Planning to assemble a new PC need help on DVD Rom

[abe_wann_cannotbe]

To all,


I'm planning to assemble a new PC and I'd like to know what brand of DVD Rom is best suitable for me. I'm from the Philippines so you'll have idea on what region coding is suitable for the DVD Rom. Is there a drive that can access all regions? Well, if there is none which I strongly suspect please tell me what to do just in case I bought one and played a DVD (Philippines' Region) on it. I read somewhere before that the DVD drive adjusts it's settings once it's used for DVD playing and this needs to be reset after use for 5 times? Please don't recommend a software yet that will enhance the drive to read all DVDs wheteher what's the region coding because I'm basically starting and want to focus first on the hardware. By the way, I'm setting sights on a Lite-On brand but of course I wanna read ur opinions also to make the right decision. Thanks


Abe Wann Cannotbe

[uvax]

There's no such thing as an unmodified DVD-ROM that will read all regions. After the fifth change of the drive's region setting, whatever setting it is at is permanent.

Only way around this is to flash the drive's firmware with a hacked rpc1 version or install software that will mask the drives region setting. Take your pick. Software approach is easier and has less chances of accidentally killing your drive.

[abe_wann_cannotbe]

Ok. So you're telling me to go ahead with my DVD Rom of choice, am I right? Starting from your third sentence up to the last I was confused since I haven't had any ideas on the technobabble. I'm new to these kind of stuff so please pardon a noob. Based from your reply I can't go wrong on whatever drive I'd put on the PC, right?

[SPaCeMaN SPiFF]

initially dvd-rom drives were all RPC1... RPC1 drives have no region encoding in their firmware. this means that region locking after a 5th change only happens on the software level. a simple re-format or re-installation of your operating system (like windows xp) will reset all region changes and give you 5 chances to change the region setting all over again. this was fairly easy to bypass... and there were several software out there (e.g. dvd genie) that would help bypass this so that you need not reset your PC everytime you ran out region changes.

i think it was somewhere between 1999 & 2000 when the RPC2 drives came out. these were dvd roms that aside from having a software limit of 5... the firmware itself locks itself to the region specified at the 5th change. say you have a newly installed PC with a new dvd-rom drive... and you decided to set it to region 3 (philippines)... but you slipped in a region 1 disc. the software will initially let you change it to that region. effectively leaving you with 4 more changes. but with an RPC2 drive, even if you re-format your PC after that first change (hence the number of changes to software will bceome 5 again) the drive's firmware will only let you change it 4 more times... it remembers. even if you slip it into another PC, it remembers.

if you are planning to buy a "brand new" dvd-rom drive that will read all regions without any special software or hacks ... you may be out of luck. as all new drives currently in the market are RPC2 already. sorry. 

one solution is to download a hacked firmware BIN and "flash" the drive's firmware rom to make the RPC2 drive into an RPC1 drive. but doing so will void your warranty (since most hacked firmware are not sourced from the manufacturers). also since "flashing" involves writing "read-only" data on a chip, a lot of things can go wrong. and if it does, it'll make your dvd-rom work less efficiently or worse, render it useless.

another solution is to "buy" (and these are not cheap) special software that'll bypass the RPC2 setting. one great example is "dvd region-free". it works even on RPC2 drives. but it must be running in the background while you play your dvds. so make sure you have a lot of CPU power before you decided to get this. try looking for software like this on the net... most will offer you a 30-day free trial.

i hope this helps. 

[abe_wann_cannotbe]

First of all, my apologies to uvax for my due credit. Many thanks uvax I really appreciated ur reply. Many many thanks also to you SPaCeMan SPiFF I learned so many things from ur post. Now I'm settled for my drive. The software is a different matter I think I've already read the thread regarding the matter, just have to do some searching. Anyway, if anyone has a link to that thread it'll be nice to point me at that direction. Thanks!

[uvax]

As SPaCeMaN said you can use "dvd region-free" (I also use this one). You can also try Slysoft AnyDVD. Official webpage for dvd region-free is http://www.dvdidle.com/dvd-region-free.htm. This is limited trial only.

Try looking around your suking tindahan  for these. If you do bittorrent on broadband these are also floating around the net.

[abe_wann_cannotbe]

Thanks uvax. Maghahanap ako sa Tindahan ni Aling Nena  . Seriously, I don't know if I can download the software coz I don't have an internet connection. I'm only renting at a local internet shop. I guess I have to buy it without trying it first. Any recommendations anyone?

[Jett]

You may also want to try DVD43 --> http://www.dvd43.com. It's FREE. I have been able to play Region 3 DVDs on my Region 1 DVD drive. I have not extensively tested this though to see its limitations compared to what Spiff and uvax mentioned.

[SPaCeMaN SPiFF]

you are very welcome abe. i'm just glad i was able to help at all....