Mac Region Free Dvd

Despite the illusion that streaming services are taking over the way people consume video content, there is still a large population searching for the best free DVD copy software, with an aim to digitize their collections over the years or make replications with a disc-to-disc copy.

  1. Mac Region Free Dvd Burner
  2. Region Free Dvd Player Software Mac
  3. Mac Dvd Ripper Region Free
  4. Mac Mini Region Free Dvd
  5. Mac Region Free Dvd Players

There are many tools on the market that helps you to pull media content from a disc to a computer or a blank disc. If you got a shelf full of old DVDs, you will also need to check whether the copier can scan and read content from scratched or damaged discs. Free tools offer you basic options to convert DVDs into digital format, and paid tools may add extra features for tricky scenarios. For instance, VLC cannot play non-UDF DVD because the disc is mastered using an older file system. Handling nuances as such is the case for the best DVD copy software that keeps updating its algorithm to help DVD collectors.

Before you get started to use one of the following DVD copiers, make sure you own the DVD and Blu-ray discs, and comply with the local copyright law.

1. VideoProc Converter

Mac has never had built-in optical drive, not to mention playback of DVD or Blu-ray disc. Related article: how to play Blu-ray in Windows 7 If you pop a Blu-ray disc into your Mac with a little help of external BD drive, you'll run into some trouble because Apple Mac doesn't offer program to support Blu-ray playback. Every DVD player (that includes the one in your computer) is sold being able to play only discs with the same region as the country it was sold in. That includes Macs too, sort of. On a new Mac, the DVD drive is automatically locked to the DVD region code that is first used. From then on, this can only be changed four more times. How to remove DVD region code with Video Converter Ultimate. Step 1 Launch this great DVD region remover on your Windows PC or Mac. Insert your DVD to the DVD drive and click the button of Load Disc from the program to add the movies from the DVD disc. OR for newer DVD/BluRay use AnyDVD / AnyDVD HD (it costs money, but about the same as a new region free DVD player) Install that to my Windows virtual machine and rip the DVD into an ISO image setting whatever region you want. Then Burn that ISO to an new DVD. Switch back to Mac OS and insert the newly created DVD and see if it works.

Available for: Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 Mac OS X 10.6 and later

If you have damaged or scratched DVDs, discs with regional locks, 99-title DVDs, copy-protected discs, or old DVDs that are mastered with a file system that other software cannot handle, VideoProc Converter will be your lifesaver. It is a lightweight and powerful video processing tool packed with DVD copy utilities. Thanks to the advanced auto-detect mechanism, VideoProc Converter can fix the bad sector and read the broken sector in your old DVD, making a replication without error.

You can copy DVD to MP4, MKV, and other popular formats, create ISO images, VIDEO_TS folders for burning, or backup the DVD to a hard drive. While retaining 1:1 original quality, the option is also highly customizable: you can digitize the DVD with all the content and structure preserved, including main movie, hidden track, deleted track, subtitles, menu, trailers, and behind-the-scenes bonus for movie buffs; or select titles and chapters, or extract audio only.

Developed by Digiarty Software Inc., a global leader with 15 years of experience in DVD ripping, DVD copy, video converting, recording and editing, VideoProc Converter inherits the cut-edge tech to deal with discs of all sorts.

It helps you to bypass various kinds of protections, including but not limited to Disney's Fake option, X-project, CSS, UOPs, APS, RCE, Sony ARccOS, Region Code, etc.

There are 6 Modes for DVD Backup:

  • Main Movie Content Copy: You can flexibly select video tracks and audio tracks, choose whatever you want to digitize.
  • Full Title Copy: Backup all the titles, chapters, subtitles, video trailers, hidden tracks, and audio.
  • ISO: 1:1 clone DVD to ISO image, with 100% content and structure preserved.
  • VIDEO_TS: 1:1 copy DVD to VIDEO_TS folder, retain full content for DVD burn.
  • DVD to MKV: Convert full DVD content to MKV to playback on computers, mobile phones, tablets, TVs, etc.
  • DVD to MKV H264: Copy full title to MKV with H264 encoding.

Besides building up your digital library by backing up and copying DVD in Windows 10/8/7, you can also convert DVD to mobile- or console-friendly format, such as MP4, MOV, AVI, etc, and enjoying offline playback on the go.

A bonus feature is the editing tools built-in. You can click on the edit icon to rotate, add subtitles or effects, and cut the video, and then rip the video as you wish.

