So by far the most popular post on this blog over the last 2 years was my post on region free DVD on my MacBook Pro. In total it has been viewed 109,000 times and has 182 comments which is impressive considering that the blog as a whole has only had 314,000 hits!
What is ridiculous about the situation is that we are in the same position today as we were two years ago so I thought I would post a summary on where things are right now from the comments on that post and my experiences with my Mac’s.
MacBook Pro (Manufactured Feb 2006)
This is my original machine that the post was made about and so naturally it has the same old problems as before and nothing really works for off-region discs. The region is set to R2 and that is all it will play, R1 discs will not play in DVD player or VLC and Handbrake can not rip them.
Mac Mini (Manufactured Jan 2008)
This is pretty much a brand new machine and it has exactly the same problem as the MacBook Pro from 2 years ago. I set the firmware region to R2 when I bought it and that is all it will deal with. No exceptions.
Aluminium iMac (Manufactured Mid 2007)
This is where the story gets a little more positive! I have the firmware region set to R2 and so obviously it plays R2 discs through DVD player without any issues. R1 discs fail in DVD player but play just fine in VLC. I am also able to rip any region of DVD using the latest handbrake. I am going to put this down to the iMac using an “OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5630A” drive over the “MATSHITACD-RW CW-8124″ in the Mac Mini and MacBook Pro.
There is talk in the comments of the previous post of a solution to this being to never set the region code of the drive, apparently this allows VLC to play off-region discs. Unfortunately as all of my drives have a region set in firmware I am unable to test this. However it is unclear from the comments if this actually applies to the Mac Mini and MacBook machines as the only confirmation of it working comes from an iMac which as we can see from my tests above is not plagued by these problems due to the Optiarc drive.
If anyone can confirm that this method works on the Matshita drives in the MacBook or Mac Mini, please let us know in the comments.
25 responses so far ↓
Andrew // February 24, 2008 at 2:10 am
Thank you for both postings. I commented on the previous one to explain why all the work-arounds that people proposed would not work for the Matshita drives in the MacBook Pro. Since then I am glad to say that a solution has been found by a certain ben11 who managed to crack the encryption. I have successfully followed his procedure for a MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857D Revision: KCVB. I have tested it out and it seems to work fine. I am still a little nervous about whether FrontRow and the Apple DVD Player are still going to cause problems as they apparently ignore the fact that the drive is now region-free and will insist that you can still only change it five times. I understand that you can deal with this via an appropriate build of Region X (http://xvi.rpc1.org/) which allows you to reset that number after you change region (as long a your drive is region-free). Please note: you follow these approaches at your own risk , and you will probably be voiding your warranty for the DVD drive.
This page is fairly comprehensive and appears to be updated fairly regularly: http://www.powerbook-fr.com/dossiers/dvd_region_free_en_article30.html
More information: Search on http://forum.rpc1.org (appears to be down at present).
PS Can I suggest that you also add a correction to your original posting at the top (rather than just in a comment at the end), because it still appears quite high up in searches and not all users may think to read to the end. Perhaps just add a link to this revised posting at the top.
Region free DVD on MacBook Pro - All you need is a Windows XP machine! « My Journey to Macintosh // February 25, 2008 at 2:49 pm
[...] April 21, 2006 · 184 Comments This article is out of date but I have posted an updated summary so please continue the conversation over here. [...]
macnewbie // February 25, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Thanks for the feedback Andrew, I have posted back to the new post from the original post.
mark // March 9, 2008 at 10:17 am
Just bought a macbook pro and am still in shock at the region code nonsense. Thanks for your blog - will keep reading before I’m forced to try the firmware alteration!
Pageturners // March 10, 2008 at 10:24 am
The idea - voiced by various posters in the original page - that Apple is a helpless victim of the brutal DVD drive manufacturers is nonsense.
Apple must be the biggest customer for its component manufacturers. It’s the one that calls the tune. This is Apple’s decision.
I’ll probably just buy a region-free external DVD drive that can play DVDs from different regions, but I resent Apple for making me have to do so and clutter my desk with more machinery.
