«

Hi,

I have a toshiba Satellite which has a DVD player/burner. I recently
moved from the United States to Australia, so of course I brought a
couple of U.S DVD's with me. When I rented DVD's here, I was sometimes
(not always) asked to change the regional code . There was no warning
or any information that I could do this only a limited number of
times. So I would just click "ok" and that's it. Well, we rented a DVD
tonight and it wouldn't play, claiming that it couldn't play region 4
movies on the laptop anymore. When we checked the DVD properties, we
only then found out that we can only change the regional settings
four times and then won't be able to change them at all, even if we
reinstall Windows. My laptop is still covered by warranty, would I be
able to get technical support to fix this? I'm fuming at Toshiba right
now for not giving alerts when we did change the settings. Is there
some way to overcome these regional settings? Cheers

Do you know how to manipulate the Windows registry?

If you don't, *don't* try and do this because there is great potential for
wrecking your Windows installation by unknowledgeable poking about in the
registry, but if you feel competent at it, there may be a registry setting
that controls the count and DVD Region. Note also, if it's a work PC,
there may be disciplinary consequences through altering your PC's setup and
you may even be prevented from doing so by your firm's security settings.

But, by way of example, I used to use the following registry files to alter
my IBM Thinkpad between Regions 1 & 2 and reset the change count to 0 (your
PC would probably need something similar but different, according to your
DVD player software, etc). Note that in my case the DVD region was held in
3 different places, one encrypted. Probably your best initial approach
would be to reset the count in the registry and then change the region in
the conventional way (ICR whether a reboot would be required between the
two):

You shouldn't be fuming at Toshiba for this, you should be fuming at the
movie industry for introducing a restrictive practice whose sole purpose is
to protect regional markets from global competition and so allow the
industry to overcharge.

REGEDIT4

; Region 1 = USA, Canada
; Region 2 = Europe, Near East, South Africa, Japan
; Region 3 = SE Asia
; Region 4 = Australia, Central and S America
; Region 5 = Africa, Asia, E Europe
; Region 6 = China

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ATI Technologies\MultiMedia\Features\FPlay]
"Reg"=dword:00000002

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion]
"DVD_Region"="2"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Quadrant International, Inc.\Software
Cinemaster\0.9\Regionalization]
"Changes"=dword:00000000
"RegionCode"=dword:24534251 ; Region 2

.... and ...

REGEDIT4

; Region 1 = USA, Canada
; Region 2 = Europe, Near East, South Africa, Japan
; Region 3 = SE Asia
; Region 4 = Australia, Central and S America
; Region 5 = Africa, Asia, E Europe
; Region 6 = China

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ATI Technologies\MultiMedia\Features\FPlay]
"Reg"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion]
"DVD_Region"="1"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Quadrant International, Inc.\Software
Cinemaster\0.9\Regionalization]
"Changes"=dword:00000000
"RegionCode"=dword:43241234 ; Region 1

"Miriam Seshadri" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> Hi,
>
> I have a toshiba Satellite which has a DVD player/burner. I recently
> moved from the United States to Australia, so of course I brought a
> couple of U.S DVD's with me. When I rented DVD's here, I was sometimes
> (not always) asked to change the regional code . There was no warning
> or any information that I could do this only a limited number of
> times. So I would just click "ok" and that's it. Well, we rented a DVD
> tonight and it wouldn't play, claiming that it couldn't play region 4
> movies on the laptop anymore. When we checked the DVD properties, we
> only then found out that we can only change the regional settings
> four times and then won't be able to change them at all, even if we
> reinstall Windows. My laptop is still covered by warranty, would I be
> able to get technical support to fix this? I'm fuming at Toshiba right
> now for not giving alerts when we did change the settings. Is there
> some way to overcome these regional settings? Cheers

Java Jive wrote on [Fri, 5 Mar 2004 16:02:58 -0000]:
> Do you know how to manipulate the Windows registry?
>
> If you don't, *don't* try and do this because there is great potential for
> wrecking your Windows installation by unknowledgeable poking about in the
> registry, but if you feel competent at it, there may be a registry setting
> that controls the count and DVD Region. Note also, if it's a work PC,
> there may be disciplinary consequences through altering your PC's setup and
> you may even be prevented from doing so by your firm's security settings.
>
> But, by way of example, I used to use the following registry files to alter
> my IBM Thinkpad between Regions 1 & 2 and reset the change count to 0 (your
> PC would probably need something similar but different, according to your
> DVD player software, etc). Note that in my case the DVD region was held in
> 3 different places, one encrypted. Probably your best initial approach
> would be to reset the count in the registry and then change the region in
> the conventional way (ICR whether a reboot would be required between the
> two):

This is all assuming that the ROM itself doesn't have a built in
counter. I know most desktop DVD ROMs have inbuilt counters, and some
are even easy to defeat. I'm not so sure about laptop DVD-ROMS, but I
would assume so.