Pros:

  • Read damaged/scratched DVDs, and bypass all kinds of known copy protections.
  • Support level-3 hardware acceleration to copy, back up and convert DVD at 1:1 quality.

Cons:

  • Cannot work on macOS Leopard or older versions.

Free Download VideoProc Converter to Preserve Your Precious DVD Collections

2. HandBrake

Available for: Windows 10/8/8.1/7 Mac 10.11 and later, Apple Silicon Mac, Linux Ubuntu deb, Flatpak

Developed as a converter, HandBrake can modernize your DVD into computer playable format, namely, MP4, MKV, and WebM. It is not a dedicated DVD copy software for Windows 10 and Mac, but it is free and open source. It works nicely to copy homemade DVDs, as no decryption is required. For DVDs that you bought from stores, such as music videos or movies, Handbrake cannot skip the copy protection to rip the media. If you are tech-savvy, you can install a libdvdcss package from VideoLan. For Windows computers, you will need to download the .dll file and copy it into the installation folder of Handbrake, while for Mac, you may need to use command tools if you are on Yosemite and newer OS.

Handbrake can copy the DVD one title per time. You have to configure HandBrake manually to copy each title and queue them up, so that the program starts ripping one title after another. Let's say there are 57 titles in the DVD, you will have to configure and queue the episode 57 times before starting to copy the DVD to the computer.

Pros:

  • Free and open-source software for occasional users.
  • Copy DVD to a hard drive in MP4, WebM, and MKV.

Cons:

  • Cannot create ISO image or VIDEO_TS folder
  • Occasional errors crop up, such as audio missing; ripped content is fuzzy and pixilated.

3. MakeMKV

Available for: Windows 10/8/7, Mac, and Linux

Mac Region Free Dvd

MakeMKV does what its name suggests. It simply copies the video stream from the DVD and puts it into the MKV container. No transcoding is involved in the process. You can think of a DVD as a house, storing furniture and other stuff. MakeMKV just moves those furniture and other things to another house, the MKV (Matroska) container.

It can read DVD and Blu-ray discs, and for those copy-protected discs such as AACS and BD+, MakeMKV can remove the copy protection.

Pros:

  • Relatively fast since it only repackages the stream to MKV, and no re-encoding is involved.
  • The developer runs an active forum with helpful guides and timely responses for bugs.

Cons:

  • MakeMKV is free in the beta version. You have to frequently find the license key in the forum and update your registration status.
  • If you want other formats, such as MP4 (most compatible for various scenarios) or MOV (for Apple Devices), MakeMKV alone is not enough. You will need a video converter to transcode the MKV.

4. WinX DVD Copy Pro

Available for: Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP/2003/2000

Mac Region Free Dvd Burner

WinX DVD Copy Pro is one of the most popular DVD copy software on the market. It supports DVD clone, DVD to MPEG 2, VIDEO_TS folder, ISO file, and disc-to-disc copy. One feature that sets it apart from its competitors is the ISO mounter, which allows you to mount ISO image to a virtual drive, which performs in the same way you play the DVD on a DVD player, only that you are watching the DVD digitally on a computer, with all the content and menu preserved. If you use a remote controller to navigate through the menu of the DVD, now you can use mouse clicks on the mounted ISO. You can also extract video or audio streams flexibly.

Once you insert the disc into the DVD driver, you can select how many sectors to read per time. For copy restriction discs, you can tick the box to remove region code, CSS, UCPS, or Disney's Fake. The program allows you to copy 15 minutes of the content for free.

Pros:

  • Keep an exact replication off the DVD and CD.
  • Removes all kinds of known copy restrictions in the market.

Cons:

  • No option to compress video so as to burn DVD9 content to DVD5.

5. IQmango DVD Copy Software

Available for: Windows 8/7/XP/Vista/2003

IQmango is a piece of lightweight DVD copy software for Windows with a simple interface. It supports lossless DVD content copying, with customizable options to choose which titles to clone. There is also a compressor built-in, helping you to squeeze the content copied from a DVD and make it fit in a smaller disc. But since it needs to reduce the file size, inevitably, there will be quality loss.

Note that the IQmango DVD Copy Software and IQmango DVD Ripper refer to the same product. Probably due to their marketing strategy, IQmango sets up two product pages. In fact, you will be downloading the identical EXE file for installation.

