OT: Blu-Ray Region Coding

Hi,

Does anyone know how Blu-Ray region coding is implemented, particularly
on a PC-based Blu-Ray drive?

In particular, is this hardware enforced, or software based?

Early DVD drives (before 2000 IIRC) had no hardware region coding, but I
expect this is probably standard on Blu-Ray. Looking at drive
manufacturer sites, I am unable to see any reference to region coding.
Can anyone confirm how it is implemented?

Thanks,

RL

RL

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:44:16 +1300, RL <> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Does anyone know how Blu-Ray region coding is implemented, particularly
>on a PC-based Blu-Ray drive?

A blu ray drive has region coding for the Standard DVD part of the
drive.
>
>In particular, is this hardware enforced, or software based?

It has always been in the firmware ON the drive. That is regardless of
the fact that SOFTWARE is what is usually used to set it.

>
>Early DVD drives (before 2000 IIRC) had no hardware region coding,

You likely do not RC.

> but I
>expect this is probably standard on Blu-Ray.

Do you even hear yourself when you say stupid ****?

> Looking at drive
>manufacturer sites, I am unable to see any reference to region coding.
>Can anyone confirm how it is implemented?

Are you sure that it is even used by the new formats at all? If a
drive has region coding, it is for the Std DVD portion of the drive.

Right now, blu ray has the capacity to region code their releases, but
they currently have not made any titles that are.

Do you even know how to use google? **** the "manufacturer sites". Do
a simple search, boy.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...oogle +Search

yields 536,000 hits.

ChairmanOfTheBored

"RL" <> wrote in message
news:fjh9hf$88e$...
> Hi,
>
> Does anyone know how Blu-Ray region coding is implemented,
> particularly on a PC-based Blu-Ray drive?
>
> In particular, is this hardware enforced, or software based?
>
> Early DVD drives (before 2000 IIRC) had no hardware region
> coding, but I expect this is probably standard on Blu-Ray.
> Looking at drive manufacturer sites, I am unable to see any
> reference to region coding. Can anyone confirm how it is
> implemented?
>
> Thanks,
>
> RL

I've got an LG BR/HD player under WinXPHE-SP2 using PowerDVD,
delivered with the drive, as the player. The LG wants to check
for firmware updates and PowerDVD is in strict compliance with
the player spec - what a PITA, VLC was much friendlier

As I'm only renting media from NetFlix, I've not had the
question of BR region coding arise. However, what reading I've
done suggests that BR is region coded while HD-DVD is not.

AnyDVD and DVDFab claim to handle BR/HD. They both say they
remove BR region coding, among other restrictions. I'd guess
that the software/firmware region enforcement strategies are
otherwise similar to DVD drives.

Bill's News

Well, you quite clearly have some serious emotional and literacy issues
to work on.

One - Your Google search, like your post, does not answer the question
regarding the implementation of region coding. Yes, region coding
exists, I already knew that, idiot.

Two - Region coding IS used on Blu-Ray titles. A simple search using
that 'Google' service you regard so highly, will provide you with an
extensive list of titles that ARE region coded.

Three - Early DVD drives DID NOT have region coding, this is a FACT. My
'IIRC' related to the year only.

Four - My '****' is not 'stupid' just because you don't understand the
question. If you weren't such a condescending smart-arse, I wouldn't be
ensuring to quote your full message below, so that anyone accessing this
thread in the future can laugh at your stupidity.

The question was a simple one. Is the region code in the firmware as it
was with later DVD drives, or software? No Google search I've done has
bene able to answer that particular question.

RL

ChairmanOfTheBored wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:44:16 +1300, RL <> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Does anyone know how Blu-Ray region coding is implemented, particularly
>> on a PC-based Blu-Ray drive?
>
> A blu ray drive has region coding for the Standard DVD part of the
> drive.
>> In particular, is this hardware enforced, or software based?
>
> It has always been in the firmware ON the drive. That is regardless of
> the fact that SOFTWARE is what is usually used to set it.
>
>> Early DVD drives (before 2000 IIRC) had no hardware region coding,
>
> You likely do not RC.
>
>> but I
>> expect this is probably standard on Blu-Ray.
>
> Do you even hear yourself when you say stupid ****?
>
>> Looking at drive
>> manufacturer sites, I am unable to see any reference to region coding.
>> Can anyone confirm how it is implemented?
>
> Are you sure that it is even used by the new formats at all? If a
> drive has region coding, it is for the Std DVD portion of the drive.
>
> Right now, blu ray has the capacity to region code their releases, but
> they currently have not made any titles that are.
>
> Do you even know how to use google? **** the "manufacturer sites". Do
> a simple search, boy.
>
> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...oogle +Search
>
> yields 536,000 hits.

