Many poeple may have experienced that the DVDs you are trying to play on your computer are all protected by region codes and unable to play in your local position if the DVDs are purchased outside your country. It is much more common to find on Mac that the DVDs purchased from different regions can’t be playable on the local region. This is quite embarrassing. Next in order to make you much more clear about this issue and find out the corresponding solutions, I will introduce the DVD region code and the ways to play different region DVDs in details.
Part 1: What is DVD region code?
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DVD region code is a digital rights management technique designed for the distributors to control the DVD content, release date and price according to appropriate region. Just as you have seen, each commercial DVD is sold with a DVD region code, which will only allow the DVD to be played on DVD players that have the region code. And the DVD players can only play the DVDs that have the same region code with it. Nowadays, the DVD world is divided into six major geographical regions, which are:
Region 1 — USA, Canada
Region 2 — Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Greenland
Region 3 — South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Parts of South East Asia;
Region 4 — Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (including Mexico)
Region 5 — Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Africa
Region 6 — Mainland China
For example, the DVDs sold in the USA are almost all coded with a region code “1”, then the DVDs with region code “1” can only be played on the DVD players with the same code “1”. If you have bought a DVD from Taiwan whose region code is “3”, the DVD will probably not be played on the DVD player produced in USA whose region code is “1”.
Therefore, if you are playing a DVD purchased outside from your local place on your Mac, then you will be depressed to find that the Mac is unable to recognize the DVD. How to play DVD of any regions on Mac OS X or OS Sierra? Are there any methods to play different region DVDs on Mac OS X? Yes, the answers are positive. What you need is a piece of powerful multi-region DVD player for Mac OS X.
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Part 2: How to play DVDs of any region on Mac OS X with Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac
As a 100% free and region free DVD player for Mac OS X, Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac can easily help you to play the DVDs from any regions in a smooth way. Powered by advanced decryption technology, Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac can be able to play encrypted or commercial DVDs with ease and accuracy. Leawo Blu-ray Player contains all media playback solutions you need for your leisure entertainment, including Blu-ray, DVD, CD, HD (4K), MPEG, MKV and so on. Generally speaking, its main features would be included below:
1. Leawo Blu-ray Player supports more than 180 types of media formats, ranging from Blu-ray, DVD, CD, ISO to other digital formats which could cause any quality losses while playback.
2. This free Blu-ray disc player can be able to play 4K Blu-ray disc and 1080P Blu-ray disc, regardless of disc protection and region code.
3. Leawo Blu-ray Player supports multiple audio decoding systems like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc, as well as the quality-lossless image for even 4K video, stereo audio enjoyment.
4. It can decrypt various files in different region codes with disc protection technology, providing all region free DVD decryption and user-oriented playback control.
5. It also can adjust subtitles, video and audio during media playback which can allow you to obtain the personalized settings according to your preference and all the settings could be done automatically. The instructions for playing are quite easy.
6. It can also convert Blu-ray movies to MKV files without quality loss.
With advanced image and audio processing technology, Leawo Blu-ray Player provides you extraordinary movie playback and cinema-like experience. Furthermore, within Leawo Blu-ray Player, you could obtain the personalized settings according to your preference and all the settings could be done automatically. For the tutorials, you can refer to the following.
Step 1. Download Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac and open it on your Mac OS X or OS Sierra.
Step 2. Load the DVD file. You can click “Open File” button to select the DVD file on your computer. To load a DVD disc however, just put the DVD into the drive. If your Mac doesn’t contain a drive, you can buy an external drive for Mac. Once the disc is recognized by your computer, you can click the newly emerged button tagged with the drive name to load the file.
Part 3: Other Region-free DVD Player Programs
Besides Leawo Blu-ray Player, a multi-region DVD player for Mac OS X, of course, there are other region-free DVD player programs you can turn to. Here I will list other two powerful region-free DVD programs for your further information.
No. 1 GOM Player
GOM Player is an ideal audio and video player that has been well received by beginners and experts. GOM Player can support playing most of the current popular video formats (MP4, AVI, WMV, MKV, MOV, FLV, etc.), and has a variety of advanced features (intercept pictures, intercept audio, and control the video playback speed, etc.), And the decoder search function can also find the missing decoder, and direct users to download and install, of course, it can decrypt the region codes freely.
No. 2 5KPlayer
5KPlayer is a powerful video and audio player that can play 4k / 5k videos which can provide the DVD playback solutions with various region codes protection freely. It is similar to ordinary players in other respects. It is relatively smooth and simple to use. It also supports YouTube video download and AirPlay wireless streaming. With high-quality audio and video playback-lightweight, 5KPlayer supports RM, RMVB, MPEG, MP4, WMV etc., and even 4K / 5K video. By the way, it also supports Apple AirPlay technology-can directly transfer multimedia data from iPhone and iPad to the computer, or synchronize the computer screen and music to Apple TV or speakers that support AirPlay function.