At a Loss // March 11, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I also have a macbook pro purchased in 2006 and today have uploaded vlc foolishly thinking this was the solution to all my region specific woes. Have not had to worry about this until now due to the fact that all DVD’s I’ve had are region 2 is as my drive setting. What an utterly ridiculous situation that apple are happily perpetuating. Looks like I’m also going to have to get that external drive in order to play other region DVD’s. Come on apple I thought that you if any company would rise above such pathetic machinations that cause your loyal users so much pure headache.
At a Loss // March 11, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Come on Apple sort it out, I never believed that you would cause your loyal users so much pure headache as that which I discovered today when trying to play a different region DVD on my Macbook Pro. What a joke.
alex // March 12, 2008 at 12:19 am
i just spent about an hour and a half reading all of these posts from 2006 up till now. why in the hell is there no sure fire way of making these stupid matshita drives multi regional. bastards at mac are making a fortune, how much could they possibly loose from having multi region dvd players in the god damn computers….wankers
Jules // March 12, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Hey, came her looking for a solution for a friend of mine.
I can confirm that I never set the region code on my PowerBook’s Matshita CW-8123, and am indeed able to play all region codes with VLC.
At a Loss // March 13, 2008 at 12:26 am
Good for you Jules. Sadly however many of us remain bogged down in the fixed region quagmire, ie macbook pro users.
Apple, are you just going to remain motionless on the sidelines and watch your former friends slowly sinking into this slough of despond?
andrew // March 25, 2008 at 12:49 am
I have now been using my flashed Matshita DVD drive in my MBP for a while, and I find I can change region with RegionX and then play any region DVD that I want to using either FrontRow or the player (see my comment at top for more details). If I use VLC, then I don’t have to bother with “officially” changing region using RegionX.
I agree with a previous comment that Apple knew what they were doing when they chose to use Matshita drives. Shame on you Apple! All my DVDs were bought legally when I lived at different times in Europe, the US and Asia, and I don’t see why my computer should be crippled in this way.
Anyway, at least there is now a solution for many Matshita drives. I am puzzled why comments above this appear to have missed my previous comment, but perhaps they have drives that are not covered by this fix.
Benji // March 25, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Being not such a computer buff, I had hoped to avoid the work-around methods I found described around the Internet by “simply” buying an external DVD player. When the first one didn’t work and I was instructed to get a LaCie I then realised that my LaCie was a similarly handicapped piece of equipment as my Mac…
Can ANYONE help me make the LaCie region-free?????
Perplexed // April 4, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I don’t understand why everyone is having so many problems with this. (of course I’ve only used region 1 and 2 discs, so I don’t know what would happen with media with other encodings).
When using VLC on the new (I have a late 2007 MacBook Pro, and an upgraded PowerBook G4 Ti) MacBook Pro I have not encountered any problems with region restricted playback.
Additionally, because I purchased a €69 Lite-On external DVD recorder, I have found that there seem to be no problems with any programme (read as: VLC, or FrontRow (apple dvd player)) playing DVDs via the external player. There are a few region 1 discs I have to monkey with to get to play in Front Row. For those few I must create an alias of the DVD in the Movies folder in order for them to play in Front Row (I still haven’t figured out why this is).
Generally I don’t use the internal optical drive on any notebook I own unless I’m on the road with it
Amused // April 7, 2008 at 5:53 pm
First off, I’d like to thank the blog’s author and excuse for my poor english. I recently purchased a Mac Book Pro, and found inside this beautiful MatSHITa uj-867 which I finally blocked on zone 1, since my best wish is to leave this unfortunate country struggling for reforms that will never come, France (zone 2). Despite what “perplexed” has written, going external is not an obvious thing to do. If I wanted to go external, I’d have bought an iMac, not a laptop. Obviously, we don’t want to have a lot of equipment laying around our desktop ; obviously giving away 69 euros is a commercial failure. I’ve sold all of of my DVDs zone 2, which are american movies after all, and decided that I will never - never - never - ever - buy a zone 2 dvd. And also, will not respect this most stupid invention ever produced by a herd of bozoheads from the movie industry, by going aMule, all the way. Fekk ‘em !!!
