Converting US Laptop's DVD code to Play UK DVD's...Does anyone know how ?

Heyhey
Any serious geeks out there ? Ive been reading some stuff about changing DVD code on my laptop to UK code so i dont have to always buy US dvd's to play on my laptop. Has anyone ever tried doing this.

BTW i have an IBM T-20 Laptop.

Thanks heaps
Zufan

There is a thread on here somewhere that describes what to do.  Just remember that you can only do change it back and forth 4 times.  After that, you can only play DVDs from the last country that you have set, either US or UK.

bvamin

thanks for the speedy heads up....what exactly does it mean no admin permission ?
I bought the T20 from US ebay and while it has Win2K they did not supply me with original Win2K programme on a disk.
I probably need the disk for admin permission eh ?
thanks

For Admin permissions if you are not an admin yourself you will need to restart the laptop, press F8 just as it turns back on, then select in the menu "Safe mode" and then once you are logged in do the following.

To Change the DVD Region goto "My Computer" and then right click on your DVD Drive, then properties and then go along in the tabs to Hardware and then in the list is your DVD Drive, click on it's properties and then to DVD Region and then find United Kingdom, and then ok. hope it helps.

What you need is a DVD region descrambler software, such as AnyDVD (http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html) or DVD Idle Pro (http://www.dvdidle.com/dvd-idle-pro.htm).

Both these proggies overwrite the internal settings of your DVD drive and allow you to watch DVDs from any country. What's more, they're also suited to bypass copy protection of (Game-/Movie-) DVDs or Audio CDs (for those who are interested in making backup copies). Which means even after you've used up your choices in your computer's drive settings, these proggies do their job. I've used both and they're equally ok. Guess it probably comes down to the price.

t.

What you need is a DVD region descrambler software, such as AnyDVD (http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html) or DVD Idle Pro (http://www.dvdidle.com/dvd-idle-pro.htm).

That is of course only if your region settings are software linked and not hardware set.

If your DVD drive is hardware set - then you can only chane it 5 times as a poster has already noted.

Hey you guys thanks for the update...

I have tried to re-set region settingsto United Kingdom in the drop down menu but this is the error message i get ..

" Unable to update region setting. Please make sure the drive cotains region 2 media and that you have administration priviledge " .

So does this mean my dvd region ( its cd/dvd combo  but when i click " my computer " it shows as a " CD Drive ") is set with software or hardware " ?

Problem is i havent even been able to use the 4-5 times you are allawed to view different region dvd's if infact it is hardware set.

thanks heaps everyone
Zufan

That is of course only if your region settings are software linked and not hardware set.

If your DVD drive is hardware set - then you can only chane it 5 times as a poster has already noted.

Logically, all hardware must be registered by the (computer) system, otherwise the devices (harddrive, disc drives ect.) wouldn't work. If a device is not registered, it can't be detected by programs relying on it. As mentioned before, once you've set your drive to a certain region via the "My Computer" settings and exceeded the 5 times, you'll stuck with that region setting.

Consequently, some geeks out there weren't happy with those restrictions and therefore developed software to overcome this. 
 
That's why no matter what region your disc drive is set to by the operating system (Win2k, XP, ME or whatever), this software will overwrite it (or bypass) and will allow you to watch DVDs from any country you wish (region 1,2,3).

Which means, if you don't run the descrambler software, your computer will use its hardware settings but the moment you launch the software, it kinda outsmarts your computer. I'm sure you can get a trial version at the beforementioned web sites so why not give it a try?

zufan, to your question re the error msg ... did you have a disc inserted while you were trying to change the region settings? Sounds as if you had a region 1 DVD (USA) in the drive during the procedure. If that's not the case it might have to do with the admin stuff. Can't help you there, I'm not familiar with Win2k.

t.

Which means, if you don't run the descrambler software, your computer will use its hardware settings but the moment you launch the software, it kinda outsmarts your computer. I'm sure you can get a trial version at the beforementioned web sites so why not give it a try?

So you personally guarantee this software will work?  You use it on your own computer?

Well, err ... I run WinXP Pro on my machine and have both proggies installed. For some reason, I prefer AnyDVD, not sure why.

The thing with these proggies (as with many others, too) is that they default themselves to run automatically with the computer start up. As I don't like so many programs run in the background (just useless waste of memory), I usually switch off this start-up option (just untick the appropriate box) and only launch the software when I need it.

The funny thing is that sometimes I would forget launching AnyDVD and wonder why my DVD wouldn't run (or why I'd get an error message that says no disc is in the drive) until it dawns on me ... and presto, I'd start the proggie and everything runs fine! As I used to live in the US for some time, I have DVDs from both regions (US & UK). In "My Computer", my DVD drive(s) are set to region 2 (UK).

It should even work with Audio CDs that are protected from being played on a computer (to prevent them from being copied) but I can't comment on that 'cause I don't own those CDs.

If anyone's interested in further study, go to http://www.videohelp.com/tools?s=25#25. There's a list of many other "Region Free" Tools, plus comments and ratings from users.

t.

Thanks teutonica!  This really great information! 

 

Glad I could help ... has anybody had the opportunity to install the software so far? Lemme know if similar 'nerdy' tips are needed 

JUst in case this is also a little handy tool that can be used even if you dont have any more changes of region on your computer, newcomer link: http://www.dvdidle.com/dvd-region-free.htm [nonactive] works wonders. I guess i will become the forum geek and technical advisor. JI Ji

Yup, it's a stripped down version of DVD Idle Pro which I mentioned in one of my earlier posts