DVD Region locking

[MithosK]

I'm considering buying a Nightwish DVD, which are PAL only, so I was wondering if DVD Read/Writers are region locked or not.

[Con]

http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-techno.gif

what's that mean? :x

[k4is3rxkh40s]

Depends, on computers you can probably find a way to force it, and with a playstation, some Action Replay/Gamesharks have things in them to get them running, too

[Phopojijo]

Taking off the region encoding is easy and can be found by the "usual programs"... the PAL->NTSC conversion is the crappy part though.


DVD-Drives aren't hardware locked (unlike what the companies tend to make you believe)

Considering I'm assuming you're not violating any local laws involving DMCA or whatever and you're legally allowed to purchase and view the video...

http://www.jakeludington.com/dvd_hacks/20061125_convert_pal_dvd_for_pc_playback.html

If a moderator disagrees -- feel free to delete. This is legal to my knowledge though (since I never actually mentioned how to break the copy protection/region locking, and thus never violated the DMCA)

[MithosK]

Taking off the region encoding is easy and can be found by the "usual programs"... the PAL->NTSC conversion is the crappy part though.


DVD-Drives aren't hardware locked (unlike what the companies tend to make you believe)

Considering I'm assuming you're not violating any local laws involving DMCA or whatever and you're legally allowed to purchase and view the video...

http://www.jakeludington.com/dvd_hacks/20061125_convert_pal_dvd_for_pc_playback.html

If a moderator disagrees -- feel free to delete. This is legal to my knowledge though (since I never actually mentioned how to break the copy protection/region locking, and thus never violated the DMCA)
Yes, thank you, If my computer cant play it, I'll due that, and yes, I'm purchasing the DVD from the official site.

[nooBBooze]

Or you could try dvd region + css free - should be freeware and does a good job.

[Reaper Man]

DVD X player, gosh.

[Limited]

Not sure about pc's, but alot of dvd players have secret menus which allow you to change the viewable region :)

[Mr Buckshot]

PC DVD drives don't have region locks - that's the hard drive. At least that's what I know from the computers I own(ed). Not sure if others are not like that.

Just get a different media player and you're good to go.

[Phopojijo]

PC DVD drives don't have region locks - that's the hard drive. At least that's what I know from the computers I own(ed). Not sure if others are not like that.

Just get a different media player and you're good to go.When you lock your DVD drive to a region in WMP or similar program, you write to the firmware of the DVD drive.

That being said, if you don't use a program that checks for region encoding... like the freeware copiers o.o

The major problem is its PAL format.

[Cortexian]

DVDShrink will let you backup, reauthor, and change the region to region free (will play almost any were). As long as your not trying it with copyright protected media. But again, the "usual programs" are there if your trying to change the region on copyright protected media.

I think this is illegal though, so don't try it until you check >.<

[Phopojijo]

Anything that circumvents copy protection is illegal in the United States according to the DMCA. This includes the "shift" key.

That is only half the problem

The other half of the problem is trying to convert it from 720x576 25FPS to 720x480 29.97 FPS. To do that you need to convert it from MPEG 2 -> AVI, edit the AVI, then return it back to MPEG 2. That gets more than just slightly annoying.

If it was *just* removing the DVD Region then this thread would only be 2-3 posts long.