Technical Issues and Questions

[MichaelB]

Yes, what they said - basically, take the official Mac DVD player app out of the equation. In fact, I’d recommend deleting it: it’s pretty basic and there are plenty of superior alternatives (VLC being one).

But region-coding has always been part of the DVD spec since it was first drawn up in the mid-1990s - in fact, DVDs have six regions rather than Blu-ray’s three.

[kekid]

Thank you, fdm, Domino and MichaelB. I used VLC to play the disc, and it works perfectly.
The fact remains that the Macbook Pro purchased in 2011 had a built-in DVD player, and did not have this problem.
The newer Macbook Pro's do not have built-in CD/DVD players, and they got their external players to check for region coding.
I don't know what prompted them to make the change. Perhaps pressure from the studios.
Any way, thanks again.

[MichaelB]

The fact remains that the Macbook Pro purchased in 2011 had a built-in DVD player, and did not have this problem.
The newer Macbook Pro's do not have built-in CD/DVD players, and they got their external players to check for region coding.
I don't know what prompted them to make the change. Perhaps pressure from the studios.
Any way, thanks again.

I'm very surprised by this assertion, because in my experience every DVD player supplied by Apple themselves had the same restrictions built in - I first encountered it with my very first Mac with a built-in DVD player, which must have been no later than 2004/5. As far as I'm aware, they've only permitted five region changes from the moment that they first started including them in their hardware.

And this was certainly true of my own (only just retired) 2011-model MacBook Pro.

[PfR73]

MichaelB is correct. Every Apple computer I've owned or used for the past 15-years utilized the region coding restrictions with max 5 changes for the built-in DVD player app. If you had a computer that did not, then you lucked out with some kind of fluke.

[tenia]

DVD-Rom players as a whole are built-in at firmware level with a 5-changes max restriction. It's not limited to Mac, but to the DVD-Rom players themselves. There are softwares that allows either to bypass that or to reset it at will, and IIRC, also some unofficial firmwares doing the trick, but as domino explained, it's not so much the issue of the DVD player setup itself than the softwares checking it out. Some like VLC (or MakeMKV) not checking it out allow to bypass the problem.
The 5-changes restrictions also exists on BD-Rom, and includes BD region locks. I'm wondering however if you get 5 changes for DVD AND 5 changes for BD (you should, logically), but since my PC monitor isn't HDCP compliant, I have to use a dedicated software anyway and so never bother with region issues.

[Jonathan S]

So is installing something like VLC also the best way to solve this region-code restriction for DVDs on a Microsoft/Windows PC? To play a DVD, I currently use Cyberlink PowerDVD, which came with the PC, though it's not set to open automatically when I insert a DVD.

When I go into the PC's Device Manager then into DVD/CD-ROM drives, there's a DVD Region Code panel which tells me I must select a code for the DVD drive, limited to 5 changes as usual, and I'm now down to 3, so I assumed that would override any playback apps. I can't find any PowerDVD setting to counteract it.

A techie friend sent me some Region Free software that allows him to play any DVD region whenever he likes, but it doesn't work for me (and I've tried an updated version plus uninstalling/reinstalling). So presumably either the PC's drive or PowerDVD is overriding even the Region Free software?

[Rayon Vert]

Thanks for the participants in this discussion because I just assumed my portable Apple external dvd player would only play Region 1. Now I see it plays all regions on VLC with no adjustments having to be made! Cool. (2013 was the purchase for the Mac and the external player.)

[Lemmy Caution]

Was at an electronics store in Shanghai and they were offering something they called World Tv.|
A cable box that hooks to your internet and TeeVee and provides US, French, German, etc cable tv.
Supposedly a one time fee of $130 and your good to go.
There was also a feature with movies, another for music.
There was a cheaper option (around $60) just to have software that gives you access to the same.

Anyone have any idea what this is. Probably dodgy since this is China, but intriguing.
Right now I use a Slingbox, but this has two significant drawbacks.
First off, AM and PM are swapped between China and the East Coast US, so evenings here you get morning, daytime TV. And secondly, intranet in China is fast, but internet outside China is throttled by the gov't so that streaming is pretty crappy. So the slingbox video I get is highly variable and often blurvision.
And I mostly watch basketball which involves a lot of movement and smallish figures.

Any idea what this World TV thing might be?
I wanted to read about any drawbacks and hidden fees, but first i have to figure out what it is.

[kekid]

Our university built a small theater for the film classes. I know nothing about projectors (I see Blu Rays on HD monitors). The Blu Ray player used is a region-free Sony.
When I played the Criterion Blu Ray of "The Earrings of Madame De...", the image filled up the 1.85:1 screen, thus distorting the picture. (The film is in 1.37:1 aspect ratio)
The technical support person tells me the projector decides how to show the image based on resolution, and that we cannot change the aspect ratio of the projected image. If true, this projector does not project the content in the correct aspect ratio, which would be a serious problem.
So my questions are: (1) Is it true that some projectors will automatically project the image contained on a Blu Ray disc in incorrect aspect ratio, and cannot be changed? (2) If this is untrue, how can the AR of the projection be changed? There is nothing on the projector remote that relates to this. (3) If this is true, is there some adjustment we can do on the Blu Ray player to correct this?
They spent a fortune to build this theater, and I really hope that we don't get stuck with seeing films in incorrect aspect ratios.

[stanstelling]

Check the Blu Ray player Screen Settings and make sure Screen Format is on Normal and not Full.

[WmS]

Our university ... technical support person tells me the projector decides how to show the image based on resolution, and that we cannot change the aspect ratio of the projected image.

