Mac Mini :: Region Free (when Using MM As A Dvd Player)?
May 12, 2009
I just inserted a DVD into my mac mini for the very first time. It says I get to change the region five times (or ten, I dont remember), but my question is if it is possible to make the mac mini permanently region free, so it can read any DVD at any given time
I am considering ordering a Mac Mini from Apple's Hong Kong store which I presume will have DVD region flags set for 3 and 6 which will cover me in China where I am living now. When I moved here, I reflashed the firmware on my Dell business notebooks with a region free firmware. I am wondering if I will be able to make the mini DVD drive region free so I can play my HK and China DVD's as well as my US DVD's?
Also, I will be purchasing a new 15" MBP also from HK and will want to mod that DVD drive as well so hopefully I can get both answers here.
I'm looking for a DVD software player that plays DVD's from any region on my iMac, which is running Leopard OSX. From everything I've read, the VLC software should enable me to do this - but I've downloaded it and it doesn't! I've disabled the DVD Player that comes with the iMac and changed the settings so that the VLC software is what launches when a DVD loaded and although it'll see and run Region 1 DVD's fine, it won't pick up on, say, a Region 2 DVD. Does anyone know why this is? Or what I'm missing? I'm from England. now living in the States, so have a lot of R2 DVD's that I really need to be able to play on my iMac.
The notorious Matsushita UJ-857(D) firmware has at last been cracked, thanks to ben11 from rpc1.org. He has released region-free updates for the HAEA, HBEA, KBVB, and KCVB revisions.
Before I provide the download links, here's the obligatory disclaimer:
WARNING: DO NOT DOWNLOAD IF YOU ARE UNCONFIDENT ABOUT THE FLASHING PROCESS. IF ANYTHING GOES WRONG YOU ARE LIABLE FOR DRIVE REPAIR. THE FOLLOWING IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND IS NOT WARRANTED. FLASHING YOUR DRIVE IS IN VIOLATION OF APPLECARE TERMS
Now, take these steps before you do anything:
1. Check that you have a UJ-857 or UJ-857D drive with revisions HAEA, HBEA, KBVB, or KCVB. This can be done by going to the Apple Menu>About This Mac>More Info. This will open up System Profiler. Click on ATA and the Model number and Revision number will be listed. If it looks OK proceed to step 3.
2. If you have a UJ-857(D) drive but the revision number is NOT one of the four listed (HAEA, HBEA, KBVB, or KCVB), then you have not applied the Superdrive Update 2.1 which Apple released in June. You will need to apply this update BEFORE PROCEEDING. This update is no longer available from Apple so you can download it here. Once you have done so, proceed to step 3.
3. Download DVDInfoX to check whether you have a region set. YOU MUST HAVE PLAYED A DVD IN THIS DRIVE AND SET A REGION IN ORDER TO PROCEED. A correctly set drive will produce something along the lines of this using DVDInfoX:
Quote:
Vendor: MATSHITA Model: DVD-R UJ-857D Firmware: KBVB RPC-2 (region locked) State is SET 4 vendor resets left 3 region changes left Region 2
If "State" is "SET", you are ready to flash your drive.
4. Download the correct RPC-1 (Region-Free) update.
UJ-857 Revision HAEA
UJ-857 Revision HBEA
UJ-857D Revision KBVB
UJ-857D Revision KCVB.
5. Read the included README and then proceed to opening the "Update to region free" application. The process will start immediately. DO NOT INTERRUPT THE FLASHING IN ANY WAY - it will result in a broken drive. Also, there are only a certain number of times the drive can be flashed so be very very careful. I suggest you restart the computer and shut down any other application that is running before you run the update - just to be safe.
One note: the flashing will probably hang at 60%, and then again at 90%. This is normal. Just be patient and let it finish. Do not panic and do anything stupid.
6. If everything goes well, the flashing will finish and it will ask you to restart. Once you have done that, you can open DVDInfoX and check that the drive has been flashed. A correctly flashed drive will show something along these lines:
7. That's it. Make sure to download Region X to change the region of the drive before you play DVDs. The drive is region-free, but you must still change the region manually to play DVDs from different regions.
We have a Dual 867MHz G4 MDD (combo drive) running OSX 10.2.8. We're in the UK, which is Region 2 for DVD's.Somehow (probably by accidentally playing a Region 1 disc) the drive is stuck on region 1, and refuses to be changed to region 2.When I click on "Set region now", I get the attached error message. When I click on OK, the region 2 DVD gets ejected.How can I set the G4 so as it will play region 2 DVD's again?
NB: First mac...When I first put a DVD into my mac (DVD and mac both from Australia) I was asked to set my region code - fair enough. Then, I inserted another dvd, from Australia again. I had to reset my region code. I was alarmed to find that I could only set my region code 5 times...I know of alternatives such as VLC that ignore region coding, but none of these offer the tight integration that Apple's DVD player does.A quick google search also revealed the possibilities of installing a region-free drive, and using a utility called RegionX, which resets OSX's region change counter (only with region-free drives...). Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of extra optical drive bays, as with the Mac Pro...
