It's been a long time since i played with region settings within a DVD drive but from memory the first time you insert a DVD into your new DVD drive, the playback application will request that you set the region code. And the DVD region code within your DVD drive is not something that is automatically set by the OS based on teh OS's region.
The DVD region code, when set, is saved within the DVD player firmware and thus the region setting will follow the drive (if you move it to another machine). Also, reinstalling the OS will have no direct impact on the DVD drive's region setting since it's the application that controls this setting (which was saved to the DVD drive's firmware) rather than the OS (control panel/OS region setting).
Once the region code is set, if you insert a DVD from another region into your drive, the playback software will detect that the region (which is saved within the drive firmware as mentioned) is incorrect for this specific disk. In such cases, the DVD playback software will then ask if you want to change the region code to this new DVD region so you can play back this DVD.
As you are aware, you only get 4 or 5 changes before the DVD drive firmware will not allow the region code to be changed any longer at which point you are stuck with whatever the last region code was set to. What this means is that if you are not careful, the DVD drive region code could be set (by you) to something other than your local region (where you buy the majority of your DVD's). The consequence may be you can't play back most of your disks. Luckily it's easily solved by using other DVD playback software that ignores region codes restrictions and can thus plays back DVD's from any region (using brute force decryption which on todays machines is trivial).
And remember that from windows 8.0 and later, media (DVD) player software is not included within the OS itself so you were forced to buy your own playback software (which M$ happily sold you).
(Oh, and if you thought DVD playback software was a pain, try Cyberlink (OEM) BD playback software! All BD playback software must manage periodic decryption key updates to be able to continue playback. And the player can be revoked (remotely killed by the BD alliance) at any time! This revocation can happen if the alliance decides the player is 'compromised' where they can add the 'player key' to the revocation on every new BD movie release. Then by simply by inserting a new BD movie into your drive, the alliance can stop playback of new (or all) BD movies - nice NOT!)
Since the device manger under cd/dvd is not set on pc should I change this to US first and then see if the dvd player will pick up the region which is US on the pc in the control panel?
I would like windows media player to play my videos instead of the DVD player since I really don't use the cyberlink. In older versions of windows I always used media player even though I had a DVD player on the other OS's. I don't see an option to change what player is used when watching movies or videos. I also put in an movie and it plays but the movie goes back to probably 2002 or before. This movie worked but not this one I watch from time to time.
I have windows 8.1 and I have Internet Explorer and Media Player both on this computer. It was preinstalled on this laptop. I will try resetting the defaults to see what happens.
OS region is not the same as DVD region code... They are different things...
Yes, you can use the device manager to check how many region code changes are allowed, check the current region code set on the drive and also set a new region code for the player (if remaining changes > 0).
In Windows 7, which has a dvd capable media player as standard, you can set the desired default program by doing the following:
go to control panel
click default programs
click change autoplay settings
select desired program for audio cd, dvd movie, etc
Then whenever you insert a disk into the DVD drive, the default player you have set will automatically start playback.
With Windows 8 and later, i'm not sure if setting the default player process is the same but my understanding is that Windows Media Player is not included in the OS as standard (so Mediaplayer program would not be available to select as a default player, unless you bought the Media Player addon).
Then whenever you insert a disk into the DVD drive, the default player you have set will automatically start playback.
Just be mindful that to play back DVD, the media player you set as default must have the capability to actually decrypt and thus play back DVD's which may require certain codecs that may or may not be included as standard within the player. It's all licensing roadblocks for what is maths at the end of the day. And Microsoft couldn't have made it more convoluted if they tried, see here and here for some details.
Alternatively you can install opensource playback software like VLC which is not fussed with region codes or such complexities as it just simply works with almost any video format (excluding BD's which can be played but require more effort to set up).
For specifics on "DVD playback on Windows 8.1" simply use google seach to find links to relevant pages and read.
Hopefully it will work for you once you set the DVD reagion code using device manager.
skylarking
2 Intern
•
548 Posts
0
October 14th, 2015 21:00
It's been a long time since i played with region settings within a DVD drive but from memory the first time you insert a DVD into your new DVD drive, the playback application will request that you set the region code. And the DVD region code within your DVD drive is not something that is automatically set by the OS based on teh OS's region.
