(1) from --- Jason Vance [log in to unmask]
It is not necessarily a hack, but software to tell the dvd drive switch
to a different region. If you use a program called DVD Region Killer,
then you won't have to worry about the warranty.
Jason Vance, Supervisor
Language Learning Center
Thomas Nelson Community College
PO BOX 9407
Hampton, Virginia 23670
757-825-2819(Office)
757-825-3807(fax)
(2) from --- Edith Paillat [log in to unmask]
Hi Francesco,
We have a range of DELL PCs with CD-rw/DVD combo drive that also are
RCP2 (region coded).
Dell claims that they will not provide support if we used a firmware
patch to allow RCP1 (region free) our DVD drives even if we are located
in NZ, so we decided we decided not to follow that PC, since
flashing/hacking a drive is risky business, especially if you are not
sure of the outcome and how to solve it.. You will find some
recommendations and answers with the right jargon here
http://faq.inmatrix.com/. You can also post your own questions as well
to the forum. Check the FAQ and terminology under the information
button.
The region coding happens on two levels one is the hardware and the
second the player used to watch the DVDs (Power DVD for e.g.). Generally
you get 5 chances to select your region then it becomes locked.
3 ways to go about RCP1/2 (what we have done and have considered) :
1/ if your, say, 25 PCs are self-access and you assume that 25 students
are not going to all simultaneously watch 25 zone 1 DVD you can select
which PC gets which region and you direct the students with their DVD in
hand to the corresponding PC. If your lab is a classroom then it is more
complicated, and I have always wondered whether the notice at the
beginning of each video/DVD(group viewing) was applicable to educational
purposes, in which case my potential suggestion of using a data
projector connected to a PC would be useless + they don't get the the
chance of watiching the movie at their own pace.
2/ the second is to use a (open source/freeware) player called VideoLan,
originally designed by l'Ecole des Mines and further developed by other
people. Since we can legally use RCP1 dvd player here in New Zealand, we
have indulged to that precious software both on our PCs (XP)and Macs
(OSX Panther) and it works well but it is not that easy to use at first.
This will not hack the DVD hardware/firmware but go past the player
region coding. It is an open source so there might be bugs here and
there so check out for updates regulary. We haven't had any problem with
our versions. http://www.videolan.org/
3/ If you still want to keep your original player, the way to go is to
DVD idle pro which starts up with any common player (window Media
Player) simply as soon as you open a video and will also go past the
region coding of your PC (only - no mac version)
http://www.dvdidle.com/dvd-idle-pro.htm
Well I hope this will be of help,
Kind regards
****************************
Edith Paillat
Language Technology Specialist
Language Learning Centre
Victoria University of Wellington
P.O.Box 600, Wellington
New Zealand
+64 4 463 5792
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/llc/about/projects.aspx
(3) from Alvaro Cano [log in to unmask]
A long time ago I was looking for something similar and I cane across
this website:
http://www.dvdidle.com/
(4) from --Laura Atkinson [log in to unmask]
What we've done is to designate certain computers in the lab for each
region - mostly Region 1 and 2 but we have at least two workstations for
each of the 6 regions. I locked each drive down by switching the region
code 5 times. This is tricky, because you really need to start with the
region you want it to get locked to. We figured it was best that we lock
them to a region rather than users locking them at random to a particular
region. We have a diagram posted on the lab wall to show users where they
can view a particular region DVD.
The problem with this though is that you need to have a DVD on hand that is
from the region you want to set (as well as at least one that is from a
different region). I never got my hands on a region 5 or region 6 DVD. The
upside of that though is that no one's ever needed to play one of those
regions, and as soon as someone asks to, I can borrow their disc for a
minute and set the drives.
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Laura Atkinson
Instructional Technology Lab Specialist
Center for Instructional Technology /
Foreign Language Instructional Technology Support
Duke University
[log in to unmask]
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