Region code sucks
Here in Hong Kong, watching different region code DVDs are common. Even at the local Blockbuster, there are separate sections for Region 3 (Hong Kong and China) and Region 1 (U.S.) DVDs. But renters don't have to give it much thought, as DVD players sold here are almost all region-free, meaning they come already with all region codes unlocked, so you can watch DVDs from any country.
The same is with my old Titanium PowerBook and the Lombard PowerBook before that. Although these built-in DVD drives didn't ship with regions unlocked, readily available DIY firmware updates will set them free. Thus, for years I never had to think twice as to where the DVD I am watching comes from.
Not so with my new 17" PowerBook. No 3rd-party firmware is yet available for my SuperDrive, so I am stuck with a restricted DVD player. I am given only five chances to choose a region, after which I have to stick to it forever. I am down to four chances, and now each time I slide in a DVD, it adds a little more anxiety to my DVD watching experience. It shouldn't be like that.
My closest savior is the folks here, who have made available a firmware update for the SuperDrive, but only for the first generation 17" PowerBooks. I happen to have the second generation one; so close, yet so far. I shall keep a close watch on this site, and pray they will come out with a solution for my PowerBook before the countdown is up. Time is of the essence.
Comments
Hi. U don't have to be stuck with Apple's DVD Player. Download VLC (free, open-source) from this website : www.videolan.org. It has a Mac OS X version and there is no region lock whatsoever. However, you lose some of the abilities of the DVD Player.
Posted by: mussafir | January 13, 2004 4:21 PM
hey, mussafir, thanks for the tip. i downloaded vlc player and it works just fine. now i can leave my dvd player in region 3, and use vlc player for all other regions. thanks again.
Posted by: kingsley | January 13, 2004 7:19 PM
bad news: i rented a region 1 dvd to try on the vlc player, but it didn't work. yet, all my region 3 discs work on vlc, as do on my apple dvd player, which is also set to region 3. so vlc doesn't do any good for me. i'm going to rent another region 1 disc to try again to be sure.
Posted by: kingsley | January 14, 2004 2:50 AM