Pros:

  • Support backup and burn the disc, thus making it possible for disc-to-disc copying.
  • Option to remove restrictions from Blu-ray MKB61 and MKB62.

Cons:

  • Cannot burning data (not video streams) to DVD.
  • Cannot split DVD or copy DVD 9 to 2 pieces of DVD 5.

6. DVD Cloner

Available for: Windows 10/8.1/8/7, Mac OS 10.10 or later versions

DVD Cloner has been around for nearly two decades, and it is a reliable DVD copying software on the market. Beginner or Pro, you shall find DVD Cloner satisfy your requirement in a high-quality way. There are an Express mode and an Expert mode to choose from. For general tasks such as copy everything from DVD to another empty disc, the Express mode serves you well. If you have two DVD drives, the copying process will be done automatically. Alternatively, you can create MKV from DVD in 1-click. The Expert Mode allows more customizability. You can select titles to copy, and leave out all the redundancies.

An interesting feature you can avail of DVD Cloner is its ability to combine multiple DVDs into one, be it Blu-ray (BD-R/RE) or dual-layer DVD (DVD±R9).

The free version only allows you to copy one DVD for free, so that you can check how the software performs before upgrading to the premium version.

Pros:

  • It is pricy for occasional users.
  • The feature to compress DVD 9 to one blank DVD 5 disc could be problematic, since DVD 9 is about two times the size of the DVD5.

Cons:

  • Option to copy multi-channel audio including DTS and Dobly digital 5.1.

7. DVDFab Free HD Decrypter

Available for: Windows 10/8.1/8/7 MacOS 10.10-10.15

DVDFab Free HD Decrypter is the free and feature-limited version of DVDFab DVD Copy software. The main difference lies in the ability to remove copy protections. Free HD Decrypter struggles with newer copy protection techs, and can only handle DVDs protected with old schemes.

It offers two modes to copy DVD: full disc and main movie. However, you cannot copy DVD 9 to two pieces of DVD5 discs, as the free version isn't baked with a splitting feature. You can use this freeware to digitize DVD to MKV or MP4, but note that if the DVD contains multiple VTS protections, or if the DVD is a Blu-ray issued before 2018, this decrypter will fail you.

Pros:

  • Free to use, offers basic DVD copy mode.
  • Support copy DVD to ISO and Video_TS folder.

Cons:

  • Won't support H265/HEVC or UHD 4K videos for MKV copying.
  • No option to customize what content, titles, or chapters to copy.

8. WonderFox Free DVD Ripper Speedy

Available for: Windows 10/8.1/8/7

If you are looking for DVD copy software to transfer content from DVD to hard disc drive, WonderFox provides an easy solution. It assists you to convert DVDs into digital formats such as MP4, MKV, and AVI. The free version allows you to rip no more than 15 minutes for each movie, and you can choose between PAL and NTFS modes for movies from different regions.

For users with the upgraded license, you can batch copy movies in 1:1 quality, provided that your driver supports multiple discs. Another nice feature is the editing kit, with which you can add effects to the video, or rotate sideways video after copying from DVDs. One thing to notice is, during our test, it takes a considerable amount of computational resources, which might affect how your machine performs. You can turn off other programs while using WonderFox.

Pros:

  • Bypass erroneous data and scan scratched DVDs.
  • Skip protection schemes such as Sony ARccOS, Disney X-project, CSS, Cinavia, etc.

Cons:

  • Doesn't support disc-to-disc copy since there is no DVD burning feature.
  • Extracting multilingual DVD can be problematic sometimes.

9. ImgBurn

Available for: Windows 10/8.1/8/7

ImgBurn is a handy free DVD copy and burning tool when physical media was king. It supports major brands of the DVD blank disk and can help you copy an image file to a disk. No matter you have ISO, DVD, CCD, DI, NDS, NRG, or PDI, you can easily write it to a physical disk. VIDEO_TS folder and BDAV / BDMV folder are also supported to write content into DVD and Blu-ray disks. ImgBurn also works the other way around: you can create an ISO image from the DVD. You can choose a mode from the home screen, start digitalizing or burning a DVD. For a new task, you can press Ctrl+shift+P to go back to this Easy Mode Picker (home screen).

Pros:

  • Option to create Blu-ray disk via a virtual device.
  • You can queue multiple images for batch task, and there will be a Log window showing what's in progress.