RL

Bill's News wrote:
> I've got an LG BR/HD player under WinXPHE-SP2 using PowerDVD,
> delivered with the drive, as the player. The LG wants to check
> for firmware updates and PowerDVD is in strict compliance with
> the player spec - what a PITA, VLC was much friendlier
>
> As I'm only renting media from NetFlix, I've not had the
> question of BR region coding arise. However, what reading I've
> done suggests that BR is region coded while HD-DVD is not.
>
> AnyDVD and DVDFab claim to handle BR/HD. They both say they
> remove BR region coding, among other restrictions. I'd guess
> that the software/firmware region enforcement strategies are
> otherwise similar to DVD drives.

Thanks Bill for a sane reply.

HD-DVD apparently does support region codes, as there has been some
discussion of using them. My concern with buying a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive
is that they possibly can be locked to a region, like a modern DVD
drive. If this is enforced by the firmware, then it wouldn't be possible
for AnyDVD and other products to rip the data in order to remove the
region coding without updated firmware (which may never exist for the
drive I buy).

I'm hoping it is all software-based, and that there will be no problem
using disks from other regions. I'm just trying to confirm this before I
rush out and buy a drive, only to find that I buy some region coded
movies in the near future (they are already appearing), and end up with
a drive locked so I can only play one.

Thanks,

RL

RL

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:49:41 +1300, RL <> wrote:

>Well, you quite clearly have some serious emotional and literacy issues
>to work on.

You're an emotional retard, and an illiterate ****head as well. So I
think that I will take your unsolicited, unqualified, unprofessional, E-1
grade retard assessment with a grain of salt.

>One - Your Google search, like your post, does not answer the question
>regarding the implementation of region coding. Yes, region coding
>exists, I already knew that, idiot.

Yes, it does answer it, idiot. It only requires that you get off your
lazy ass and look through some of the links google came up with.

>Two - Region coding IS used on Blu-Ray titles.

No. It CAN be. Many are not.

> A simple search using
>that 'Google' service you regard so highly, will provide you with an
>extensive list of titles that ARE region coded.

Oh boy... I jumped the gun because I read a Sony press release and
didn't look at the date. Big whoop.
>
>Three - Early DVD drives DID NOT have region coding, this is a FACT. My
>'IIRC' related to the year only.

DVD players came out BEFORE DVD drives did, and the players were region
coded. Then, PC drives were as well, and then the shithouse Chinese
shops started flooding the ports with CRAP non-compliant readers. That
must have been about the time idiots like you came along.
>
>Four - My '****' is not 'stupid' just because you don't understand the
>question.

I do understand the question. You are the idiot that thinks that some
region coded drives were done in software. Software controlled the
drive's setting, but the drive had hard wired region coding , and that
coding only got manipulated by software. It had to be stored in flash or
NVRAM, dumb****.

> If you weren't such a condescending smart-arse,

If you weren't such a retarded, likely pirate ****...

> I wouldn't be
>ensuring to quote your full message below, so that anyone accessing this
>thread in the future can laugh at your stupidity.

You're an idiot, and now, you're a Usenet retard as well.
Congratulations, you top posting Usenet retard.

>The question was a simple one. Is the region code in the firmware as it
>was with later DVD drives, or software?

And the answer was simple too, dipshit. They were ALL done in
firmware. Otherwise, the drive would have no way of retaining the
setting, you retarded ****.

> No Google search I've done has
>bene able to answer that particular question.

You are a google retard, as well as being a techno-twit. Typical
pirate ****.

ChairmanOfTheBored

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:58:46 +1300, RL <> wrote:

>Bill's News wrote:
>> I've got an LG BR/HD player under WinXPHE-SP2 using PowerDVD,
>> delivered with the drive, as the player. The LG wants to check
>> for firmware updates and PowerDVD is in strict compliance with
>> the player spec - what a PITA, VLC was much friendlier
>>
>> As I'm only renting media from NetFlix, I've not had the
>> question of BR region coding arise. However, what reading I've
>> done suggests that BR is region coded while HD-DVD is not.
>>
>> AnyDVD and DVDFab claim to handle BR/HD. They both say they
>> remove BR region coding, among other restrictions. I'd guess
>> that the software/firmware region enforcement strategies are
>> otherwise similar to DVD drives.
>
>Thanks Bill for a sane reply.
>
>HD-DVD apparently does support region codes, as there has been some
>discussion of using them. My concern with buying a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive
>is that they possibly can be locked to a region, like a modern DVD
>drive. If this is enforced by the firmware, then it wouldn't be possible
>for AnyDVD and other products to rip the data in order to remove the
>region coding without updated firmware (which may never exist for the
>drive I buy).
>
>I'm hoping it is all software-based, and that there will be no problem
>using disks from other regions. I'm just trying to confirm this before I
>rush out and buy a drive, only to find that I buy some region coded
>movies in the near future (they are already appearing), and end up with
>a drive locked so I can only play one.
>

