Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I've got the standard(?) "HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GMA-4082N" dvd drive in my R60 and this dvd-region-issue makes me... quite annoyed.

Is there any software which can crack the dvd's firmware and make it regionfree? Or maybe there is some other way? Something like a... "hidden secret code" like one I had to enter via a remote control in my yamaha dvd player?

Regards,
Jakub

I know there are programs out there to do this on some drives, but I don't use them. I use software that decrypts the content and rips it to the hard disk. There are quite a few titles for doing that as well.

Well, depending on how adventuresome you are you can flash the firmware of the drive to remove the region coding. Keep in mind, doing so will void the warranty and if you do it wrong it could possibly destroy the drive. I've done this twice before without issue. It was on different model drives, but it worked just fine.

In my opnion, since that drive is a DVDRW drive, I wouldn't flash it's firmware. I would get a standard DVD-ROM drive and flash that one's firmware. The drives I've made region free are LG HL-DT-ST GDR-8081N. You can find them on eBay for around $15USD. If for whatever reason you have a bad flash with one of those drives it won't be anywhere near as painful. If you have any other questions, ask away.

GDR-8081N Region free firmware:
http://tdb.rpc1.org/#GDR8081N

In addition to flashing the firmware there are software like Slysoft AnyDVD that will allow you to play DVD's with any region even if your drive is locked to a specific region. AnyDVD also got other features that is useful to make backup of your DVD's. Using such a software you won't have to flash you drive and void the warranty. There are several other applications available to do similar things as AnyDVD like DVDFab. Using DVDFab you cannot play the original DVD directly with a none matching region though, but you can make a region free copy and also change it into a DVD5 (single layer DVD's) very easy. You can download a trial and try it out before you buy it and it's pretty cheap to buy as well. The only drive where you cannot read a DVD (unless it's flashed) with a none matching region is Matshita because it simply won't read the disc unless the region match.

You should find that using VLC Media Player circumvents the issue.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

The results of a Google with 'dvd region free' are not to be sneezed at...

If you're looking for a low cost solution, I really like andrewb's idea. My sister uses VLC to watch Korean movies on her iBook without changing the region on her DVD player.

The Spirit of X21 wrote:If you're looking for a low cost solution, I really like andrewb's idea. My sister uses VLC to watch Korean movies on her iBook without changing the region on her DVD player.

Yes, I like the VLC method too.

Thanks for all your answers.

Regards,
Jakub

i always region free my drives Makes it easier to than installing VLC in the first place