Cons:

  • It hasn't been updated since 2013, and may not be able to cope with some problems.
  • You cannot copy DVD into MP4/MKV, or select titles to copy.

Note: Make sure to download the installation file from the official site, and choose Mirror 7 – Provided by ImgBurn to avoid bundleware or adware. The latest version is v2.5.8.0 released in 2013, and the development is halted since then.

10. BurnAware

Available for: Windows 10/8/8.1/7

In DVD to DVD copying, you will need to copy DVD to a computer in the first place, and then burn the digitize files to a blank DVD. BurnAware is here for the second task. Once you prepared the DVD content in the form of ISO image, VIDEO_TS folder, or merely an MKV file, you can use BurnAware to copy the content into a blank disk. Besides movies and home videos, you can write other kinds of data supported by the disk. In that way, you are using the DVD as a backup method for important files. BurnAware can erase content on an already-used DVD, provided the DVD is rewritable (DVD + /- RW).

Region Free Dvd Player Software Mac

Besides being a free DVD burner, it also offers you the option to create Audio CDs, MP3 disk, and Blu-ray disk, free of charge.

Pros:

Mac Dvd Ripper Region Free

  • A clear user interface to navigate through all the features.
  • Support Blu-ray disk copy for free, which may be charged in other tools.

Cons:

  • No option to extract audio tracks, or extract files from ISO images in the free version.

FAQs

Can Windows 10 Copy a DVD?

Windows 10 can finish part of the task in copying a DVD. The DVD copying is a cover term for several operations. If you are expecting DVD to blank DVD copy, then you need to use DVD copy software listed above to pull content out, store them on a Windows computer (in a format of ISO or VIDEO_TS folder), and then use Window File Explorer or Windows Media Player to burn the files to a blank DVD.

What is the Most Used Free DVD Copying Software?

HandBrake, ImgBurn, and DVDShrink have been around for a long time and have accumulated many users along the way. However, ImgBurn and DVDShrink are obsolete and haven't been updated for many years. HandBrake is more of a converter that has been repurposed to rip DVD into MP4. For advanced features, you can check other copiers listed above.

Disclaimer: We do not advocate copying authorized or protected DVDs for commercial use.

Par Vincent (ch-vox)

Warning !

Before upgrading your optical drive, be sure you have selected a zone by reading a DVD with the Apple DVD Player (ie). If this modification is not made, your drive simply won’t work after the operation. Upgrading firmware is a sensitive operation. You make it on your own risks. Powerbook-fr can’t be responsible for what you do, and for any damage during the update process. Please, read the ReadMe.rtf file before running any updater.

Introduction

DVD drives have been introduced with the first G3 PowerBooks, then we have seen combos (CD-RW/DVD) and finally Superdrives (DVD-R/DVD-RW). Those drives cannot read every zone -except the Matsushita SR-8173 that was in the second generation G3 PowerBook also called ’Lombard’- : you should know that it is impossible to change the zone setting more than 5 times, after what you will only be able to read DVD from the 5th choice. For instance, if you last chose zone '2', the drive will only read DVDs from this zone. But there are ways to break this down.

One of them, certainly the most simple, is to use softwares like VLC or MPlayer which will allow you to read DVDs from each zone (warning, those softwares may sometime change the region of your drive, without you to be warned, this can lock your drive on the last selected zone after 5 changes... thanks to Taron for the piece of information). However, there may be some routines that won’t work on various hardware (dunno why ?!) so we must find another solution...

Sources for this article :
http://forum.rpc1.org/
http://xvi.rpc1.org
http://tdb.rpc1.org
http://dhc014.rpc1.org
http://superdrive.cynikal.net
http://lasvegas.rpc1.org
http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/
http://www.dvddemystified.com

For PowerBook & iBook G4 and MacBook (Pro)

Before going further

You should know basis about your MacIntosh and region locking. The limitation is double : firsty is hardware. This is the first to run when you’re inserting a DVD in your optical drive, and the patches we provide you are made to bypass this one. But theres’s a second limitation which is purely software, through your Operating System : MacOS X. A small app allows you to change region without limitation. This app is made by xvi and is called Region X (we are mirroring it at this URL). To test the changes, RegionDisplay (mirrored on our server: PAL, NTSC) is an ISO image, once mounted on your desktop, it will open with Apple DVD Player. It willdisplay which region is selected in MacOS X. Now you know that, let’s enter the real work.