Part 4: How to Remove Region Code on DVD
What’s more, if you have the further requirement to make an exact copy of the original DVD disc, which could be transferred to others for further sharing, how to deal with it? In such a case, if the DVD content could be copied without any region codes restriction, then the copy could be easily transferred for freely watching. In order to copy the DVD content freely, you had better adopt an excellent DVD copy programs which has the capability of removing the region code on DVD. Here, Leawo DVD Copy can be your excellent choice. Regardless of disc protection and region restriction, Leawo DVD Copy can successfully decrypt these discs with region protection with ease. Not only can this program help you to clone DVD with 1:1 quality, but also it can burn ISO image to DVD with a lot of personalized settings.
Step 1. Download and install Leawo DVD Copy on your laptop.
Step 2. Load the DVD disc. Open the program and insert the Blu-ray disc to the drive on your computer. Once inserted the Blu-ray, then click “Add Blu-ray/DVD” to load the Blu-ray disc.
Step 3. Confirm the relevant copying settings. You can select the Disc Type, Copy Mode (Full Movie, Main Movie and Custom Mode) and subtitle and audio track based on your own needs.
Step 4. Start copying DVD. Once set all the parameters, you can click the big green button “Copy” on the top-right corner. But you should confirm “Copy to”, “Disc Label”, “Save to” options. Once all of them have been selected, then click “Copy” button to start copying Blu-ray. You can choose to copy the Blu-ray disc content to hard drive and then copy the content onto your blank Blu-ray or DVD disc in the future. By the way, the DVD content that can be copied has got free from the region code protection.
Part 5: Some Region-free DVD Player Machines
No. 1 Panasonic S700EP-K
If you would like to play the DVD disc with region codes freely on the standalone DVD players, then Panasonic S700EP-K would be your good option. As an excellent region-free DVD player, Panasonic S700EP-K supports 1080P upconversion via the HDMI output. Apart from the HDMI output, if the content has been transferred via a front USB port, the video files could also be played easily. While, this DVD player does not support Blu-ray, by the way, it doesn’t have the display on the front either. But, this is a still great DVD player you can choose since it is really affordable.
No. 2 Sony BDP S3200
Sony BDP S3200 is also another great region-free player which supports both DVD and Blu-ray discs plus streaming media. It would allow users to play the DVD disc with region codes freely, by the way, you are also allowed to stream freom Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube. With a built-in Wi-Fi connection and a front USB port, Sony BDP S3200 can make it quite easy to handle with. But, Sony BDP S3200 doesn’t support Miracast technology.
DVD region codes how to bypass? The topic is worth discussing.
Region code is used to stop the playing of one region's discs in another region. Your DVDs purchased from Japan can't be played directly in the United States. Because the region code for Japan is 2, whereas the US is 1. Then, what's the DVD region code, and how to remove region code from DVD? Read on to get more helpful info.
- >> Facts about DVD Region Codes
- >> How To Bypass DVD Region Codes
Best App to Bypass DVD Region Codes
Cisdem Video Converter is a powerful program to unlock DVD region codes and digitalize DVD.
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Facts about DVD Region Codes
DVD region code, proposed by the eight major U.S. film companies, is a part of the DRM (Digital Rights Management) technique. It divides the world into 6 regions, and restricts that DVD discs circulating in each region must have a region code.
Check the most comprehensive DVD region codes and geographic scope here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code.
Besides region 1-6, Wikipedia also introduces the region 0, 7, 8, and ALL. Region 0 and ALL are region-free and compatible with any DVD player. To avoid users resetting DVDs to region-free, movie studios implemented a system called 'Regional Coding Enhancement' (RCE) to refuse to play such DVD discs.
Why do DVDs have region codes?
DVD region codes aim at protecting the interests of distributors and agents, enabling them to control the international distribution of a DVD release.
Each movie has different release times in different parts of the world. Generally speaking, American blockbusters will be first released locally before being released in overseas markets. If American DVD discs flow into overseas, leading to the prevalence of piracy, it will greatly reduce the box office revenue of film companies.
Cheapest Region Free Dvd Player
How to find the region code on a DVD?
The region code is designated on the back of the individual DVD, which is displayed on a globe with the region number printed on it.
PAL and NTSC DVD player
Like region codes, the standard broadcast format used between countries and regions is not the same. For example, The United States is NTSC and Europe is PAL.
