WinXP will not recognize DVD, period. Plays fine on Mac.

[3030vision]

I bought a few DVDs in Malaysia recently. A bunch of them played fine but i've been having trouble with a recent set. My Region 1 Sony DVP-NC65P displays "Playback prohibited by area limitations" and moves on the the next disc. No problem, so i try them on my PC. The disc does not appear to be recognized whatsoever! (Can't see/browse files or anything.) Even stranger, they play on my girlfriend's iBook. What's up?

Originally i figured this was not a region issue but rather a PAL issue, but it seems like my PC should be able to figure out (and convert) PAL without a problem, correct?

So today i downloaded a number of programs: a flash utility to make my DVD drive region free (a LiteOn SOHW-1693S), DVD Region+CSS Free, etc., etc. I cannot seem to get Windows to recognize that there is a DVD player in the drive at all. It seems like this is the first step before any of these programs can do their work. Am i right here?

I understand that there are multiple levels of protection (hardware, OS, software), but i can't seem to figure out how to get these DVDs to be recognized (and then play) in Windows XP! Certainly there has to be a way. Do i start by disabling the region on my DVD drive and go from there (which i've done), or just leave it? I've switched it back and forth a few different times and i'm losing track of all the different combinations i've tried. Also, the DVD drive is relatively new, and i believe i saw similar behavior with my previous DVD drive.

Any help with this problem is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[thevoelk]

I had the same issue with some Far East DVDs. The ones I got were NTSC and my Win XP desktop wouldn't recognize them, but my dad's did. So all I did was make a backup using my dad's computer. It's probably, as in my case, a drive issue instead of a Windows issue. I know it's not much help, but I would at least stay clear of the company that produced the discs from now on (don't blame the store). If I remember right, my dad's DVD-ROM that was able to read it without issue was a Samsung, nothing special. Hope this helps.