2010, Ala42 creates MatshitaFlasher based on ben11 work

Since early 2010, MatshitaFlasher developped by ala42 allows flashing firmware on every MacBook, regardless MacOS version. Thanks to ala42 for authorisation of mirroring his work.

Flashing instructions:
Unzip MatshitaFlasher.zip and the firmware zip file
Make sure there is no disc in the drive.
The firmware .zip file typically includes two firmware .dat files of 700-800KB size, one original and one RPC1 patched firmware
In Finder drop the firmware .dat file (not the directory) you want to flash on the MatshitaFlasher application.
A terminal window will pop up, listing drive and firmware ids and ask you if you want to continue flashing
In case of drive/firmware mismatch or a corrupted firmware file the drive will not be flashed

The table below recapitulates every firmwares you can use with MatshitaFlasher:

MacProducerModelTypeFirmware
MacBook ProMatsushitaUJ-85JSSuperDriveUJ-85JS_F100_Acer_Stock_RPC1
MacBook ProMatsushitaUJ-846SuperDriveUJ-846-FQ3T_Stock_RPC1
MacBook ProMatsushitaUJ-857SuperDriveUJ-857_HAEA_Stock_RPC1
MacBook ProMatsushitaUJ-857ESuperDriveUJ-857E_ZF1E_RPC1
MacBook ProMatsushitaUJ-862ASuperDriveUJ-862A_1.06_Stock_RPC1
MacBook ProMatsushitaUJ-867SuperDriveUJ-867_HA13_Stock_RPC1, UJ-867_HB01_Stock_RPC1, UJ-867_KK08_Stock_RPC1
MacBook ProMatsushitaUJ-868SuperDriveUJ-868_KB19_Stock_RPC1
MacBook ProMatsushitaUJ-875SuperDriveUJ-875_DA09_Stock_RPC1, UJ-875_DB09_Stock_RPC1
MacBook ProMatsushitaUJ-875SSuperDriveUJ-875S_1.00_Stock_RPC1
MacBook ProMatsushitaUJ-898SuperDriveUJ-898_HA07_Stock_RPC1, UJ-898_HC10_Stock_RPC1, UJ-898_HD10_Stock_RPC1

Typical Terminal window after dropping the firmware .dat file on the flasher application:


simple_flash V 1.02 compiled at Jan 24 2010
Selected firmware: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-868 KB19
Selected device: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-868 KB19
Continue?
y
Firmware update running, do not interrupt ...
Finished
logout
[Process completed]

2007, RPC1 is back (update august 19th 2007)

The Dangerous Brothers (TDB) have begun the year 2007 with two RPC1 firmwares for LG GWA4080MA & LG 4080MB. Beware, those firmwares can’t be applied if you’ve updated your drive with Apple’s 'Superdrive Firmware Update 2.1' that will update to AE39 & BE39 RPC2 revision. And you’ll need Windows or Parallels 3.0 (and later) for applying those firmware updates.

Early august (same year:2007), ben11 -a C programer- has created a second event. After downloading Apple’s 'Superdrive Firmware Update 2.1', he has decompiled sources and has patched them for making them region free. Chapeau! You need to know that for Matsushita’s dezoning, you have to apply the 'Superdrive Firmware Update 2.1' before applying ben11’s RPC1 firmware.

If you don’t use Tiger, you may need to hack a system file to run those patches. Before applying the patch, edit this file /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist and change OS version to 10.4.x (ie : 10.5.1 will become 10.4.9). Apply the patch, and before rebooting your Mac, modify this file again to come back to initial values. That’s all. Thanx to Terminus for this hack

And we’d like you to remember few points before upgrading your drives, you MUST choose a zone. Unless your optical drive won’t read DVDs anymore !!! You also need to stop all softwares running on your Mac, to unplug your network (Airport, USB or ethernet modems, etc.) as other USB or FireWire peripherals for more security. Please, read the ReadMe.rtf file before running any updater.See ya !

