for side-by-side execution in proper locations
14. Support "Add / Remove Programs" controll panel
15. Support Single User / Multi User installs
16. Support Autorun on DVDs or CDs
17. Store configuration data in the registry and user created data in a proper location
18. Support running with limited credentials (do not require admin privileges unneccessarily)
19. Handle missing rights gracefully (don't crash)
Personally I prefer just going to one of the DVD firmware and utilities site, like The Firmware Page, and looking up which models of DVD drives can be painlessly modified to be region-free. I did this when I decided to upgrade to a new DVD drive; I bought a LiteOn LTR-163D 16X dvd drive with RPC-2, ran a DOS RPC-1 utility which safely disables RPC-2 without reflashing the drive, and everything works.
You don't really have to do this: as someone posted above, if you use a libdvdcss-based player, you can set the DVDCSS_METHOD environment variable to "title" and libdvdcss will usually be able to read the disc anyway. This isn't guaranteed to work, however, so I decided to disable RPC altogether in the drive.
In any case, with a little research you can do all of this for free, which beats giving money to some company that's profiting off of an already bad system.
The DMCA doesn't say anything about region coding. It would be up to the court to decide whether it is a mechanism to protect the rights of a copyright holder.
It's kind of vague on whether it applies to mechanisms that prohibit use that is legitimately granted under fair use. It's quite likely that the court would decide that the law only applies to technological measures that prevent illegal use. In the case of DeCSS, the MPAA did actually make the case that it can be used for illegal purposes.
I seem to recall that MPlayer uses software for decryption and is unaffected by region coding. At least, there have been one or two mail threads on the mailing list from people commenting that they haven't had to change the region on their drives but mplayer plays disks from other regions anyway, and wondering how it accomplishes it...
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
I've been very impressed with the Yamakawa 218, one of the lowest-priced players around. I paid US$79 at Fry's. Reads DVD, VCD, SVCD, miniDVD, MP3 on CD, and CD audio disks. (Very few standalone DVD players will play miniDVD, which is about 15 minutes of DVD format on CD media. This one will. I authored a miniDVD, with Premiere and DVDit, and it played fine, menus and all. Convenient for demo reels and previewing work.) Converts NTSC to PAL and vice versa. All the usual stuff: 5-channel audio, S-video, digital out, etc. Press Setup/Mute/Stop/Zoom for "all regions".
It's not the production house, or the DVD manufacturers that you are stealing from, but from your local movie houses that are denied the oportunity to have first showings of the film.
Saying this, I do however agree that region locking is not the way to do it... I have bought films like "Tron" that are RPC1 (I am in RPC2) even though this film is ancient. (Disney maintains the right to re-release it on cinema or something? Pha!)
For instance, there is the problem that some of my favorite movies are plainly just not available locally! What to do? Do I import the from amazon.co.uk rather at about 2 times the price of the already ludicrously high $ rate?
It's no win for me otherwise... thank god for non region-locked DVD players!
RPC coding was the biggest reason for me to rip to DivX initially, so that I would be ensured to be able to play my movies with future DVD players.
My 2 cents.
Me.
I remember a while ago, someone mentioning that the Linux libdvdcss implementations have three modes.
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The first two are "normal" and require the hardware to cooperate.
The last mode brute-forces the key by using a known-plaintext attack - Most DVDs start with a small amount of black screen, which encodes predictably with MPEG2. From this, it's possible to bruteforce the key. (I could be wrong about the basic details, it's something I remember from a
In short, any Linux player capable of playing encrypted DVDs should have no problem with region coding. It might take a bit longer if your drive doesn't cooperate, but you should be able to play the discs.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Save your wallet and use DVD Genie instead.