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Regionless DVD Players for Mac OS X?

Posted by Cliff on from the bypassing-lame-limitations dept.

spooje would like to get to the core of the following issue: "Since a new Rochester DVD only store, Global DVD, just opened up with a large Asian section I decided to rent several. When I got home and popped one in my Mac (Sawtooth G4 running Mac OS X 10.2) it brought up a dialog box telling me the DVD was region 3. I could switch to region 3 mode, but I could only do this 4 more times. Since my DVD-RAM drive is supposed to be all region does anyone know of a workaround or patch for the Apple DVD player, or maybe even another DVD player for Mac OS X?" If this question sounds familiar, then it might be because, last week, Ask Slashdot ran a similar article, which focused on a Windows utility which did this.

15 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. VideoLAN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    VideoLAN Client

    http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

    1. Re:Videolan by Matthias+Wiesmann · · Score: 3, Informative

      I tried it on a Powerbook 667. It works - menu navigation is kind of weird, but no fuss about regions.

    2. Re:VideoLAN by troc · · Score: 3, Informative

      Assuming you are using OS X and their latest dvd player, then just delete your preferences file and the count of 5 is reset :) I discovered this when I was messing around with accounts and had used all 5 changes on my own account so I was stuck in region 1 there. I switched to anotehr account only to find that account was at region 2 (default for europe) and had 4 changes left.....
      Initially I though I'd need a region 1 account, region 2 account and so on but then discovered the vastly more simple deletion technique ;)

      For OS 9 you need to obtain a patch for Apple's dvd player (2.7)- they are fairly easy to locate on the 'net :)

      --
      Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
  2. Videolan by MrHanky · · Score: 5, Informative

    Haven't tried it for OSX (haven't tried OSX at all), but Videolan seems to support OSX. AFAIK, libdvdcss doesn't care about region encoding, so any other player using that on OSX should work too.

  3. try Region X. by nuckin+futs · · Score: 5, Informative

    there's a bunch of utilities here
    you can also try vlc as a last resort.

  4. A quick Google search.... by Analog+Penguin · · Score: 2, Informative

    Region X lets you change the region code, and here is a collection of region-free firmware, as well as another link to Region X.

    1. Re:A quick Google search.... by Daytona955i · · Score: 2, Informative

      I can comment on both vlc and RegionX.

      I got vlc a while ago and they required that I change my display colors to thousands of colors instead of millions. I don't know if it's still a bug or not but that worked. That said...

      I also saw an article somewhere a while ago (don't know where exactly) that talked about flashing my tiBooks firmware to make it regionless... I was a little concerned about the validity of the firmware but it worked like a charm.

      I did all this on my powerbook G4 667 with the dvd player. Your mileage may vary.

      http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/ is where I got the stuff.
      -Chris

  5. A seemingly nice resource for this by denisb · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Mac DVD Resource seems to be what you are looking for ?
    Patches, info etc..

    --
    life+universe+everything=42
  6. Just get VLC by backlonthethird · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.videolan.org/vlc/macosx.html

    It just ignores them. Oh, and no macrovision, either. :)

  7. here's how to do it by hype7 · · Score: 5, Informative

    get a patch for your drive, then get Region X; warning, direct download link to control the number of region changes you have left.

    Works flawlessly for me, but usual disclaimers about fscking your dvd drive with a 3rd party mod apply.

    -- james

  8. Large asian section? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    What is this place, a porn shop?

    Anyway, just do a firmware update. About 95% of the drives up there can be fixed so as to be either regionless or have a resettable region change counter.

    See here.

  9. I don't know by Apreche · · Score: 4, Informative

    much about Macs. However, I do know about changing regions on DVD drives. Inside most DVD Rom drives are these physical switch type things, and they are limited in number. Everytime you change the region one of them breaks. If they are all broken your drive is done for. The way to beat this is to change the region on the drive to region 0. This way it can play 99% of all the DVDs out there without changing every single time.

    I also reccomend getting an Apex DVD player. Apex is this crappy brand name that makes legitimate dvd players you can buy in wal-mart for like 60 bucks. They are pieces of crap, shoddy workmanship, cheap plastic, etc. But they're DVD players for 60 bucks. Anyway many of the Apex DVD players have secret menus you can get by pressing secret key combinations on the remote control. You can find out which models and which key combinations with google. These secret menus are not advertised nor in the instruction manual, so apex doesn't get sued. But the menu pretty much lets you change region at will as many times as you want, as well as convert NTSC and PAL. It's pretty amazing for 60 bucks. And heck DVD on a big TV screen beats DVD on a little computer monitor any day.

    --
    The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
    1. Re:I don't know by your_mother_sews_soc · · Score: 2, Informative

      Sitting inches in front of my Apple's 15" LCD provided what I thought was the best DVD viewing experience. Alone. It's amazing how fast your family runs away after falling off the edge of the chair three or four times.

      Since I went and bought an Apex DVD after reading slashdot a few months ago, my entire family can all watch DVDs on our TV in comfort. I have to say that the Apex (3102, I think), although inexpensive, doesn't seem cheap in any way whatsoever. The image quality is fantastic, and what I once attributed to the LCD display is actually the fidelity and dynamic range of the DVD itself. Watching "Toy Story 2" on a Sharp TV and the Apex delivers as vivid a gamut as on the Mac/LCD. I think it's great there are solutions for OS X, especially for people who like to travel (and have laptops). But for home watching, buy an Apex at Sears, Wal-Mart, wherever. You will baby it and want to buy another just in case..

      --
      My user name was a mistake. Input wasn't restricted, my bad.
  10. Try this... by djupedal · · Score: 5, Informative

    Until someone writes a script to do this, you may want to take a look at this normally hidden file:

    /etc/authorization

    (I use BBEdit...'Open Hidden Files'. I haven't tried changing this yet...I hack the hardware instead):

    Starts at line 63...

    <!-- Used by the dvd player to set the regioncode the first time
    Note that changed the region code after it has been set requires a
    different right (system.device.dvd.setregion.change)
    Credentials remain valid indefinitely after they've been obtained.
    An acquired credential is shared amongst all clients.
    -->
    <key>system.device.dvd.setregion.initial</key>
    &n bsp; <dict>
    <key>group</key>
    <string>admin</string>
    <key>shared</key>
    <true/>
    </dict>

    =======
    I posted this on MacInTouch back in September. I recommend using that site over /. for these types of questions :) Let me know if you can't take the not-so-subtle hint on how to mod the code...

  11. DVD Patch by NickeSvensk · · Score: 4, Informative

    Go to http://perso.club-internet.fr/farzeno/firmware/ They have firmware patches for almost every DVD. I patched my Powerbook G4 with a patch from them. Now I play DVD's from all over the world. Great when I travel between europe and the states. Good Luch with your patching. Niclas