So I went to an electronics store yesterday...

[Critter]

And it turns out it is still illegal to sell DVD players in Australia that arent region locked. So boo to that. Heaps of DVD's, especially anime ones that I want are region 2. My mate had a good suggestion though to buy the DVD's then burn them onto another disc before playing. Apparently that removes the region code. So I think I might just do that rather than trying to find that remote control region unlock thing becuase that sounds way too hard.

[Touti]

It's very easy to unlock a dvd player with the remote as long as you have a model that supports it and it's something you have to do only once.  Check this site.

http://www.dvddemystifiziert.de/codefree_en/codefree.html

[Critter]

Thanks for that site but I couldn't find anything for the model of Panasonic I have or the PS3. I only recently got my panasonic dvd player and the guy in the store said that a lot of the newer ones are unable to be unlocked. I'll keep searching though.

[Tom]

Also in Germany players are only sold region locked. But most are easily unlocked. But unfortunately Panasonic and Sony are one of the few manufacturers whose players are not unockable without hardware change (as far as I know).

[Najemikon]

My Panasonic had to be unlocked with a special remote control. I had to send for it and it cost £10 I seem to remember. It had one button! You only put the battery in when you were already pointing it at the player, because it would only work once. But it did work.

Might be something in this thread at AV Forums as someone has managed to bypass that now: http://www.avforums.com/forums/blu-ray-dvd-player-multiregion-hacks/368649-panasonic-dvd-players-region-free-hack-now-available.html

[Critter]

Thanks Jon I'll check that out. Region 4 DVD's just seem so limited sometimes.

[Najemikon]

Bear in mind what we've said before, Critter. A lot of region 2/4 discs are dual-encoded whether they say so or not. Why not list up some key titles your after and we'll work out for you if they are compatible?

[Critter]

Some titles:

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Princess-The-Complete-Series/dp/B001US3XQ4

http://www.amazon.com/Popular-Complete-Season-Leslie-Bibb/dp/B0001I55S8

I just realised titles such as these are region 1, not 2 as I have been saying. Whoops I thought the US was 2.

[snowcat]

Another thin you can do is watch outer region DVDs on your computer, there are many freeware drive region decriptors around

[DJ Doena]

Another thin you can do is watch outer region DVDs on your computer, there are many freeware drive region decriptors around

I actually have two DVD drives in my computer. One is set to region 2, the other to 1.

[Critter]

I have one DVD drive. I watch movies on it sometimes, does that mean it's already set to region 4? Also does it matter what program you play it in?

[DJ Doena]

I have one DVD drive. I watch movies on it sometimes, does that mean it's already set to region 4?

Most likely. When you put in a DVD from another region it will ask you whether it should change the region. But you can do that only 5 times (without meddling with the drive's firmware).

Also does it matter what program you play it in?

I believe VLC player doesn't care for the region but I'm not sure.

[Critter]

Ah cool VLC is already the player I use for almost everything on my computer. I might get a region 1 DVD and just try it.

[Achim]

IIRC correctly region protection on computers is actually a two-step process.

First is the hardware itself. The drive's region can be changed five times before permanently locking to the last set region; unless tempered with before that happens. However, even making the drive itself region free still has (most) software checking for the region of the disc. Apparently VLC doesn't care, but otherwise there are software solutions (mostly not free) that can circumvent the software to complain a "wrongly set" DVD drive.

[Jimmy]

On my computer I use DVD Region+CSS Free that was suggested to me by Sebastien. Worked almost perfectly for me and it worth all the penny of the 39.95 $US I've paid for it. You can try it free for 30 days.

Link