Java Jive wrote:
> Do you know how to manipulate the Windows registry?
>
> If you don't, *don't* try and do this because there is great potential for
> wrecking your Windows installation by unknowledgeable poking about in the
> registry, but if you feel competent at it, there may be a registry setting
> that controls the count and DVD Region. Note also, if it's a work PC,
> there may be disciplinary consequences through altering your PC's setup and
> you may even be prevented from doing so by your firm's security settings.
>
> But, by way of example, I used to use the following registry files to alter
> my IBM Thinkpad between Regions 1 & 2 and reset the change count to 0 (your
> PC would probably need something similar but different, according to your
> DVD player software, etc). Note that in my case the DVD region was held in
> 3 different places, one encrypted. Probably your best initial approach
> would be to reset the count in the registry and then change the region in
> the conventional way (ICR whether a reboot would be required between the
> two):
>
> You shouldn't be fuming at Toshiba for this, you should be fuming at the
> movie industry for introducing a restrictive practice whose sole purpose is
> to protect regional markets from global competition and so allow the
> industry to overcharge.
>
> REGEDIT4
>
> ; Region 1 = USA, Canada
> ; Region 2 = Europe, Near East, South Africa, Japan
> ; Region 3 = SE Asia
> ; Region 4 = Australia, Central and S America
> ; Region 5 = Africa, Asia, E Europe
> ; Region 6 = China
>
> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ATI Technologies\MultiMedia\Features\FPlay]
> "Reg"=dword:00000002
>
> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion]
> "DVD_Region"="2"
>
> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Quadrant International, Inc.\Software
> Cinemaster\0.9\Regionalization]
> "Changes"=dword:00000000
> "RegionCode"=dword:24534251 ; Region 2
>
> ... and ...
>
> REGEDIT4
>
> ; Region 1 = USA, Canada
> ; Region 2 = Europe, Near East, South Africa, Japan
> ; Region 3 = SE Asia
> ; Region 4 = Australia, Central and S America
> ; Region 5 = Africa, Asia, E Europe
> ; Region 6 = China
>
> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ATI Technologies\MultiMedia\Features\FPlay]
> "Reg"=dword:00000001
>
> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion]
> "DVD_Region"="1"
>
> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Quadrant International, Inc.\Software
> Cinemaster\0.9\Regionalization]
> "Changes"=dword:00000000
> "RegionCode"=dword:43241234 ; Region 1
>
> "Miriam Seshadri" <> wrote in message
> news: om...
>
>>Hi,
>>
>> I have a toshiba Satellite which has a DVD player/burner. I recently
>>moved from the United States to Australia, so of course I brought a
>>couple of U.S DVD's with me. When I rented DVD's here, I was sometimes
>>(not always) asked to change the regional code . There was no warning
>>or any information that I could do this only a limited number of
>>times. So I would just click "ok" and that's it. Well, we rented a DVD
>>tonight and it wouldn't play, claiming that it couldn't play region 4
>>movies on the laptop anymore. When we checked the DVD properties, we
>>only then found out that we can only change the regional settings
>>four times and then won't be able to change them at all, even if we
>>reinstall Windows. My laptop is still covered by warranty, would I be
>>able to get technical support to fix this? I'm fuming at Toshiba right
>>now for not giving alerts when we did change the settings. Is there
>>some way to overcome these regional settings? Cheers
>
>
>
What model Thinkpad did you try this with. I know for the early T
series there is a region 0 firmware floating around, but I'd feel more
confident about this registy method.

Adios,
~Nick

Miriam Seshadri <> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a toshiba Satellite which has a DVD player/burner. I
recently
> moved from the United States to Australia, so of course I brought a
> couple of U.S DVD's with me. When I rented DVD's here, I was
sometimes
> (not always) asked to change the regional code . There was no
warning
> or any information that I could do this only a limited number of
> times. So I would just click "ok" and that's it. Well, we rented a
DVD
> tonight and it wouldn't play, claiming that it couldn't play region
4
> movies on the laptop anymore. When we checked the DVD properties, we
> only then found out that we can only change the regional settings
> four times and then won't be able to change them at all, even if we
> reinstall Windows. My laptop is still covered by warranty, would I
be
> able to get technical support to fix this? I'm fuming at Toshiba
right
> now for not giving alerts when we did change the settings. Is there
> some way to overcome these regional settings? Cheers

I don't know for sure that this will work on a machine that's already
run out of region changes, but you should try DVD43 ("DVD for Free")
available from
:-http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd43.c
fm - I have it on my Tosh Satellite, and it works a treat - note that
you also need to download a driver - details are in the article.

