Regional DVD's need unlocking

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changeman

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Regional DVD\'s need unlocking

Have just come across a service in Ebay that unlocks regional DVDs. Is this a problem?

It states.

Is your DVD locked to a specific Region?
REGION 1 --- USA - Canada - North America

REGION 2 --- Europe including U.K. - Japan -South Africa - Middle East & Greenland

REGION 3 --- South Korea - Taiwan, Hong Kong & Parts of South East Asia

REGION 4 --- Australia - New Zealand - Latin America

REGION 5 --- Eastern Europe - Russia - India - Africa

REGION 6 --- China
Most DVD players are locked to one Region only.
This means you can't play DVDs from other Regions.
3 reasons why you would want an ALL region DVD player to play DVDs from other Regions?
1. Watch films released in U.S.A. sometimes months before they hit U.K. cinemas.
Example "Seed of Chucky aka Childs Play 5"
Region 1 (U.S.A.) DVD release date 13th May. Not in U.K. cinemas until May. Region 2 (U.K.) DVD release date 24th October 2005!
2. Save £'s - $'s - €'s on 'normal' UK prices.
3. Be able to buy any DVD whilst on holiday anywhere in the world and it will play on your DVD.
 
Re: Regional DVD\'s need unlocking

Not so much of a problem as it used to be for stand alone DVDs as most of them these days are multi-regional.

Still very much a problem for use on a PC as the DVD drives are set up so that they will allow up to 5 region changes and then are frozen on the 5th region selected. - This can sometimes be overcome by use of software to to reset the bios of the dvd drive - but that operation can sometimes wreck the dvd drive, and some drives do not have a software hack. I believe that there are software solutions for this now but dont personally know what they are (hopefully somebody will post the best solution).

I buy most of my DVDs from Canada (region 1) and also have some from UK (region 2) so multi-region is essential.
 
Re: Regional DVD\'s need unlocking

Hack sites are available (search on google) but make sure that your virus and spyware checkers are up to date. These sites are full of nasties which I have learned through bitter experience. On the positive side the hack worked perfectly on my computer DVD
David
 
Re: Regional DVD\'s need unlocking

As far as just playing a region 1 disk in a region 2 player I use DVDIdlePro which I bought for about $30 dollars some years ago. It works without any hardware hacks or changes and lets me play any region dvd in my notebook.

A better solution now maybe is DVD Shrink (Do a Google search on DVD Shrink - there is an official site)
This great free software lets you make a copy of any region protected DVD and remove the region encryption entirely.
Not only that, but it will allow you to copy multi layer DVD's onto a single layer dvd by removing unwanted 'extras', foreign language tracks, trailers etc and then deresolving the film quality to fit. If you wanted you could make 'back up' copies of your home dvd's for when you are on-board.
 
Re: Regional DVD\'s need unlocking

I got fed up trying to buy DVDIdle while I was in Canada with my European PC. I found another piece of software for free download - called REMSELEC. Works fine with my Intervideo WinDVD software.

This region stuff is a real rip-off - you have paid for the DVD, so why can't you use it where you like. Its not like you had stolen the DVD, or illegally copied it.
 
Re: Regional DVD\'s need unlocking

[ QUOTE ]
A better solution now maybe is DVD Shrink

[/ QUOTE ]

Good product, I use it for backups of my home DVD's for use on the boat. I would add that it only works if you have Nero already in place because it needs it for burning. The two programs work seamlessly together.
David
 
Re: Regional DVD\'s need unlocking

Hi David,

As you probably know, DVD shrink will work with any DVD burning SW, though not, as with Nero, directly. Without Nero, it is saved to the HD, from where the burning SW records it to the blank dvd disc.

For example, I use Easy Media Creator 7 to burn the DVD after using DVD Shrink, and it works perfectly.

Jerry
 
Re: Regional DVD\'s need unlocking

[ QUOTE ]
As you probably know, DVD shrink will work with any DVD burning SW

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi Jerry, Actually I wasn't aware of this so I'm pleased that you pointed it out. Now that I think of it once it's on the hard drive any burning software should be able to pick it up. It's that with Nero you are not aware of this intermediate stage.
thanks
David
 
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