Region code + ripping

[bidwell88]

I have a Type II DVD drive, which allows up to 5 changes of the
region code. I am currently in region 1, if I used SmartRipper to
rip a region 3 DVD disk, would that counts as a region code change
for my DVD drive? Thanx for any response.

[Akai Rounin]

OK, so I did a search through the forums for the terms "SmartRipper region" and found several posts. This was the closest to what I was looking for, so I decided to post under it. The original post was not answered, so I hope it won't go overlooked this time.

I would like to rip video from some Japanese Anime Region 2 DVDs. I want to make either a) VCD 2.0 movies or b) DivX 4.12 video discs for playback on a Sega Dreamcast. I would use either Dreammovie (VCD 2.0) or DC DivX Player to watch them. I am not interested in making full backups on DVD-Recordable discs for use on a standalone DVD player.

1) Can a DVD-ROM read data from any region disc, even if it will not play the movie?

2) Is it necessary to change a DVD-ROM drive to a region free setting in order to simply RIP data from it?

3) Where do I look to find out if the brand/model of DVD-ROM drive I own can be made region free?

4) Will the process of making the drive region free count against the number of times its region can be changed?

5) Are there discs that demand a specific region be set regardless or region free setting?

6) Can I use SmartRipper to get the desired effect?

7) What other software is recommended to complete the process?

8) Should I just buy a second DVD-ROM for the PC and set it to Region 2?

The DVDs I want to use have not been released in the US market. However, there is a local store where I can rent or buy Japanese DVDs. I would just make my standalone DVD player region free, then capture through a TV card to the PC, but the hack listed on this site didn't work. I'd prefer not to buy a Japanese Region 2 DVD player if it can be avoided. Thanks for your help!

Unta Glebin Gloutin Globin,

Akai Rounin, The Cyber Sage

P.S. I did come across The Complete Region Free Guide at Digital Digest, that may solve my problem.

[khelms]

I suspect this "5 changes allowed" stuff is controlled through a combination of the hardware and the player software. There must be some kind of command the player software sends to the hardware that says "increment the change count". I had a Dell laptop with a DVD player that "supposedly" you could only change the region 5 times on, but I set up two partitions each with a separate copy of Windows, then set the region code to 1 in one partition and 2 in the other partition. The player software stashed the region number in the registry and since I never changed the region code as far as that copy of the player was concerned, I never hit the 5 limit. When I wanted to play a region 2 disc, I just booted up the copy of Windows that "thought" it was in region 2.

I would guess that smartripper does not issue the "increment the change count" command, so you probably can freely rip as many discs from other regions as you want. However, I could be off base here and will apologize profusely if your player gets "stuck" on another region number!

[Shabubu]

Complicated topic.

Basically there's two types of drive. RPC1 and RPC2. The last example was what happens with RPC1 drives, all the region stuff is done by windows. There's easier ways to get around it than having a mulitboot system. DVD Genie comes to mind.

All new drives are RPC2, these drives have internal region settings, completely seperate to windows. As far as I'm aware the drive reads the discs region and changes if necessary. Remember this has NOTHING to do with windows, and once your 5 changes are up you have to send it back to the manufacturer to get it reset (which you can only do 4 times).

To find out which you drive is you have to use drive info. If you do a lot of ripping from other regions you should get a region free drive, you can do this yourself or you can get one done (overclockers.co.uk does one a pioneer for about 50 sterling). You'll still need DVD Genie, but you won't have to send the drive back