Slightly less frightening than editing the registry!!

paul

I adapted it for each of various models I had at my last place of work,
mostly 600 series. However, as the hardware and associated software varies
significantly between models, you should derive your own. Next time you need
to change the region code:

1) Run the registry editor, put the cursor at the top of the registry
tree, and choose Registry; Export registry file; call it, say, Before.reg
2) Make the region changes. You can reboot if prompted (can't remember
now).
3) Run the registry editor again, put the cursor at the top of the
registry tree, and choose Registry; Export registry file; call it, say,
After.reg
4) Compare the two text files using the console FC command (directing the
command output into a results file), or a text editor that can compare
files, such as Textpad.

There will be quite a lot of irrelevant differences between the files,
particularly if you do a reboot in between takes, but with patience you
should be able to isolate a limited number of relevant entries such as in my
examples.

Alternatively, if you possess snapshot software such as WinInstall, you
can isolate the registry changes using that.

HTHs

"Nicholas Andrade" <> wrote in message
news:Ku52c.34157$. com...
>
> What model Thinkpad did you try this with. I know for the early T
> series there is a region 0 firmware floating around, but I'd feel more
> confident about this registy method.
>
> Adios,
> ~Nick

Java Jive wrote:
> Do you know how to manipulate the Windows registry?
But the OP states that reinstalling windows will not fix the problem.
So how could editing the registry help the problem?

....major snippage ...

> "Miriam Seshadri" <> wrote in message
> news: om...
>
>>Hi,
>>
>> I have a toshiba Satellite which has a DVD player/burner. I recently
>>moved from the United States to Australia, so of course I brought a
>>couple of U.S DVD's with me. When I rented DVD's here, I was sometimes
>>(not always) asked to change the regional code . There was no warning
>>or any information that I could do this only a limited number of
>>times. So I would just click "ok" and that's it. Well, we rented a DVD
>>tonight and it wouldn't play, claiming that it couldn't play region 4
>>movies on the laptop anymore.


>>When we checked the DVD properties, we
>>only then found out that we can only change the regional settings
>>four times and then won't be able to change them at all, even if we
>>reinstall Windows.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


>>My laptop is still covered by warranty, would I be
>>able to get technical support to fix this? I'm fuming at Toshiba right
>>now for not giving alerts when we did change the settings. Is there
>>some way to overcome these regional settings? Cheers
>
>
>

Actual quote was "even if we reinstall Windows", implying OP hasn't
actually tried it.

As the registry files I listed certainly worked for me, I suspect that
reinstalling Windows might have cured it, despite any information to the
contrary OP may have received. Alternatively, as I never used up all the
changes, another possible scenario is that once the changes have been used
up the info is *then* hardcoded in some way, and the OP is thereby correct.
But I doubt it, consider:

1) Most tabletop players are region encoded without irreversible
hardware changes, many can be hacked by using the remote control.
2) After three or so years use in their original country, used
laptops are frequently exported, and I've never heard of hardware DVD region
encoding being a barrier or a problem with such exports.

"Dick Sidbury" <> wrote in message
news:c2b899$1r8hb1$...

> But the OP states that reinstalling windows will not fix the problem.
> So how could editing the registry help the problem?

Java Jive wrote on [Sat, 6 Mar 2004 01:59:23 -0000]:
> Actual quote was "even if we reinstall Windows", implying OP hasn't
> actually tried it.
>
> As the registry files I listed certainly worked for me, I suspect that
> reinstalling Windows might have cured it, despite any information to the
> contrary OP may have received. Alternatively, as I never used up all the
> changes, another possible scenario is that once the changes have been used
> up the info is *then* hardcoded in some way, and the OP is thereby correct.

It is a requirement of the licensor that all DVD-ROMs have a hardware
based limit.

There's a software that you can purchase that will allow you to LEGALLY use for an unlimited
changes of regions.


> I adapted it for each of various models I had at my last place of work,
> mostly 600 series. However, as the hardware and associated software varies
> significantly between models, you should derive your own. Next time you need
> to change the region code:
>
> 1) Run the registry editor, put the cursor at the top of the registry
> tree, and choose Registry; Export registry file; call it, say, Before.reg
> 2) Make the region changes. You can reboot if prompted (can't remember
> now).
> 3) Run the registry editor again, put the cursor at the top of the
> registry tree, and choose Registry; Export registry file; call it, say,
> After.reg
> 4) Compare the two text files using the console FC command (directing the
> command output into a results file), or a text editor that can compare
> files, such as Textpad.
>
> There will be quite a lot of irrelevant differences between the files,
> particularly if you do a reboot in between takes, but with patience you
> should be able to isolate a limited number of relevant entries such as in my
> examples.
>
> Alternatively, if you possess snapshot software such as WinInstall, you
> can isolate the registry changes using that.
>
> HTHs
>
> "Nicholas Andrade" <> wrote in message
> news:Ku52c.34157$. com...
>
>>What model Thinkpad did you try this with. I know for the early T
>>series there is a region 0 firmware floating around, but I'd feel more
>>confident about this registy method.
>>
>>Adios,
>>~Nick
>
>
>