Code questions

jenny2blue4mina · Post by **jenny2blue4mina** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:29 am

I see it in many forums....those coding problems you have when you buy imported DVD's....here's my question....if I would by a DVD abroad thats not all region coded, would I be able to play the DVD on my laptop (its Windows XP Pro 2004 edition) until I get a compatible DVD player? I'm sure it would but I want to be sure before I go ahead and buy the DVD's...

Org Profile · Post by **LantisEscudo** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:15 am

Most DVD drives (not standalone players) will allow you to change the Region Code of the drive four or five times, with the code selected after the last change being locked.

So if you start with a R1 drive with five changes left, and change to R3, R2, R1, R2, R3 in that order, your drive will be locked on R3 after the last change. However, if you start with the same R1 drive and change it R3, R2, R1, R3, R1, it will be locked to R1 after the last change.

The Region Code persists until you change it again, so if you change to R2, it will read R2 disks until you change it again, no matter if it's ten minutes or a year later.

Note that in most cases on Windows, you can still rip a disk from another region and use it as AMV source footage without changing the region code, you just can't watch the actual disk in whatever player software you use without changing the region. I know that this is not true of Macs with the Matsushita UJ-825 drives, and may be a problem with some Windows laptop drives.

jenny2blue4mina · Post by **jenny2blue4mina** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 1:50 am

Thanks for the info...so does anyone know where I can get a unversal DVD player that plays all region codes or does it not exist?

Org Profile · Post by **LantisEscudo** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:50 am

Quite a few exist, and many more can be modified to be Region Free. Currently, I have two DVD drives in my computer, both of them Region Free. One of them came that way, the other I had to flash the firmware.

One of the best places to learn about Region Codes and how to modify your drive to be Region Free is here.

Kalium · Post by **Kalium** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:08 am

jenny2blue4mina wrote:Thanks for the info...so does anyone know where I can get a unversal DVD player that plays all region codes or does it not exist?

Ironically, you should be able to buy one from Geneon...

jenny2blue4mina · Post by **jenny2blue4mina** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:32 am

Can you send me the link to Geneon?

Kalium · Post by **Kalium** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:41 am

Actually, just try looking here: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/

jenny2blue4mina · Post by **jenny2blue4mina** » Fri May 06, 2005 3:22 am

Thanks for the links I'll keep you posted on what works in the end....(for future people who may have this problem again!