MacProducerModelTypeOfficial FirmwaresRPC1 Firmwares
PowerBook G4 17' AluminiumSonyDW-U10ASuperDriveA13bVLC
iBook G4 (1,33 GHz)TeacDV-W24SLSuperDrive1.0EVLC
PowerBook G4 15' TitaniumMatsushitaSR-8187DVD-ROMHA13, HA15, HA16, HA18XA18
PowerBook G4 15' TitaniumMatsushitaCW-8121ComboAA11, AA12, AA17, AA20, AA21AX21
PowerBook G4 15' TitaniumMatsushitaCW-8121AComboBB21BX21
PowerBook G4 15' TitaniumMatsushitaCW-8122ComboBF30BX21
PowerBook G4 12' 867 MHz AluminiumMatsushitaCW-8122ComboBA1D, BA21BX21
PowerBook G4 12' 1 GHz AluminiumMatsushitaCW-8122ComboBA1D, BA21BX21
PowerBook G4 15' AluminiumMatsushitaCW-8122ComboBA1D, BA21BX21
iBook G4 800MatsushitaCW-8122ComboBA21BX21
PowerBook G4 12', 15', Aluminium & iBook G4MatsushitaCW-8123ComboCA0T, CA10VLC
PowerBook G4 12', 15', Aluminium & iBook G4MatsushitaCW-8124ComboDACD, DB0DVLC
MacBook Core Duo Rev. AMatsushitaCW-8221CombounknownVLC
PowerBook G4 15' TitaniumMatsushitaUJ-815SuperdriveD0CBX0CB
PowerBook G4 12' 867 Mhz AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-815SuperdriveD0CBX0CB
PowerBook G4 12' 1 Ghz AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-815SuperdriveD101X101
PowerBook G4 15' AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-815SuperdriveD101X101
PowerBook G4 17' AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-815SuperdriveDWDBXWDB
PowerBook G4 AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-816SuperdriveDXJ3XXJ3
PowerBook G4 12', 15', 17' AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-825SuperdriveDAM5, DAND, DBN7DAM5, DAND, DBN7
PowerBook G4 12', 15', 17' AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-835ESuperdriveGEM8, GANDGAND
PowerBook G4 12', 15', 17' AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-835FSuperdriveGEND, GFND, GGNDGEND, GFND, GGND
PowerBook G4 12', 15', 17' AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-835SSuperdriveG100G100
PowerBook G4 12', 15', 17' AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-845SuperdriveD100, DBN9DBN9
PowerBook G4 12', 15', 17' AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-845CSuperdriveDPP9DPP9
PowerBook G4 12', 15', 17' AluminiumMatsushitaUJ-845ESuperdriveDMP2DMP2
PowerBook G4 12', 15', 17' Aluminium
& MacBook Pro 17' Rev. A
MatsushitaUJ-846SuperdriveFA0G, FAAG, FB2U, FM3J, FQ3TFA0G, FAAG, FB2U, FM3J, FQ3T
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoMatsushitaUJ-85JSuperdriveFAV1, FBZ8, FCQA, FCQ5, FEW7, FM0SFAV1, FBZ8, FCQA, FCQ5, FEW7, FM0S
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoMatsushitaUJ-85JSSuperdriveFYX4, FWR7FWR7
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoMatsushitaUJ-857SuperdriveHAE4, HAC1, HAEAHAEA
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoMatsushitaUJ-857SuperdriveHBE4, HBEAHBEA
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoMatsushitaUJ-857DSuperdriveKBV9, KBVBKBVB
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoMatsushitaUJ-857DSuperdriveKCV9, KCVBKCVB
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoMatsushitaUJ-857ESuperdriveZA0E, ZB0EZA0E, ZB0E
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoMatsushitaUJ-867SuperdriveHA13, HB01-
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoMatsushitaUJ-868SuperdriveKA14, KA19-
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoMatsushitaUJ-875SuperdriveDA09-
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoLGGWA-4080MASuperdriveAE38, AE39AE38
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoLGGWA-4080MBSuperdriveBE38, BE39BE38
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoLGGSA-S10NSuperdriveAP09, AP12 (.exe), BP08AP12 RPC2 Autoreset (.exe)
MacBook (Pro) Core2DuoLGGS21NSuperdriveSA15Use MCSE (Windows)
MacBook Pro (2009)LGGS22NSuperdriveCP06Use MCSE (Windows)
MacBook Pro (2009)LGGS23NSuperdriveSB00, SB03Use MCSE (Windows)

Mac Mini Region Free Dvd

For Nec, Optiarc, Sony and few other optical drives, use NecflashX for dumping or upgrading the firmware.