This is my first mac and i have searched the forums and apple website but haven't found any concrete evidence of whether or not the optical drive is region free or not, or if there's any way of getting around it?
The new macbook's have the following:MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868: Firmware Revision:KA13....Is there any chance this is going to be cracked? If so, where should I be looking. I find it ridiculous that a laptop isn't region free!
So for the last couple years I have been addicted to Amazon.com. Living in Australia, I cannot get many of the DVDs I want (especially TV Shows). So 2 years, and thousands of dollars later, I have a stack of Region 2 DVDs (as well as many Region 4 from when I buy local).
I think you see where I'm going
Is there working, *safe* Region-free software available for OS X? I've had a look around the place, such as [EDIT: Links removed], but have found their solutions are either for OS9, or seem to be a little risky.
I'm looking for a software-based Region hack that works the same/similar way as DVD Region Free on the PC (that is, you just have to have the software running in the background when you play a DVD and it makes it region-free, so no risky firmware hacks).
I wish VLC supported menu systems better than they do or I'd just use that, but at the moment it is simply too much of a headache to use for DVDs.
Who agrees since they're not or probably will never update the mac mini again they should at least update it with the 'addons' (more like essentials) for free?
I hate how they nickel and dime you with the ram and hd (because they know most people will opt for the upgrades). It's pretty standard for that price now to have at least 2GB of memory!
Either way I'd like to get one not really for real use (with it's current specs) but more like a novelty item...
I have a Mac Mini 500GB and have 440GB of movies on it. I have deleted the files from the iTunes media folder and have emptied the trash but the storage information still says that my hard disk is almost at capacity with 440GB of movies...all of the files from the iTunes folder are stored elsewhere on an external hard drive and I have iTunes talking to the exernal hard drive so I really want to free up the space on the mac mini.
I dont know what else to do because I cant even find any mv4 files and when I search for files over 1GB, the only thing that comes up is iPhoto.
I have made a movie on my imovie, and it will play on my macmini and my laptop but when I put it in my dvd player it says disc error. How do I get it to play on all dvd players?
I recently bought my first Mac and I bought an LG CP40 blu ray player to watch and burn DVDs. I know the player works because the first thing I did was use it to install Office for Mac. I put the disk in and the install happened automatically and worked fine. My problem is I can't get the Mac to recognize that there is even an optical drive connected to it so I can't open the contents of disks or watch DVDs.
So a few months back my old mac mini decided to crap out on me and I was computer-less for those few months. Since my money situation isnt too good right now (unemployed, live at my grandmas and my dad supports me. Im 21 btw) I didnt bother getting it fixed until recently. Keep in mind the computer is out of warranty and I dont have Apple Care. So I eventually took it to the apple store and they said the logic board was fried and possibly the ram. They quoted me at $317 for a new logic board. I told them I'll give it a wait because I cant afford it. So a few weeks later I decide to go back and ask if I can get it done for a cheaper price. They told me they can do it for $217 with just the logic board replaced and if it needs ram they will tell me. They end up calling me telling me to pic it up and that the price is $377. I told them no, they told me they'll do it for 217. She tells me they had to replace the ram as well and thats why the price was higher. So I told her that as long as the computer still works with the old ram just put back the old ram and Ill pay the $217....
So I get a call back today saying I can pick it up. I ask them just to make sure how much the price was. She says no charge. So im of course confused and ask to speak to the person who repaired it. She tells me that since mac mini's are hard to open and shouldnt be opened a bunch of times that they just left it with the new logic board and ram and decided to do it for free given the small hassle I had with them. I couldnt believe it! It was a $377 dollar job and they just let it slide.
Does anyone know if I can get a win-amp like skin for itunes? I hate how the mini player takes up so much space, if I could make it longer and shorter(instead of this stubby one) it'd be so much more convenient.
I became accustomed to using CMD+Z to switch iTunes into Mini Player and normal view. Not sure why I started using CMD+Z (I'm pretty sure it was the original shortcut before it got changed..?). Anyway, in previous iTunes versions, the green button would take it to and from Mini Player. So, to get the CMD+Z shortcut to work, I created a shortcut in Keyboard (in System Preferences) for iTunes, and assigned the menu title "Zoom" to CMD+Z. Well, that obviously doesn't work in iTunes 9 since the green button, or "Zoom" now just does what the green button does for everything else in OS X. So to get around that, all you have to do is add two new shortcuts. One for Switch to Mini Player and one for Switch from Mini Player and assign them both to CMD+Z (or whatever you prefer). Thought I'd share that if anyone else was in the same boat as me.