Problem with Matshita UJ240AF internal BD/DVD/CD burner

[AlecWest]

I haven't tried to read or burn BluRay discs yet. But when I try to read a DVD (Region 1), I get this message from AnyDVD:

Using "DriveInfo22," this is the information shown:

I haven't found a way to make this burner "region-free." Is there a way?

P.S. BTW, I have an external burner that reads just fine. And both drives burn just fine. The only problem I have is on the internal drive - and only when I try to read a DVD.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[Baldrick]

Can you play the dvd with a software player? Does it complain anything about region coding?
Tried another ripper? MakeMKV.

[OldMan64]

That drive is most likely in a laptop. The warning about Region locked RPC2 means the drive cannot be made region-free, also. Those Matshita drives work just fine as long as the region matches the DVD source region.
The reason the external drive works is that AnyDVD can manipulate the region with software on that drive.

[AlecWest]

Can you play the dvd with a software player?

Tried VLC ... but it just does nothing. No error messages. Just nothing.

FWIW, I tried to open CloneDVD2 ... but got an error message. Then, I exited AnyDVD and tried to open the disk with DVDshrink (all by itself). It was able to read and rip the DVD. And the DVD was just released last week. Go figure.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[AlecWest]

That drive is most likely in a laptop.

Yes.

Those Matshita drives work just fine as long as the region matches the DVD source region.

But the DVD "is" Region 1 ... and DriveInfo22 says my drive is set for Region 1. I confess I'm left scratching my head on this issue.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[AlecWest]

Tried another ripper? MakeMKV.

Nice tool. It even remembers chapter breaks. But, only in MKV format. I'd have to re-convert to MPEG2 format, manually insert the chapter breaks with DVDauthorGUI, and shrink with DVDshrink.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[usually_quiet]

Tried VLC ... but it just does nothing. No error messages. Just nothing.

Did you try clicking "Media" and "Open Disc", then set Disc Selection to DVD and click "Play", or did you only allow VLC to attempt auto playback after inserting the DVD?

[AlecWest]

Did you try clicking "Media" and "Open Disc", then set Disc Selection to DVD and click "Play", or did you only allow VLC to attempt auto playback after inserting the DVD?

I clicked on Media, then Open Disc, then set Disc Selection to DVD and clicked "Play." I don't like "autoplay" on any utility. Anyway, after I hit "Play," VLC did absolutely nothing. No error. No anything. Just sat there.

Oh, well...

Regards,
J. Alec West