Pioneer DVR-K05 Superdrive (update december 25th 2005)

You’ll need to replace your Matsushita optical drive yourself with a Pioneer DVR-K05 (130 €). Disassemble your Powerbook, install the new one in your PowerBook, then use LasVegas’ Mac utility :DVRFlash with Dangerous Brothers’ modified firmware. It’s all command lines, not really sexy so far, but really useful ! If you need further information, please go to http://forum.rpc1.org.

The CW-8122 combo (PowerBook-fr.com exclusive !!)

May 2003, xvi has modified the BA21 (RPC2) firmware for CW-8122 Matsushita combo drive in 12' 867 MHz, he made it region free (RPC1). This firmware, codename BX21 (RPC1), was the Apple’s BA21 copy except for the region information that have been set to free (see article).

We noticed quickly two issues that have not been solved :
once BX21 updated, the combo couldn’t get back to its original BA21 settings (BA21 is the only firmware officialy supported by Apple and Apple Care...) ;
xvi’s BX21 updater was locked anly only worked with 12' 867MHz Alubooks, as the original Apple’s BA21 updater.

So, we’ve worked to modify both updaters to make them compatible with all Apple Alubooks in which there is a CW-8122 combo drive. Alubook’s owners can now set their combo to region free, and set it back to region locked if they need.

PowerBook12' 867 MHz12' 1 GHz15'iBook G4 800Ti 550 MHz
RPC1 (BX21)1,17 MB500 KB (zip)500 KB (zip)500 KB (zip)500 KB (sit)
RPC2 (BA21)500 KB (zip)500 KB (zip)500 KB (zip)500 KB (zip)BF30 (CW-8122)
non disponible

Update January 23th 2005
We’ve just achieved two new patches : first one for 550 TiBook woth CW-8122, second one for upgrading a CW-8121A to CW-8122 region free in a TiBook (tested with 867 MHz and 1 GHz TiBooks) and in an iBook G4 (12' 800) ! Those patches don’t allow you to go back (no U-turn to RPC2) but you can now play DVD from any region ;)

PowerBookTi 867 MHz / 1 GHziBook 12' G4 800 MHz
RPC1 (BX21)BX21 (CW-8122)BX21 (CW-8122)
RPC2BB21 (CW-8121A) not availableBB21 (CW-8121A) not available

Note :
We can can technicaly patch any Mac with those optical drive. If you computer is not in the above tables, please contact us.
The CW-8123 or CW-8124 remains RPC2 for now...

The UJ-815 SuperDrive

December 13th 2003, xvi is back on the PowerBook’s front. He made a region-free firmware for the Matsushita UJ-815 SuperDrive in every PowerBooks in which it is included (for AluBooks but also for TiBooks !)First of all : a big THANK goes to xvi who brings a very long-wanted firmware... And here follow the main instructions. Read them carefuly before flashing your SuperDrive (source Cynikal)

Firmware X101 : For upgraded 2X DVD-R, 1X DVD-RW, 16X CD-R capability as well as region-free behaviour.

Firmware D101 : For ONLY UJ-815 2X DVD-R, 1X DVD-RW, 16X CD-R upgraded capability.

Firmware X0CB : For original 867Mhz/1Ghz 15' TiBook & 867Mhz 12' Powerbook Capabilities as well as region-free behaviour.

Firmware D0CB : For original 867Mhz/1Ghz 15' TiBook & 867Mhz 12' Powerbook Capabilities. This is an Apple officially supported firmware.

Firmware XWDB : For original 1Ghz 17' Powerbook Capabilities as well as region-free behaviour.

Firmware DWDB : For original 1Ghz 17' Powerbook Capabilities. This is an Apple officially supported firmware.

How to recover your superdrive after a firmware update failure

Thanx to Ben11 for this article (source forums.rpc1.org)

'After some private message exchanges it seems I was able to help some people in this situation (inclduing the original poster). I wrote a simple utility to perform a very basic flash to the drive - doing that may be able to recover the situation, but my flash utility performs almost no checks and is generally much more basic than the framework which, for example, the standard Apple Superdrive updaters have used.

So, if your drive is in a similar situation this may be able to help. But only try if you feel you’ve exhausted every other possibility, such as having the drive replaced. This flash process may not work for you, or in the worst case it could conceivably leave your drive is a worse state than before. It is of coursed not endorsed by anybody, in particular not Apple nor the drive manufacturer (or anybody at rpc1.org either).

