Region Codes (again?)

I'm wondering what determines which Region Code will play
on my PC's DVD drive. Is it a hardware setting, a device
driver setting, or is it in the playing software?

I've been using DVDShrink to "back-up" some DVDs, all
coded as my Region 1, and burn them to back-up DVDs.

I would love to be able to back-up some Region 2 DVDs
as well. Can I use DVDShrink to do this, or must I reset
the Region Code somewhere in the device driver??

thanks

chuck

chuck

chuck wrote:
|| I'm wondering what determines which Region Code will play
|| on my PC's DVD drive. Is it a hardware setting, a device
|| driver setting, or is it in the playing software?
||
|| I've been using DVDShrink to "back-up" some DVDs, all
|| coded as my Region 1, and burn them to back-up DVDs.
||
|| I would love to be able to back-up some Region 2 DVDs
|| as well. Can I use DVDShrink to do this, or must I reset
|| the Region Code somewhere in the device driver??
||
|| thanks
||
|| chuck

As there's a limit to the number of times you can change the region, you
might like to try http://www.dvd43.com/ which (on more or less everything
I've tried so far) seems to make the computer "region-blind" without making
permanent changes to your hardware. Works fine with 'Shrink...

paul

P Pron wrote:
> As there's a limit to the number of times you can change the region,
you
> might like to try http://www.dvd43.com/ which (on more or less everything
> I've tried so far) seems to make the computer "region-blind" without making
> permanent changes to your hardware. Works fine with 'Shrink...
>
> paul
>
Yes but ... does the "limit to the number of times you can change
the region" get controlled by the hardware, the driver, or the
software?

If I put a Region 2 DVD into a Region 1 DVD drive,
and use DVD Decrypter to copy the content of the DVD, is this
counted against the number of times I can change the region?

If it's a software thing, I can just uninstall and then
reinstall the software to reset to zero. If it's hardware,
I can't.

chuck

"chuck" <> wrote

> P Pron wrote:
> > As there's a limit to the number of times you can change the region,
> you
> > might like to try http://www.dvd43.com/ which (on more or less
everything
> > I've tried so far) seems to make the computer "region-blind" without
making
> > permanent changes to your hardware. Works fine with 'Shrink...
> >
> > paul
> >
> Yes but ... does the "limit to the number of times you can change
> the region" get controlled by the hardware, the driver, or the
> software?
>
> If I put a Region 2 DVD into a Region 1 DVD drive,
> and use DVD Decrypter to copy the content of the DVD, is this
> counted against the number of times I can change the region?
>
> If it's a software thing, I can just uninstall and then
> reinstall the software to reset to zero. If it's hardware,
> I can't.

Most likely you can't.

If the drive was made after 1st January 2000, and has the maker's authorized
firmware, then the change counter is in the drive, which is known as RPC2
(Region Protection Code 2), though the count should only be stepped after
you have confirmed it is OK. If you don't use something like the S/W
recommended it will stop allowing changes, and reinstalling the S/W will
make no difference.

Drives made before 1st January 2000 (or thereabouts) are known as RPC1 and
have the counter in software. Reinstalling the OS and other S/W will restore
the count. This is why the DVD consortium changed to RPC2, to make it more
difficult to get around the region protection, though ultimately it was
futile.

John Howells

"chuck" <> wrote in message
news:TM%Qe.4185$ ink.net...
>P Pron wrote:
> > As there's a limit to the number of times you can change the region,
> you
>> might like to try http://www.dvd43.com/ which (on more or less everything
>> I've tried so far) seems to make the computer "region-blind" without
>> making permanent changes to your hardware. Works fine with 'Shrink...
>>
>> paul
> Yes but ... does the "limit to the number of times you can change
> the region" get controlled by the hardware, the driver, or the
> software?
>
> If I put a Region 2 DVD into a Region 1 DVD drive,
> and use DVD Decrypter to copy the content of the DVD, is this
> counted against the number of times I can change the region?

It's both.

