HT201705: DVD Player: About DVD-Video regions

Learn about DVD Player: About DVD-Video regions
MeMiri

Q: Why can it not be used permanently to allow changes depending on the DVD played?

Apple information indicates that the Apple Computer and DVD player will allow you to choose the Region depending on the DVD, however, after the 5th DVD is inserted whatever Region it is for is what the Player sets permanently even if you switch DVDs for various Regions.  Why is this necessary, why can we not purchase DVDs from different countries and play them on any computer at any time?  There are many great DVDs that are not available in Region1 Code,  There are sellers who take advantage of this by selling 1 converted copy for 10 times the value of the DVD.  Lets not allow HiWay robbery because our computers are behind the times.  Obviously it is possible to play other region DVDs because the knowledge is out there.

Posted on Jan 8, 2016 1:07 AM

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Q: Why can it not be used permanently to allow changes depending on the DVD played?

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  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Jan 8, 2016 1:23 AM in response to MeMiri
    Level 9 (78,198 points)
    iTunes
    Jan 8, 2016 1:23 AM in response to MeMiri

    MeMiri wrote:

     

    ...after the 5th DVD is inserted whatever Region it is for is what the Player sets permanently...

    Not quite - the 5th change is permanent (perhaps that's what you meant). Between changes you can play as many DVDs as you like for that region. I agree it's frustrating, but apparently it's a condition imposed on Apple by the film companies who wish to tightly control the timing of release of films in different regions. of course when, as you say, some films - particularly older ones - are never released in a particular region it becomes annoying.

  • by dbertuca,

    dbertuca dbertuca Jun 17, 2016 7:37 PM in response to MeMiri
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 17, 2016 7:37 PM in response to MeMiri

    OK but what happens when you only changed regions once?

     

    i only changed the region once and now i can't change back. how can i fix this? i've played region 1 for years and the one time i play a region 2 disc, should not stop me from returning to the region 1 setting. now my drive won't let me go back to Region 1 setting.

     

    I get an error message # 70001.

     

    Does anyone have a solution?

  • by Revup,

    Revup Revup Sep 19, 2016 6:53 AM in response to MeMiri
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 19, 2016 6:53 AM in response to MeMiri

    Basically do not use a player that enforces this protectionist rule. Use VLC or similar. Go to system preferences>CDs & DVDs and change the default program to open for a DVD and you are good to go.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Sep 19, 2016 7:23 AM in response to Revup
    Level 5 (6,197 points)
    Mac App Store
    Sep 19, 2016 7:23 AM in response to Revup

    Not quite…

    Does VLC support DVDs from all regions?

    This mostly depends on your DVD drive.

    Testing it is usually the quickest way to find out. The problem is that a lot of newer drives are RPC2 drives these days. Some of these drives don't allow raw access to the drive untill the drive firmware has done a regioncheck. VLC uses libdvdcss and it needs raw access to the DVD drive to crack the encryption key. So with those drives it is impossible to circumvent the region protection.

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Sep 19, 2016 7:23 AM in response to MeMiri
    Level 6 (9,309 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Sep 19, 2016 7:23 AM in response to MeMiri

    DVDs and DVD region Protection, Blu-Ray region protection and Games region protection are all from big media companies. Big Media companies seem to be run by some of the most technically illiterate people in the world. Unfortunately they have the backing of Politicians and lots and lots of lawyers.

     

    The most legal and elegant solution is to have two different DVD drives each of which has a prominent sticker on it. You would set one to Region 1, and set the other to whatever the other region you use is. A USB DVD drive is very cheap these days and very light. Since effectively all current Macs no longer have built-in DVD drives you need to buy at least one USB drive anyway.

     

    Note: Apple might encourage you to instead buy your movies from the iTunes Store. Unfortunately the movies on the iTunes Store are still controlled by the same moronic media firms meaning not all titles are available in all iTunes Store countries. Even in Europe which has a law defining a single market regarding sales, the media firms blatantly and illegally prevent customers using the iTunes Store from another European country, and also restrict some titles from some European countries. (All illegally, however their European politician friends have failed to do anything about this.)

     

    I cannot think of another industry which goes out of its way to actually prevent (potential) customers from legally buying their products. They are completely nuts, you even get the bizarre situation of Sony Motion Pictures using DVD Region Protection, and Sony Electronics selling home entertainment DVD player devices with 'multi-region support'.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Sep 19, 2016 7:34 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 5 (6,197 points)
    Mac App Store
    Sep 19, 2016 7:34 AM in response to John Lockwood

    This is mostly incorrect. Region protection was set up by various government agencies and still is. It should be obvious that "Big Media" companies would prefer to sell to every country they possibly can.

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Sep 19, 2016 7:39 AM in response to dialabrain
    Level 6 (9,309 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Sep 19, 2016 7:39 AM in response to dialabrain

    dialabrain wrote:

     

    This is mostly incorrect. Region protection was set up by various government agencies and still is. It should be obvious that "Big Media" companies would prefer to sell to every country they possibly can.

    I refer you to my comment 'they have the backing of Politicians'. It was clearly done at the behest of the media companies. If media firms are run by morons and technical illiterates, you can imagine what that says about politicians.

     

    If media firms really did want to sell to every country they can then they could make every title Region 0 and legally solve the problem overnight.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Sep 19, 2016 7:58 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 5 (6,197 points)
    Mac App Store
    Sep 19, 2016 7:58 AM in response to John Lockwood

    John Lockwood wrote:

    If media firms really did want to sell to every country they can then they could make every title Region 0 and legally solve the problem overnight.

    If it was that simple, they would.