As I wrote, compared to the standard updaters this utility makes few checks on the drive status - so unless your drive has really lost its standard operating firmware, often because of an interrupted flash, don’t use this rather than a more featured updater.

There is the terminal based utility (and source code) - along with copies of the HAEA, HBEA, KBVB, KCVB (RPC1 patched) firmwares for the UJ-857 and UJ-857D.

Basic Instructions

You need to download the 'SimpleFlash.zip' file, unpack it and then run it using the terminal. e.g. assuming you have downloaded the archive file to your desktop you can unpack like this:


ben11s-computer:~ ben11$ cd Desktop
ben11s-computer:~/Desktop ben11$ unzip SimpleFlash.zip
ben11s-computer:~/Desktop ben11$ cd SimpleFlash

to use the utility you start it using ONE of the following commands:

./simple_flash 0 UJ857-HAEA-MBP-rpc1.dat

or

./simple_flash 0 UJ857-HBEA-MB-rpc1.dat

or

./simple_flash 0 UJ857D-KBVB-MB-rpc1.dat

or

./simple_flash 0 UJ857D-KCVB-MBP-rpc1.dat

(choose according to the firmware you need, see below)

It will prompt you to answer if you want to continue - to which you can type ’yes’ or ’y’, if you want to go on. The flash should start and will take about 30 seconds after which the utility should say 'Finished'. At this point I recommended you restart your Mac. If all has gone well your drive should be responding again.

Choosing the Firmware

The firmware included are the ones that the 'Apple Superdrive 2.1' update offered for Matshita drives - except the ones in this archive have RPC1 patches. If you don’t want RPC1 you could go back to standard firmware using the updaters posted in other threads on this forum after your drive is responding again.

In principal the utility would also flash other matshita UJ-8xx drives, but suitable firmware data files are not included for them.

HAEA, HBEA are for UJ-857
KBVB, KCVB are for UJ-857D

If your drive previously had:

HAC1 or HAE4 use HAEA
HBE4 use HBEA
KBV9 use KBVB
KCV9 use KCVB

If you don’t know the previous firmware revision you had then: As far as I know firmware revisions HAEA & KCVB are used in the Macbook Pro, HBEA & KBVB are used in the Macbook. Choose according to which model of mac and which model of drive you have.

The optical drive should not accept a firmware corresponding the wrong drive model, but for a given model the various revisions may have slight differences, perhaps because of different physical constraints on the hardware - so try to pick the appropriate revision.

Good luck.'

For PowerBook & iBook G3

You’ve got a DVD drive inside your G3 laptop ?? You’re desperately searching for a way to make it region free because you’re watching DVDs from all around the world ?? So here is the response to your issue ! This little software allows you to set the 'region counter' to zero. In fact, each time you have to change the region setting of your DVD drive, after having watched the DVD, launch 'RegionReset' app. Reboot your mac, and you’ll be able to change region as much as you want. Have fun !

Two pieces of information :
it seems you can’t run the app on Pismo PowerBooks (see further) ;
to allow using the app, don’t forget to control the extension name 'DVD Region Manager'.

For G3 PowerBook users other than Wallstreet PowerBooks, here is the app of your dreams ! Region (by xvi) allows you to switch zones of MacOS 9. It also works on iMac DV computers.

Finally, THE solution for LG drives (especially for Pismos) in the following updater.

Here is small table to let you know if the optical drives inside your G3 PowerBooks can be RPC1 or not :

Mac Region Free Dvd Players

PowerbookManufacturersModelsTypeOfficial Firmwares RPC1 Firmwares
iBook G3ToshibaSD-R2002DVD-ROM1B29, 1C30XB29, XC30
iBook G3ToshibaSD-R2102DVD-ROM1K27XK27f
iBook G3ToshibaSD-R2212DVD-ROM1P19XP19
PowerBook G3LG (Goldstar)DRN-8080BDVD-ROM1.12, 1.13, 2.00 / 2.02, 2.032X02
PowerBook G3 (Lombard)MatsushitaSR-8171DVD-ROM058A, 059D, 067B, 080E-
PowerBook G3 (Lombard)MatsushitaSR-8173DVD-ROM064E (is already RPC1)064E (is already RPC1)
PowerBook G3 (Pismo)MatsushitaSR-8174DVD-ROMC113X113
iBook G3MatsushitaSR-8176DVD-ROMMA26MX26