Pussy!

ChairmanOfTheBored

In <fji9g1$sbv$> RL <> writes:

>Well, you quite clearly have some serious emotional and literacy issues
>to work on.

Hey RL, please do yourself and anyone else that reads this group a big favour
and killfile this asshole.

Once killfiled, the only way you will see his drivel is when someone replies
to his posts. This really doesn't happen too often as most folk ignore his
childish rants.

BlueBuyYoo

On 10 Dec 2007 04:25:51 GMT, BlueBuyYoo <> wrote:

>In <fji9g1$sbv$> RL <> writes:
>
>>Well, you quite clearly have some serious emotional and literacy issues
>>to work on.
>
>Hey RL, please do yourself and anyone else that reads this group a big favour
>and killfile this asshole.
>
>Once killfiled, the only way you will see his drivel is when someone replies
>to his posts. This really doesn't happen too often as most folk ignore his
>childish rants.
>
You're a ****ing retard. Show me one rant, you retarded ****.

StickThatInYourPipeAndSmokeIt

"RL" <> wrote in message
news:fjia11$snf$...
> Bill's News wrote:
>> I've got an LG BR/HD player under WinXPHE-SP2 using PowerDVD,
>> delivered with the drive, as the player. The LG wants to
>> check for firmware updates and PowerDVD is in strict
>> compliance with the player spec - what a PITA, VLC was much
>> friendlier
>>
>> As I'm only renting media from NetFlix, I've not had the
>> question of BR region coding arise. However, what reading
>> I've done suggests that BR is region coded while HD-DVD is
>> not.
>>
>> AnyDVD and DVDFab claim to handle BR/HD. They both say they
>> remove BR region coding, among other restrictions. I'd guess
>> that the software/firmware region enforcement strategies are
>> otherwise similar to DVD drives.
>
> Thanks Bill for a sane reply.
>
> HD-DVD apparently does support region codes, as there has been
> some discussion of using them. My concern with buying a
> Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive is that they possibly can be locked to a
> region, like a modern DVD drive. If this is enforced by the
> firmware, then it wouldn't be possible for AnyDVD and other
> products to rip the data in order to remove the region coding
> without updated firmware (which may never exist for the drive
> I buy).
>

Since it is possible for at least two currently available
programs to override currently implemented region logic, then it
must be implemented in software. Were it to become firmware
implemented, undoubtedly requiring the larger volatile memory of
future specs, it would probably not be long before other
programs would appear to "update" the firmware. So far, the
industry has been quite good about observing backward
compatibility, yet they could change heart. However, region
coding cracks would seem to me a minor issue when compared with
copy protection cracks. How many billions of dollars will they
continue to throw at these issues? Is it any wonder that among
the richest men in the world are more programmers than studio
executives?

> I'm hoping it is all software-based, and that there will be no
> problem using disks from other regions. I'm just trying to
> confirm this before I rush out and buy a drive, only to find
> that I buy some region coded movies in the near future (they
> are already appearing), and end up with a drive locked so I
> can only play one.
>

Here's a MUCH more annoying issue with BR/HD player software
(namely, PowerDVD). Whenever I use that player to play captured
HDTV, the player suggests that I should turn off it's DD7.1
support. If I do not, the player does indeed act poorly or
crash. If I do, then the player blithely removes the NVIDIA
audio drivers used by my HDTV capture device, requiring me to
reinstall, from the beginning, the capture software and updates.

This causes me to use either MPC or VLC, as I did before, to
play HDTV. Which in turn leads me to compare the image
quality - in those cases - to PowerDVD. The two free programs
win hands down. Up until now I was giving all the stars to my
ATI x1300 graphics card and ATI's drivers for it. Now, it seems
that MPC & VLC produce superior video quality to PowerDVD - and
without audio issues. I can only hope that they will some day
add BR/HD player capability.

Bill's News