MacBook Pro :: Matsushita UJ-857 RPC-1 (Region-Free) Update Available
Aug 29, 2007
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.
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 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
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!
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.
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.
I bought a new Macbook Pro after WWDC. it said that I can update for free, but must send a request within 30 days."Customers must request their Up-to-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchasing their Mac computer." so...
I'm not sure if this is going here or in the iPod Touch section, so I decided to just post it here.
I got an iPod Touch this Christmas, and when I was going to connect it to my computer, it said that the system was too old. I think you need to have Mac OS X version 10.4 (or 10.4.10) and I have version 10.3.9 I have searched everywhere, and gone through 20 pages in the iPod Touch section, but no one seemed/seems to have this problem.
And because I don't have version 10.4(.10), I can't use my iPod.. I can only turn it on and off.
i cant figure out how to request the free update to osx lion my laptop is brand new and i know you can request a free update if you bought it after june 11.
I just went on the update system for my MacBook on the UK Apple site, and clicked that I bought it online from Apple (which I did, on my Dad's apple account) and then asked me to login, so I did with my account and it asked me for serial number and purchase date, so I typed my serial number and and chose purchase date 7th Jan, rather than 1st December (when it was actually shipped) and it's just added the iLife '09 upgrade to my cart and said my system qualifies. Am I safe to go ahead and buy it? Could I get into trouble or something for lying about the purchase date?
on a macbook pro, you can only change the DCD region 5 times. I accidentally changed it 5 times and now it's stuck on the european region, which means that i can't watch american dvds. Â can I re-set my dcd region or do I have to go to the store? Â Â i was living abroad and that is why i had to switch so many times.
I have a problem playing DVDs on my 2007 MacBook. I recently watched a DVD in region code 1, and now I want to go back to region code 2. I have done this a couple of times, but I still have one chance left (or so DVD Player tells me). Yet when I try to change back, I get an error reading Error: - 70001. Can anyone help? It says I still have one try left???
When I first got my macbook I changed the region the 5 times you are allowed without realising that there was a limit.I had recently got a region 1 DVD and wanted to play it so I kept changing the region to region 1 and it eventually stuck on that. This is a problem because 99% of my DVDs are actually region 2 so I can't watch any of them. I didn't know there was a limit to changing it or I wouldn't have changed and now I feel pretty desperate because it was just a mistake and now I can't watch any of my DVDs on it.
I had until now only used my macbook with "local" DVD from Region 2. I have a few weeks ago watched one single DVD from region 1, and had therefore to accept the region change in the pop-up dialog. I did accept knowing I would reverse to region 2 after.
I have not read an DVD until today, hen I am trying to load again a region 2 DVD.
Problem: DVd player or Handbrake do not see the DVD, (but VLC can), and I see no dialog offering me to change the region code.
1) where can I see what is my current setting? 2) how can I get DVD player Mac OS X to present that dialog, so that I can reverse to region 2?
If I upgrade Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion (on a 2009 MacBook 5.2), is the update limited to OS X or can I also expect to see upgrades to free apps like Address Book, Mail and iCal? If the free apps do not change to match the latest versions available, can I expect updates to the free apps soon?
