Windows7 / Region free software?

[teako170]

My old software that made my DVD drive region-free no longer functions with my new PC ; which has Win7.
Been searching Google this morning. Any suggestions for freeware out there that can make this happen? Thanks...

[Neil Koch]

I don't have Windows 7, but VLC Media Player works great on Vista, so it's probably worth a try.

http://www.videolan.org/

[BaronK]

What were you using before?

[Skepparkrans]

I have always used VLC, but i just cant make it work as region free player on windows 7, maybe im doing something wrong.

AnyDVD from slysoft works on Windows 7.. downside is that it is not freeware..

[wigsplitta]

hmmmm....that's very weird indeed. VLC does not look for any sort of region coding when playing back DVDs.

I've got a UK pc set to region 2. If I put an american region 1 dvd in, it plays fine.

I've got windows 7 on my PC. I put a disc in, open up my computer, right click on the dvd, select play with VLC and it works fine.

If I try using a proper dvd software player, then it asks me for the region....

What problems are you seeing, and what version of VLC do you have?

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4825/dvd3o.jpg

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/1185/dvdgo.jpg

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/4185/dvd1p.jpg

[Skepparkrans]

Wigsplitta
Just now i updated my VLC from the previous beta version to the 1.05 version..
and now it works!
so something in the update was fixing it.. before i could only hear sound on r3 or r1 discs and the image was only big chunks of blue, green and red stripes..
The previous version of VLC must have been lacking something..
however, VLC is still showing pixelated picture on dvd playback.. changing to openGL dont work..
Thanks anyway.:smile:

[BaronK]

Same thing happened to me and I have vista. Vlc and Mpc both play pixelated picture and crash or lock.
Doing the above doesn't work.

[wigsplitta]

That'll most likely be the processor/graphics card/dvd drive or a combo of all three.

I've not seen pixelated dvd playback on my pc for many years, but that was because i was using a P3 processor with a rubbish DVD rom drive.

The closest I've got to that recently is playing 1080p .mkv files. My home pc is new (quad core, lots of ram etc) and plays them all fine. My laptop is pretty old now, so it can handle 720p .mkv movies, but 1080p .mkv movies pixelate and stutter really badly because the processor just can't keep up with the bitrate. Likewise, I took a 720p .mkv file round to my mates to watch, and his old pc just couldn't handle it and spewed out a pixelated mess. :-(
Also, If you've got a dvd drive with a low read/write speed, then the only way round it might be to rip the dvd to your hard drive and play it back from there.

[Skepparkrans]

Well, it was not a problem under windows vista.
my computer is not brand new but it is still a pretty good computer (Intel Q6600, 8800GTX, 4gb Ram etc..) Playing 1080p .mkv on VLC is no problem what so ever, its just when playing DVD´s..

It works perfekt playing DVD´s on WMP with AnyDVD making them region free, so ill stick with that for now.