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how to change dvd player region code more than five times

I have been watching some Region 2 dvds and have been switching back and forth between Region 1 and Region 2 without knowing that I could only do this 5 times. Now when I put in a US dvd, it says that I cannot change the region. Does anyone know a workaround to allow changing of regions more than 5 times?

Posted on Feb 12, 2012 11:24 AM

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62 replies

Aug 13, 2012 1:41 PM in response to Kurt Lang

There are also licensing and contract difference among the various distribution entities, just as there are with the iTunes Store, who all want the sales for in their part of the world rather than people buying from wherever they want (i.e. the European distributors don't want people or resellers buying the DVD from the US, since it's then the US distributors who get paid). They can't stop such cross-region purchases completely, but they sure do try to put a limit on it.

As to the region lock, part if not all of the reason Apple still has it when you can buy drives on the open market without the region lock is the the licensing of the code for DVD Player demands the region lock as part of the licensing agreement. So unless Apple stops providing a DVD player application, they by contract have to incorporate the region lock.


Regards.

Aug 25, 2012 4:24 PM in response to Deb 2

Region encoding is the mechanism that enables motion picture studios to control the worldwide release of their movies. It is required by the DVD Forum (http://www.dvdforum.org/forum.shtml) in all commercial hardware DVD players. Every DVD-Video disc contains one byte of data representing a region code, which limits where the disc can be played.


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2397

Aug 25, 2012 7:12 PM in response to Klaus1

Thanks Klaus. But I guess my question was more hypothetical and maybe its really for the DVD forum.


If I can legally go out and buy an all-region DVD player for my TV for as little as $30-40 or so on Amazon ....why isn't there an all region player for my Mac?


Steve Jobs was not shy about taking on the record companies when it came to music CDs. It's inconsistent. I'm not advocating piracy of DVDs, not trying to rip anyone off. I would like to legitimately buy a European region DVD (which I can do) and play it on my computer (which I can not)--the movie studios will get as much money as they would have. It's a global market. And heck, I would even buy an all-region computer player if it was offered.


I understand Apple's problem but someone should take this up. If ITunes had everything . . . . I would buy it there.

Aug 27, 2012 7:29 AM in response to Deb 2

Because the owners if the DVD technology refuse to license computers for DVD playback without the computer including the region lock. It's that simple. CDs were not protected by any such system of patents owned by the record companies; anyone could create a CD player without needing licensing from the record companies.


So there's nothing Apple can do unless and until the movie studios get their heads out and drop this absurd system. And given Apple's push for world-wide digital downloads, I doubt they have a lot of incentive to try and bang heads with the movie studios on the issue.


There's nothing else we can say on the subject.


Regards.

Dec 18, 2012 7:25 AM in response to varjak paw

Unfortunately Apple does not allow me to post my solution although I think it is perfectly legal.


I think that region thing is silly. I moved from Europe to the US and have now DVDs with different regions. At the same time, I can still buy Movies in both iTunes stores, the European one and the US one (with different Apple IDs). I can also play a movie I bought in the US iTunes Store on my European laptop, wherever I am on the planet. All legal. Silly. Totally useless and just producing inefficiencies.

how to change dvd player region code more than five times

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