Amused // April 8, 2008 at 6:28 am
P.S. In case you don’t know what to do exactly : 1) choose a definite zone for your player ; 2) see if the other DVDs you own can be played with VLC (last version - check it) - certain can ; 2) you’re left with a pile of useless DVDs : my advice is go to a friend’s PC, copy them using DVDshrink (free), then sell the originals ; this way you still keep those movies and you can read them ; 3) tell your friends and family never to offer anything but zone X (the one you’ve chosen) DVDs.
dude // April 21, 2008 at 6:28 pm
anyone know if you can rip a Region 2 DVD on a MacBook set to Region 1 by using HandBrake?
i’m going to try it.
dude // April 21, 2008 at 9:20 pm
handbrake can’t read it, thinks the blocks are dead
Mark // April 29, 2008 at 11:46 am
Hi
I’m looking for Firmware or Software that will allow my DVD player to be Region Free. I have the MATSHITA UJ 85 J , and using Vista on my Mac.
PLEASE HELP !
Thanks
Mark
At a Loss // May 7, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Andrew,
I’m posting this in response to your latest post from the 25th of March where you say:
“Anyway, at least there is now a solution for many Matshita drives. I am puzzled why comments above this appear to have missed my previous comment…”
Firstly thanks for referencing to the Ben11 fix which I agree seems to be the biggest breakthrough so far. However please correct me if I’m wrong but I get the impression that the simple act of even ATTEMPTING this fix can lead to ones macbook’s optic drive becoming as useful as a chocolate teapot.
This is a warning that you make yourself in your post February 24th where you say
“Please note: you follow these approaches at your own risk , and you will probably be voiding your warranty for the DVD drive.”
This point is made somewhat more succinctly in other pages citing Ben11 as is the case in the blog FlashGen -
“IF YOU DO THIS, YOU RUN THE RISK OF PERMANENTLY DAMAGING YOUR DVD HARDWARE. TO THE POINT THAT IT WILL NO LONGER WORK. APPLE WILL NOT COVER IT UNDER WARRANTY AND IT WILL COST A LOT TO REPLACE.”
http://blog.flashgen.com/2007/10/11/make-your-macbook-pro-region-free/
It seems to me that if we do follow Ben11’s fix than we are inadvertently entering into a game of Russian roulette and one which will not necessarily leave us all sitting round the table with big smiles on our faces by the end.
bandicoot // May 28, 2008 at 10:21 am
i’ve just bought a macbook and was as shocked and incredulous as everbody else to find that my dodgy old PC is wildly more liberal when it comes to playing any old dvd from any old zone.
sheesh.
well, i pulled out an el cheapo god-knows-what-brand hard drive purchased in hong kong ealier this year and plugged it in to the mac.
voila, as they say.
i can now play zone 1 on the external and zone 4 on the mac itself.
having two is better (twice as good in fact) than being stuck with one forevah.
yes, it’s a drag and it’s a bitch.
and it still gives me an error message (just to mess with my head) before it grudgingly plays anything on either drive.
but at least it covers the two zones i use 99% of the time.
i am too chicken to run the ben11 firmware.
admittedly the extra drive is messing up the zen minimalism of my desk and it’s.just.one.more.thang.to.drag.around…..but it isn’t voiding my warranty.
imperfect….but that’s life, i guess.
Cheap Apple Products // May 28, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Thank you for this very informative post. Any idea if this issue is being addressed for the upcoming new line of Macbooks?
Jamesa // May 31, 2008 at 1:43 pm
%^&* region codes. Who thought of this tripe? I live in Sydney, Australia and the Blockbuster down the road rents multiple region DVDs.
Brilliant. Now I cannot watch the DVDs on my MacBook because they are all different regions - why do the Blockbuster rental people rent these if I supposedly live in a particular region. Mental. So annoyed. Luckily I have an old G5 iMac that already has a flashed DVD drive but this is just lame and outdated. It is why they call it a global marketplace…
Eolake // June 18, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I can use VLC Player, but is not stable. Freezes if I fast-forward.
Wikipedia has an article on regions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code
Eolake // June 18, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I can use VLC Player, but is not stable. Freezes if I fast-forward.
Wikipedia has an article on regions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code
DundeeSnowboard // July 4, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Not sure if this is answered somewhere else but my fully spec’d MBP is on it’s way next week and i’m wondering if it’s best to WinXp using BootCamp, run something like DvDAnywhere/DVDShrink to rip them to VIDEO_TS folders then burn then back as region free discs in OSX? Am i missing the point or is this possible. Just weird going to be able to run Win os’s on a mac!
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