Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
2 Posts
0
13554
Can I watch Region 2 DVDs on my American PC?
Hi everybody,
Is there I way I can watch Region 2 (European) DVDs on my (American) PC?
The DVD drive on my Dell is broken, which hasn't bothered me because I have a DVD player hooked up to the TV where I watch all my movies. However, I would love to be able to watch European DVDs, and would be willing to buy a new DVD drive for my PC if I knew I would be able to do it.
If it matters: I'm running WinXP, and have WinDVD installed on my computer.
My current DVD drive will let me switch to Region 2, but since it won't play anything, I can't test to see if it's working. Is PAL vs NTSC an issue, or does WinDVD take care of that? Is there anything else I need to know? (I know you can only switch regions 5 times or something, which wouldn't matter, because if I could get this to work, I would only use it for European DVDs and wouldn't need to switch back to R1).
I'm not trying to get around the studios so I can get movies on DVD faster, cheaper, or better -- I want to be able to watch stuff from the UK, Spain, and Portugal that will NEVER ever be released in the USA.
Thanks!
fireberd
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
33.3K Posts
0
November 16th, 2003 19:00
One issue you need to be aware of. You can only switch regions a certain number of times (legally) on a DVD drive. I think it is 5 total.
If you look at the Windows Device Manager for a DVD drive the Region section states "You can change the region a limited number of times. After Changes remaining reaches zero, you cannot change the region even if you reinstall Windows or move your DVD drive to a different computer"
TudoBem
2 Posts
0
November 18th, 2003 11:00
I know that part, thanks -- if I can get it to work right, once I switch it to Region 2, I wouldn't need to ever switch it back, because I can watch all my "normal" DVDs on the player hooked up to the TV.
I'm wondering:
It just seems to me that if it's as simple as switching the region on your drive one time, everybody would be doing it. Or maybe everybody is doing it and I just don't know about it!
Thanks.