The DVD region code, when set, is saved within the DVD player firmware and thus the region setting will follow the drive (if you move it to another machine). Also, reinstalling the OS will have no direct impact on the DVD drive's region setting since it's the application that controls this setting (which was saved to the DVD drive's firmware) rather than the OS (control panel/OS region setting).
Once the region code is set, if you insert a DVD from another region into your drive, the playback software will detect that the region (which is saved within the drive firmware as mentioned) is incorrect for this specific disk. In such cases, the DVD playback software will then ask if you want to change the region code to this new DVD region so you can play back this DVD.
As you are aware, you only get 4 or 5 changes before the DVD drive firmware will not allow the region code to be changed any longer at which point you are stuck with whatever the last region code was set to. What this means is that if you are not careful, the DVD drive region code could be set (by you) to something other than your local region (where you buy the majority of your DVD's). The consequence may be you can't play back most of your disks. Luckily it's easily solved by using other DVD playback software that ignores region codes restrictions and can thus plays back DVD's from any region (using brute force decryption which on todays machines is trivial).
And remember that from windows 8.0 and later, media (DVD) player software is not included within the OS itself so you were forced to buy your own playback software (which M$ happily sold you).
(Oh, and if you thought DVD playback software was a pain, try Cyberlink (OEM) BD playback software! All BD playback software must manage periodic decryption key updates to be able to continue playback. And the player can be revoked (remotely killed by the BD alliance) at any time! This revocation can happen if the alliance decides the player is 'compromised' where they can add the 'player key' to the revocation on every new BD movie release. Then by simply by inserting a new BD movie into your drive, the alliance can stop playback of new (or all) BD movies - nice NOT!)
squirty1
1 Rookie
•
16 Posts
0
October 14th, 2015 22:00
Since the device manger under cd/dvd is not set on pc should I change this to US first and then see if the dvd player will pick up the region which is US on the pc in the control panel?
I would like windows media player to play my videos instead of the DVD player since I really don't use the cyberlink. In older versions of windows I always used media player even though I had a DVD player on the other OS's. I don't see an option to change what player is used when watching movies or videos. I also put in an movie and it plays but the movie goes back to probably 2002 or before. This movie worked but not this one I watch from time to time.
squirty1
1 Rookie
•
16 Posts
0
October 14th, 2015 22:00
I have windows 8.1 and I have Internet Explorer and Media Player both on this computer. It was preinstalled on this laptop. I will try resetting the defaults to see what happens.
skylarking
2 Intern
•
548 Posts
0
October 14th, 2015 22:00
OS region is not the same as DVD region code... They are different things...
Yes, you can use the device manager to check how many region code changes are allowed, check the current region code set on the drive and also set a new region code for the player (if remaining changes > 0).
In Windows 7, which has a dvd capable media player as standard, you can set the desired default program by doing the following:
Then whenever you insert a disk into the DVD drive, the default player you have set will automatically start playback.
With Windows 8 and later, i'm not sure if setting the default player process is the same but my understanding is that Windows Media Player is not included in the OS as standard (so Mediaplayer program would not be available to select as a default player, unless you bought the Media Player addon).
skylarking
2 Intern
•
548 Posts
0
October 15th, 2015 02:00
Just be mindful that to play back DVD, the media player you set as default must have the capability to actually decrypt and thus play back DVD's which may require certain codecs that may or may not be included as standard within the player. It's all licensing roadblocks for what is maths at the end of the day. And Microsoft couldn't have made it more convoluted if they tried, see here and here for some details.
Alternatively you can install opensource playback software like VLC which is not fussed with region codes or such complexities as it just simply works with almost any video format (excluding BD's which can be played but require more effort to set up).
For specifics on "DVD playback on Windows 8.1" simply use google seach to find links to relevant pages and read.
Hopefully it will work for you once you set the DVD reagion code using device manager.
Cheers.