In my uni teaching experience, the technical support person was always an IT guy who was too lazy to read the manual. I'm sure the correct setting is buried in the manual somewhere.

What are the projector/player model numbers? I remember having a similar problem at first with my Seiki/Optoma setup, easily fixed after a dig in the menus.

[kekid]

Thank you. I will look for the manual and the projector model number on Monday.

[stanstelling]

Check the Blu Ray player Screen Settings and make sure Screen Format is on Normal and not Full.

As someone who does this for a living, the best thing is to start from where the image begins, so make sure the Bluray player's settings are correct. Get a small monitor or TV and plug into the player and make sure it's outputting correctly. Most projectors are going to take what they are given and output it.
As WmS says, most IT guys don't care about this sort of thing. This should be something easily fixed.

[Godot]

Thank you. I will look for the manual and the projector model number on Monday.

Kekid, were you able to fix the issue? If not, post the model numbers for blu-ray and projector, and someone here can likely discern from the manuals the proper settings. I agree with stanstelling, it's usually best to determine at the source player rather than the receiving display (should be passive throughput). If you were going through a high-end receiver, you could also use that middle step to upscale or adapt, but best is to use the power of the first step in the A/V chain - this is one reason Oppo players used to be so prized despite their high price.

[kuzine]

I just moved continent to the US (yay academia) and hence am in the market for a new TV and player. Any recommendations for a TV in the 1k$ or below range? I assume there should be some deals to look out for later this month? My Oppo bdp-93 has served me well the past 9 years but would be considering an UHD player with region free dvd/blu capability. I know the US has issues with PAL and 1080i50, what should I look out for to not be afflicted by these as I never had compatibility issues to worry about in Europe? As it's a long term move, I will be shipping my collection over eventually with plenty of region 2/B stuff that I still want to watch.

[fiddlesticks]

Received this message regarding some Tartan DVDs I sold to a North American buyer. As they are R0, I assume the problem is that they are PAL. Is the problem likely in his DVD player or his TV, and is there likely a menu setting I can tell him to look for which might fix it? Thanks.

I was disappointed tonight when I tried to play the Ingmar Bergman DVDs I purchased from you. They do not play on my DVD player. I agree with your listing because the Region Code is marked on the box as 0, which is region-free in my understanding. However, the disc format PAL DVD 5, must not be supported by my player. Any suggestions?

[Adam X]

I'm sure someone in Nth America can better answer this, but from my understanding it's possibly both, as they've had a long history of equipment that solely supports the NTSC format. For the DVD/BD player, if available, there'd be a setting for video output where you can usually choose from PAL, NTSC or Auto. As for the TV, it entirely depends on whether it can display video at PAL refresh rate of 50 Hz (or multiples of this, ie. 100Hz).

[swo17]

I don't think you can just change a player setting and be able to play PAL

[domino harvey]

Received this message regarding some Tartan DVDs I sold to a North American buyer. As they are R0, I assume the problem is that they are PAL. Is the problem likely in his DVD player or his TV, and is there likely a menu setting I can tell him to look for which might fix it? Thanks.

I was disappointed tonight when I tried to play the Ingmar Bergman DVDs I purchased from you. They do not play on my DVD player. I agree with your listing because the Region Code is marked on the box as 0, which is region-free in my understanding. However, the disc format PAL DVD 5, must not be supported by my player. Any suggestions?

I have this issue with my Region A player, there’s nothing you can do about it, it won’t recognize the PAL signal regardless of region coding. This is why I always treated any PAL disc as R2 in my item descriptions

[Oedipax]

Is the problem likely in his DVD player or his TV, and is there likely a menu setting I can tell him to look for which might fix it?

Short of buying a region-free player that can handle PAL-NTSC conversion, the only thing he could do that will work is play the discs on a computer.

[Adam X]

I don't think you can just change a player setting and be able to play PAL

Maybe not in the US? On my (Australian) Oppo BD player, under Setup Menu>Video Setup>TV System you have a choice of NTSC/PAL/Multi-system.
In this case, choosing NTSC or PAL will convert the output signal to this format if required (ie. an NTSC disc will be converted to PAL & vice versa). Multi-system outputs whatever is on the disc in its native format. My TV will display either.

[Lemmy Caution]

Same is true in China. On every player, I'm pretty sure.

[Michael Kerpan]

US marketers prefer deliberately-hobbled devices.

[fiddlesticks]

Thanks, everyone. My buyer doesn't seem too concerned, probably since he paid <$10 for two discs, but it would be nice if they would play. Interestingly I sold other of my Tartan Bergmans to two or three other buyers at the same time as this one, which was over a month ago, and haven't heard from them. Maybe they knew what they were getting into. All of the disc players I've had for probably the past 15+ years did the PAL>NTSC conversion automatically so it never occurred to un-tech-savvy me that it might be a problem.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

In addition to my Oppo I have a bog standard Sony Bluray player bought in France and is Region B only and multi-region for standard DVDs. Recently I used it non-stop watching a series of BFI region B discs. The next time I used it for some Indicator titles it kept giving me the message that the disc didn't conform to the player as it was Region B only Puzzled I tried some other titles from Indicator and WB that were multi-region compatible which all works fine . I then tried a Region A Criterion title which surprise surprise worked
Never before in its 4-5 year old history has it been able to play Region A. It has not been chipped or modified in any way and there is no facility as far as I know to be able to use a code or similar to change it. I then went back into the settings and changed it to adopt the original factory settings but to no avail. I am still stuck with Region A.
Other than poltergeist intervention I am at a complete loss to understand what might have happened Any suggestions???