dvd rom region free

whosurpaddy

could someone pont me towards a reasonable multi region dvd rom drive? have tried komplett, marx, micro direct etc.

do manufacturers actually sell region free models, or do u always have to flash the firmware yourself? if this is the case can someone point out one that is easily flashed to multi region.

Krusty_Clown

You mean pc-internal, right? Not standalone Hi-Fi?

You can pick up the Pioneer A06 DVD writer for €150 to your door, which has flashes for multi-region.. Seems a better investment.

Lemming

There have been many posts on this subject before. Do a search.

Personally I have an LG DVD rom drive which I flashed no hassle

whosurpaddy

Krusty_Clown:yep i mean internal for a pc. im buying a LG multi standard writer aswell, i just want a multi region dvd rom for another machine.

Lemming: i check these boards regularly and cant remember it coming up recently. its not an easy thing to search for, considering u cant use the term "dvd" as the minimum search phrase is 4 letters. u couldnt throw up a link could you. id appreciate a link to the lg one you have as would go nicely with my burner.

DiscoStu

http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php

lists just about every rpc1 firmware out there.
my old computer has an hitachi gd-5000 and it has a great little windows based tool for changing it from rpc1 and rpc2

Stark

There's a program called DVD Region Free which claims to provide a firmware-free solution for RPC2 locked drives, plus other features like allowing you to skip past the stupid warning screens etc.

vibe666

be wary of flashing any DVD drive yourself, they can very easily go wrong, and most of the time you'll be stuck with a dead one if it does.

killed the first ever DVD drive I owned by trying to flash it. i had the right firmware for the right drive and i did it the right way. I had done extensive research at the time to make sure it didn't go wrong.

and it did anyway. and the drive ended up dead.

fortunately i'd only got it the day before, so I took it back as DOA and got a replacement, so it wasn't so bad.

after that I got a little app that sits in the taskbar and makes your DVD region free via software, rather than firmware. it's only active as long as the app is running, and doesn't change anything in your drive at all, so no worries about invalidating your warranty.

a good site for all that kinda stuff is here anyway: http://www.regionfreedvd.net/rom.html

they have links to region free dvd sales and the software I mention above.

good luck, and don't mess with your drive if you don't have to.

Lemming

Originally posted by vibe666
be wary of flashing any DVD drive yourself, they can very easily go wrong, and most of the time you'll be stuck with a dead one if it does.

killed the first ever DVD drive I owned by trying to flash it. i had the right firmware for the right drive and i did it the right way. I had done extensive research at the time to make sure it didn't go wrong.

and it did anyway. and the drive ended up dead.

Really? I ballsed up my firmware flash because the floppy disk decided to die. Reflashed it and everything worked fine.

whosyourpaddy, do a search for firmware. Here's one I made earlier ....

Anyway, the flash only deals with the RPC2 lock, not any software locking - which I use DVDGenie for

vibe666

yeah. successfully completed the flash upgrade, rebooted and straight away not even the bios would see the drive.

completely fubar'd the drive. it would power up but that was it.

sneaky old me got a replacement though. claimed ignorance and got it replaced as DOA so, a lesson learned and nothing lost.

the shop had overcharged me anyway, so I didn't feel too bad about it.

scojones

is a minus dvd drive region free?

Lemming

Originally posted by vibe666
yeah. successfully completed the flash upgrade, rebooted and straight away not even the bios would see the drive.

completely fubar'd the drive. it would power up but that was it.

Sounds like you actually did fubar the flash. Because that's exactly what happened to mine, although it wouldn't recognise anything on the same IDE channel as it (so I thought I'd lost my HDD too). After frantically ripping stuff in and out of the IDE channels I figured out what happened. Then just reflashed the bugger and all was fine.

Lemming

Originally posted by sjones
is a minus dvd drive region free?

????
There's a software tool (i'll need to check the name later when I get home) that'll tell you what state your DVD drive is in. Something like "RPCInfo". it's a tiny app - only about 200kb

It'll tell you the region setting and if you have an RPC2 locked drive, version, etc.

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by Lemming
????
There's a software tool (i'll need to check the name later when I get home) that'll tell you what state your DVD drive is in. Something like "RPCInfo". it's a tiny app - only about 200kb

It'll tell you the region setting and if you have an RPC2 locked drive, version, etc.

think the tool u mean is driveinfo get it here

OfflerCrocGod

It used to be that flashing anything was tempting fate but now adays even flashing MB is easy, if anything goes wrong you just reflash with the old f/w and you should be fine!.

Krusty_Clown

SJones: is a minus dvd drive region free?

I may be min-interpreting your question, but the media supported by a DVD Rom drive has nothing to do with whether it is region free, or region locked..

-r, -rw, +r +rw - Are all types of DVD media, which your DVD drive may or may not support.

tman

try anydvd from slysoft.
a handy way around region codes without actually flashing the drives frimware.

(it also strips macrovision, amongst other things...)

it's not free, well worth the asking price though.

vibe666

Originally posted by Lemming
Sounds like you actually did fubar the flash. Because that's exactly what happened to mine, although it wouldn't recognise anything on the same IDE channel as it (so I thought I'd lost my HDD too). After frantically ripping stuff in and out of the IDE channels I figured out what happened. Then just reflashed the bugger and all was fine.

yep, same here, I'd just forgotten.

funny thing was, it was on the same channel as my cd-writer so i thought i'd buggered the both of them. boot drive and data drive were fine on the other channel though.

heart was racing for quite a while over that one, i can tell you.

BTW, i updated the sig again, what do you think? even the links to the albums work now.

John mac

I use DVD Genie
Sits on the start menu no need to flash

Makaveli

DVD Genie will not work on a RPC2 drive without a firmware flash.

Ronan|Raven

I find AnyDVD works wonders.

Creamy Goodness

overclockers.co.uk offer region free to one of the samsung drives

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_DVD_ROM_Drives_114.html

it's half way down the page

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by Cr3m0
overclockers.co.uk offer region free to one of the samsung drives

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_DVD_ROM_Drives_114.html

it's half way down the page

yea id seen that one, cheers cr3mo. prob not gonna get that one as its black, and also no plans to order other stuff from overclockers so would be expensive to get that shipped on its own.

think im gonna go for the LG dvd rom on komplett, as recommended by lemming. the LG drives seems to be easy enough to flash to region free .