DVD R/W in Powerbook G4 (UJ-825) won't recognize Copied DVD

[RegionFreeMan]

I recently perused all the UJ-825 posts I could, but none of them addressed the issue I seem to have:

Background: My son has one Region 2 DVD, purchased from Sony BMG Virgin Records here in the US. He had no idea that he would end up with an internal DVD player locked to Region 1 when he used his Powerbook 15 1.5 GHz to play the disc then switch to others.

Since I cannot find a way to Region Free or Manufacturer's Reset the Matshita UJ 825 v. DAM5 (somehow fits)...I thought I would do the following:

Use MacTheRipper to create Any Region Rip. Then, rather than compress using DVD2OneX, just burn straight to DVD+R DL, uncompressed, using Toast 7.0.2 in UDF format, using a Verbatim DVD+R DL blank.

I did this. I placed the disc in the UJ-825 internal drive and...it mulled the idea of mounting the disc, then sent it back out. So, to see if I had incorrectly burned the disc, I placed it back in the burner (LaCie d2) and what do you know...it played, region free in DVD Player or VLC.

To see if it was a fluke, I tried it in my older Powerbook Firewire (MATSHITADVD-ROM SR-8174). It plays, just like the original, but without the Region Change warning I get if I place the Original in the drive. It will not, however, play in the Theatre System Panasonic DVD player...The original is cited as not a correct Region for this machine and will not play there either.

Do I need to re-rip using MTR to encode to Region 1 only(?) in order to have this disc play in his Powerbook?
Did I correctly RIP and Burn?
Did I somehow choose the wrong media?
Will a DVD+R recorded by Toast 7 in UDF file format look like the original to the Pbook except for Region?
Why does my older Matshita read this disc without problem? What might be the UJ-825's issue with this disc?
Can I make the disc compatible to read in the Panasonic DVD player?

Input on any or all questions (they may all be related to one key I've missed) would be appreciated, guys.

...J

[Case]

I've heard of players that don't like all region discs, although I couldn't name any. So try what e.g. iDVD does: make it region 1-2-3-4-5-6, but not 7-8.

[lawnman]

Maybe this will help?

http://www.ripdifferent.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=1666

Hope this isn't against the rules.

[RegionFreeMan]

Case:
Thank you. I think MTR's developers mentioned that one in their user guide...to set the region codes to 1 through 6...may have to try that.

lawnman:
Thanks for the thread reference...I didn't realize the MTR developers had a forum...but there was one particular thing that caught me, and that is the issue of NTSC/PAL color. That could very well be the stumbling block for the Panasonic DVD player, as the disc is PAL and almost everything else here in the US is N(ever) T(he) S(same) C(olor) twice... Ha ha.

...J

[maetel99]

I doubt this has anything to do with the disc region. Rather, I would bet it is a conflict between the brand of media you are using and the UJ-845.

I have had a similar experience with a DVD-R on cheap no-name media that reads fine on at least three other drives but fails to mount at all in the Matsushita drive in my iMac G5.

Do you have the latest UJ-845 firmware installed? The other possibility of course is that the laser in your UJ-845 is not in good shape.

[RegionFreeMan]

maetel99,

One of the issues with the UJ-825 is the inability to find firmware updates. (I think otherwise the unit would have been cracked and made RPC-1 by now.) I know there are later or different firmware versions, as noted by at least two other thread postings where the revision lettering was different from my son's.

Secondly, this wasn't cheap media, in fact all DL media is pricey even if it has shown up on forums as mixed or poor compatabilty...Verbatim has been given good compatabilty and burn ratings on at least two forums regarding their DVD+R DL media - right up there with Phillips.

However, you may have still hit a chord here, this specific drive and revision may in fact have some issues with DVD+R DL, although, in theory at least, the DVD as prepared by Toast should make it simply appear as a DVD-ROM to the Drive...Then again, maybe not.

As to the workings of the drive, it gets used a lot! And I suppose even though it is perhaps a year old (1yr 6mos)...

Does lens cleaning or any of that stuff help? Haven't really heard anyone singing praises of the maintenance approach. Have extended Apple Care, but he can't do without the computer during the school year.

Try different media. (This is getting expensive for a single DVD in his collection = - o) Further suggestions?

...J

[RegionFreeMan]

My son came home from college for the weekend and I thought I'd check out a few more things...man am I embarrassed-(darn newbie)-the drive is a UJ 825... Would this make a difference to anything...

It can burn DVD-R, -RW, +R, +RW. Can't write DL. Does this mean it cannot read DL. Profiler says it simply Reads DVD: Yes. Very informative...

And new info, and I suppose this would be expected, since the drive will not write DVD DL, if I insert a blank DVD+R DL, it ejects it in the same manner as the burnt DVD I would like it to play...

Just need to get over it, compress it and use DVD R, huh? ...although it does play on my 'ancient' Powerbook Firewire...

...J