Chii-Tan in the manga, which volume was it?

[AprilSeven]

Woooo Hooo!

Thanks, Cybotron!

*Gets out pen and paper: Dear Santa..."*

[diehard67]

try vlc, it uses libdvdcss to handle encryption and acording to what I reead it doesn't care if the drive is fermware locked for a regine code it will work around it somehow.

aaaaaaa, I had a non regine 1 disk I would test but I dont.

[jeffbert]

So, in other words . . . there is no simple, direct way for a person to purchase a set of Japanese Astro Boy DVDs and play them on their existing computer or dvd player. And now there are "regions" which "can't be mixed" unless you have the skills and know-how to jail-break the device.

Yet, they aren't available to watch on the internet, because of copyright issues. This just ISN'T FAIR!!

I can't see me trying to finagle old disk drives, etc. The whole thing is ridiculous. :d oh:

I have 3 DVD drives, bought several years apart, & I can play any region coded discs on any of them.

[QUOTE=jeffbert;110050] I never had a problem with ANYDVD or the other program I used before it. This problem of which you speak is news to me.

AnyDVD only works on the software side, but cannot change the firmware of a drive. If you never had any problem, it may be that you use an RPC1 drive, or your drive was modified.

See this short Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPC1

It is possible to change the firmware of a drive, but no one has hacked the one I own yet. Anyway, connecting another drive to my laptop is not a pain at all, but it makes me sad that companies are constantly trying to make it harder for us to watch things we buy.[/QUOTE]
The page you cite only says the very basics of the problem. All my drives are RPC-2 & set to region 1 at the factory. If not for RPC-2 there would be no need for software to get around the region codes. If you installed ANYDVD but still saw the dialog box that asked you if you wanted to change your drive's region codes when you tried to play a disc from a different region, then there must be some other problem. As far as I know, it should circumvent the RPC-2 restrictions.

[F-Man]

The page you cite only says the very basics of the problem. All my drives are RPC-2 & set to region 1 at the factory. If not for RPC-2 there would be no need for software to get around the region codes.

Yes because there are ultimately three blocks. The firmware/hardware block on the drive, the block by Windows, and the block by the media player (not present on VLC, in fact VLC may circumvent the Windows block as well).

If you installed ANYDVD but still saw the dialog box that asked you if you wanted to change your drive's region codes when you tried to play a disc from a different region, then there must be some other problem. As far as I know, it should circumvent the RPC-2 restrictions.

AnyDVD pops up a message saying my firmware is region locked and to check if there is a region-free firmware on the most popular site for such things. (there isn't)

EDIT: I just rechecked and thought I'd mention this important part of the pop up: "Known drives having this problem are RICOH/PHILIPS DVD Writers and Mat****a/Panasonic DVD readers and writers. Sure enough, I own a Panasonic.

[jeffbert]

Well, this is a surprise to me. I have a Samsung, a Sony, & an external LG, all work fine with ANYDVD. The LG is the most recent one I bought. There are frequent updates to ANYDVD, so you might contact the company, & see if it has any helpful suggestions other than to buy an external drive. You might also do a printscreen & send that to SLYSOFT.