Tech help needed- UK DVD in USA

[nachtjaeger]

Hey gang!

We ordered a DVD recently, and when it arrived it's encoded in UK (Region 2) PAL format. Since our brand new DVD player refuses to play out-of-region discs, Is there some freeware program that will let it play on the PC? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, as my daughter really wants to watch David Tennant and Patrick Steward in "Hamlet."

[Sekani]

Apparently new-model DVD players have a "secret" sequence of buttons you can input on the remote to disable the region locking, you may want to do a Google search on your model number to find out if that's an option.

Beyond that, all the utilities I've seen for the PC cost money, but you may get lucky and find something on download.com. Good luck, either way, and let me know how it turns out

[dlodoski]

As Sekani indicated, it is a software issue regarding playback on a PC.

I purchased a couple of refurbished HP machines that had Windows Media installed on them. Apparently, that version of Windows Media Player allows you to change the 'region' a limited number of times. As it happens, that's how I was able to play EH's Hi-De-Hi disc (which was region 2). I don't know if this helps, but it may help put things in context for you.

There are region-free DVD players out there. A popular Asian DVD site I frequent used to sell such players, but apparently they have stopped.

But if you Google "region free dvd player" and follow the link for Amazon, there are a shitload - and most are pretty reasonably priced.

[nachtjaeger]

Thanks. I was hoping there was some easy hack. I can change the region on my DVD-ROM drive 4 times, so we can watch it twice. My daughter being such an Anglophile, we may just invest in a region-free DVD player.

As Sekani indicated, it is a software issue regarding playback on a PC.

I purchased a couple of refurbished HP machines that had Windows Media installed on them. Apparently, that version of Windows Media Player allows you to change the 'region' a limited number of times. As it happens, that's how I was able to play EH's Hi-De-Hi disc (which was region 2). I don't know if this helps, but it may help put things in context for you.

There are region-free DVD players out there. A popular Asian DVD site I frequent used to sell such players, but apparently they have stopped.

But if you Google "region free dvd player" and follow the link for Amazon, there are a shitload - and most are pretty reasonably priced.