why does my computer say i can only swap film regions a limited number of times before it becomes fixed?

Question

ie: ive watched region 1 and region 2 films and i just assumed my computer functioned like a multi-region dvd player.

now when i try to play a non uk dvd....a pop-up tells me ive reached the maximum number of changes.

can anyone explain this situation.

is there something i can do to return my computer to being able to play any dvd?

Answer 1

DVDs are divided in "regions" because of copyright issues. The release of a movie on DVD seldom takes place worldwide at the same day. Players are therefore limited in their ability and can only play a "selected region". Computer manufacturers however, sell their PCs worldwide and build them all in some factories. They only install local OS (windows, Mac and so on) at a later stage.

Therefore their DVD player must, when out of the factory, be able to play all regions. In order to "block" them from being worldwide compatible, PC manufactuer insert this feature that limits the number of region changes the user can make, so that they usually are then blocked to the region the person lives in (and purchases DVDs).

This is, however, a SOFTWARE limitation and not a hardware one. Therefore, by installing a "crack" the user might be able to unblock the player for good, allowing as many region changes as one wants.

In fact, some of the first home DVD players were "code free". This however created the problem that people would purchase, over the internet, whatever DVD they found the cheapest, regardless of the region. Moreover DVD movies where available, for instance, in the US long before Europe. Because of distribution rights (these rights cost lots of money, I know that for a fact) the industry decided to limit the interoperability of players.

So movie studios can sell at a higher price their distribution rights because they offer some sort of "protection" to the buyer of these rights, because he will not suffer of competition from other distributors worldwide.

So, all in all, if you want a zone free DVD player you only have to look for the appropriate "unblocking software" on the internet. Not that I suggest you to do that, being it illegal, but just in case you player was stuck to a region which is not yours and did so because you didn't know the featuer was there.

Answer 2

Dvd's are split into different regions 1 being usa 2 being UK etc Your software usually lets you change the regions for a limited number of times then locks up. You need to download either dvd region_css free or any dvd these remove the copyright for you when you insert your dvd in the drive and let you play or copy it

Answer 3

Due to Copyright, DVD's have regions so you cannot buy DVD's in other countires cheaper than where you live, and different countries have different Copyright laws which is why they have different regions.

Supposedly, you DVD drive should only be playing one region of DVD. Becuase people move country, they allow you to change it, but a limited nunber of times. I am not sure what you can do to get it working again. You can try DVD ripping software like DVD shrink which can make region-free dvd's, but it will be a hassle everytime you want to watch a film, yuo have to rip it first.

Answer 4

I solved this problem by buying a second dvd player and installing it and setting it as region 1

Answer 5

Hollywood b**tards.

You would think a device you can take anywhere on the planet should have a multi region reader wouldn't you?

No.

It is to prevent the viewing ahead of local release time, while giving you enough goes at it before realising your error.

With my limited skills, I don't know of anyway to undo the function (except reinstall the OS)

Very annoying.

Answer 6

You can download a programme to make your DVD player region free, I suggest you try google. However when I had this problem I just downloaded a different player and codec pack and it would play them for me. Try downloading the K lite codec pack and then play it through windows media player.

Answer 7

See if this link helps