Region Free DVD Player

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StevieT

702 posts

Ultimate Geek

#95071 26-Dec-2011 16:20

What piece of good, legit software is out there that allows my laptop DVD player to play all region DVDs? From what I've been told, there is nothing illegal about it - I myself don't know, and can trust what they've told me.

I did a google search for region free dvd player software. Not sure what is legit and what isn't, so am asking for advice on what to download.

tardtasticx

3075 posts

Uber Geek

#561561 26-Dec-2011 16:26

VLC Media Player. My laptop came back from repair a while ago and it was set into a different region so none of my DVD's work with Windows Media Player, but VLC works absolutely fine.

farcus

1554 posts

Uber Geek

#561562 26-Dec-2011 16:26

VLC or SMPlayer may work - otherwise http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/articles/region.html

gzt

17104 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#561577 26-Dec-2011 17:38

Short story:

(1) windows media player/os incorporates region locking
(2) in addition most major brand computer dvd players have region locking firmware

VLC or other good players will avoid #1 by using their own decoders.

If #2 is a problem, you will also need to apply a firmware update for your drive before VLC etc can play region free. Drive firmware updates are very specific to the model and revision of the drive incorporated in your machine. Region free firmware is sometimes available from the manufacturer, but usually not. A small program is used to modify the manufacturer firmware to make it region free before applying it to the drive. Not difficult.

None of this is illegal as far as I am aware.

old3eyes

9119 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#561722 27-Dec-2011 08:31

You could try this one

http://www.dvdidle.com/dvd-region-free.htm

Looks like it's now free.. I remember buying the paid version years ago..

Regards,

Old3eyes