Region protection is built into your hardware but it's also in Windows and
potentially your playback software as well.

That's why when you make your drive region free you also need software such
as 'DVD Region Killer' to override the software region checking.

What make and model is your DVD drive?


Stephen

hardware, once your DVD drive has run out of changes normally you can't
change the region again,...........however, a risky option is to
upgrade/reinstall the firmware in your DVD drive, this normally resets
the region change counter, there is also some firmwares available that
disables the region counter,.....but, beware if the firmware upgrade
goes ape it will make your drive unusable forever

chuck wrote:
> P Pron wrote:
> > As there's a limit to the number of times you can change the region, you
>
>> might like to try http://www.dvd43.com/ which (on more or less
>> everything I've tried so far) seems to make the computer
>> "region-blind" without making permanent changes to your hardware.
>> Works fine with 'Shrink...
>>
>> paul
>
> Yes but ... does the "limit to the number of times you can change
> the region" get controlled by the hardware, the driver, or the
> software?
>
> If I put a Region 2 DVD into a Region 1 DVD drive,
> and use DVD Decrypter to copy the content of the DVD, is this
> counted against the number of times I can change the region?
>
> If it's a software thing, I can just uninstall and then
> reinstall the software to reset to zero. If it's hardware,
> I can't.
>
> chuck
>
>

Stephen Stewart wrote:
|| "chuck" <> wrote in message
|| news:TM%Qe.4185$ ink.net...
||| P Pron wrote:
||| > As there's a limit to the number of times you can change the
||| region, you
|||| might like to try http://www.dvd43.com/ which (on more or less
|||| everything I've tried so far) seems to make the computer
|||| "region-blind" without making permanent changes to your hardware.
|||| Works fine with 'Shrink...
||||
|||| paul
||| Yes but ... does the "limit to the number of times you can change
||| the region" get controlled by the hardware, the driver, or the
||| software?
|||
||| If I put a Region 2 DVD into a Region 1 DVD drive,
||| and use DVD Decrypter to copy the content of the DVD, is this
||| counted against the number of times I can change the region?
||
|| It's both.
||
|| Region protection is built into your hardware but it's also in
|| Windows and potentially your playback software as well.
||
|| That's why when you make your drive region free you also need
|| software such as 'DVD Region Killer' to override the software region
|| checking.


I didn't - on several different computers, and several different drives. As
indicated above, DVD43 did the trick....

paul

"P Pron" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Stephen Stewart wrote:
> || "chuck" <> wrote in message
> || news:TM%Qe.4185$ ink.net...
> ||| P Pron wrote:
> ||| > As there's a limit to the number of times you can change the
> ||| region, you
> |||| might like to try http://www.dvd43.com/ which (on more or less
> |||| everything I've tried so far) seems to make the computer
> |||| "region-blind" without making permanent changes to your hardware.
> |||| Works fine with 'Shrink...
> ||||
> |||| paul
> ||| Yes but ... does the "limit to the number of times you can change
> ||| the region" get controlled by the hardware, the driver, or the
> ||| software?
> |||
> ||| If I put a Region 2 DVD into a Region 1 DVD drive,
> ||| and use DVD Decrypter to copy the content of the DVD, is this
> ||| counted against the number of times I can change the region?
> ||
> || It's both.
> ||
> || Region protection is built into your hardware but it's also in
> || Windows and potentially your playback software as well.
> ||
> || That's why when you make your drive region free you also need
> || software such as 'DVD Region Killer' to override the software region
> || checking.
>
>
> I didn't - on several different computers, and several different drives.
> As indicated above, DVD43 did the trick....
>
> paul
>

Sorry for the confusion I snipped the wrong section of the original post.

I was answering the following.

"If it's a software thing, I can just uninstall and then
reinstall the software to reset to zero. If it's hardware,
I can't."

BTW if anyone is thinking of using DVD43 make sure you get the free version
at http://www.dvd43.com/ and not the paid version offered by certain sites.


Stephen