Can DVD-ROMS Play PAL and All Regions (1 Viewer)

[JonS]

I just got a new laptop that has a dvd player in it. I was wondering if I could play PAL and other region dvds on it. Thanks

 

[Sam Owens]

You'll probably need to flash the firmware of the DVD drive Link Removed (WARNING - IF INCORRECTLY PERFORMED, YOU'LL BE LEFT WITH AN EXPENSIVE PAPERWEIGHT) and download a utility like DVD Region Killer or DVD Genie.

 

[HankM]

I also thought my PC would play multi-region PAL dvd's. After I got my multi-code dvd player I tried to play a PAL R2 dvd in my PC. A window prompted me to change the current region to 2. Here is the catch, it said that I have four tries left after I change the current region number. So lets say I wanted to watch four more R2 or any other region dvd's, after the fourth change my DVD-ROM drive would lock to the last current region, say 2. It also said re-loading the program or changing the DVD-ROM drive to another PC would not-unlock the region. This is why you need to download or buy some software.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

flash your firmware and you're okey-day
At one point I was actually considering buying 4 DVD ROMs for region 1-4

 

[cafink]

I use DVD Genie to play discs from any region on my DVD player, with no problems. Why would one need to flash his firmware?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Because any drive made after 2000 is hard wired to lock to a certain region after 5 changes.

 

[Eric F]

Under XP you're probably going to have to do both. There are two ways software handle region changes, stuff like WinDVD is coded into the software itself, while other software like CinePlayer uses the system key.

So you should flash your firmware region free if you have one available, and then use DVD Region Killer or DVD Genie depending upon what software you use. A pain, but it works.

 

[Anders Englund]

Because any drive made after 2000 is hard wired to lock to a certain region after 5 changes.

Well, that's not completely true. The drive will lock to a region after 5 chnages, but it's (usually) not irreversible. Mine locks, but you can also reset the drive 5 times, making the total number of changes 25. And, when those are used up, you can to a complete reset on the drive and start all over again.
Of course, this requires you to find the right software. Do a search on Google for your DVD-ROMs specific brand and model and add "region crack" or something. I'm sure you'll find something. There are some pretty smart guys out there who dedicate all their free time to these kind of things.
--Anders

 

[Chris Xolotl]

You should be able to play R0 PAL discs straight out the box