DVD Playback

[blackdice]

Hi there,

I have just bought my mates nearly-new 20" iMac G5, running Mac OS X 10.4.6.

I need to back-up/rip a region 2 DVD to my hard-drive so I can grab some screen-shots of the film in question, and then view this in VLC.

The problem is that when I insert the DVD, it gives me a message about the region not matching the DVD and being unable to play, and that the region cannot be changed any more times.

Now although Mac The Ripper WILL appear to rip the DVD, when it comes to playing it back though VLC, only bits of the film appear, and with another DVD I tried, none at all!

The bottom line is that I want to play a DVD on my iMac and grab screenshots. My iMac won't play any DVD's, and it seems to be a region problem. Is there a way I can reset the region code on the Mac?

Help, I'm desperate!

Thanks, Andi Hatcher

[fryke]

Try handbrake to rip. It converts to MPEG-4 or XviD, which might not be what you want - and certainly takes longer - but if that works, you can still take the screenshots.

[patrean]

Have you tried using VLC to play the DVD instead of DVD Player...go file/open and select the VOB folder on the disc. I don't know if VLC is region specific but it may be worth a try. At last then you can pause the movie and screen grab.

[albloom]

Andi, until that drive is "flashed" to make it region-independent,
it will be stuck in whatever region it is now set at. Check System
Profiler and tell us exactly what you have (ATA Bus). You might
be able to update its firmware to RPC1 (region free) status. Then
you can go on with your life.

[blackdice]

Thanks albloom for the promising reply! Here's the info from System Profiler:

ATA Bus:

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-825:

Model: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-825
Revision: DBN7
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal

[albloom]

Wrong answer, Andi. (Sound of obnoxious buzzer)

Matshita drives can't be altered. Buy a Pioneer. Apple has a manual on
how to replace the optical drive yourself:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/ima...ticalDrive.pdf

[fryke]

Some Matshita drives can. And btw.: Matshita == Pioneer. This drive, the UJ-825, can't, though.