Most NTSC players can't view PAL DVDs, but PAL players generally merely ask for a region-free DVD player to play NTSC DVDs. Therefore, in NTSC countries like the USA, it is best to use a region-free, multi-standard player and multi-standard TV to open PAL DVDs.
How To Bypass DVD Region Codes on Mac, Windows, and DVD Player?
Way #1. Change DVD (Drive) Region
The region code of the DVD drive can be changed 5 times. You can easily convert region 2 DVD to region 1, region 6 DVD to region 3, etc. This part will solve DVD region codes, how to bypass and unlock them by modifying the DVD playback region.
On Mac:
- Place the DVD disc into the optical drive, a dialog box will pop up immediately.
- Select the region code you wish to set, e.g. Canada - Region 1, Europe - region 2, Southeast Asia - region 3, Russia - region 5.
- Click the 'Set Drive Region' button.
- Click the lock icon to make changes.
On Windows:
- Insert a DVD into your drive.
- Hold down the Windows key, and press R.
- Type 'devmgmt.msc' into the Run box and press Enter to open the 'Device Manager' window.
- Expand the heading for DVD/CD-ROM drives.
- Right-click your DVD drive and click 'Properties' to call up the dialog box.
- Click on the 'DVD Region' tab.
- Select your current geographic area and hit 'OK'.
Note: Once the 5 chances run out, your DVD will be permanently set to the code you set last time.
Way #2. Rip DVD Movies to Digital Videos (Recommended)
Cisdem Video Converter should be the best app to bypass DVD region codes on Mac. You don’t need to care about the region code at all. The software can straightly export media files from DVD discs for playback on media players, streaming, mobile phone, and TV.
In addition to removing DVD region code, CSS, Sony ARccOS, etc., Cisdem Video Converter gives you even more benefits. It lets you batch or individually convert media files to MP4, MKV, MP3, iMovie, iTunes, iPad, etc. Moreover, it's able to download/edit videos and audio tracks.
Steps to bypass DVD region codes and rip DVD on Mac:
Step 1. Download and install Cisdem DVD ripper, and install it to Mac.
Step 2. Load DVD movies
Put the DVD disc that you want to digitize to the DVD drive. Ignore the message that prompts you to change the region code. Go to Finder and locate to your DVD disc.
Drag-n-drop DVD VIDEO_TS folder to the “convert” interface of Cisdem Video Converter.
After loading DVD, all video titles will be shown in the list.
Step 3. Choose the output format
Click on the format button to open the output file panel. Select any general video, audio, and target device among the categories.
How To Make Dvd Player Region Free
By default, the software will keep the original parameters (resolution, frame rate, and aspect ratio, etc.). To adjust them, click the icon next to format you choose.
Step 4. Bypass DVD region codes and convert DVD
Hit the button to rip DVD without region code restriction on Mac. The conversion will start in no time.
Way #3. Unlock DVD Region Codes on DVD Players
Besides DVD, you can also address the 'DVD region codes bypass' issue from the DVD player. There are two workarounds.
Free Hack DVD Players to Make it Region-free
VideoHelp forum offers a long list of DVD player region free unlock codes based on user reports. You can find many kinds models of DVD players, such as LG BP250, Sony BD-BX510, Panasonic CQ-VAD7300U, Samsung BD-J4500R, Philips DVP3340V, Toshiba SD3950, Philips HTD3514, Philips DVP3620, and so on. Each of them posts the unlock region code hack.
Go to https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks, search your DVD player model, and follow the steps. If there is no region code comment for your model, try the hacks of the same brand. For example, to make Philips HTS3251B DVD player region free, you should:
- Don’t put DVD disc in machine.
- Press 'Home' on remote.
- Press 8689310. Note: the last number is for desired region.
- Finally, press 13893108520. DVD Region 0 will then be displayed.
Use a Multi-region DVD Player
The old DVD players are unable to bypass DVD region codes due to the backward technical level. But now many new models supports region free DVD playback from regions 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and comes with built-in PAL / NTSC conversion. You can purchase those region-free DVD players from official websites, Amazon, Walmart, Fortress, CodeFreeDVD, and more.
Region Free Dvd Player Mac Os X
Apart from external DVD player, the media player software below can also remove region code from DVD and play it.
- VLC
- GOM Player
- 5K Player
- PotPlayer
- Kodi
Conclusion
Above are solutions on DVD region codes - how to bypass them. When encountering this problem, you should first consider converting the region code until the 5 opportunities are used up. Then, choose whether to buy a DVD ripper or a multi-region DVD player. If you’d like to play your DVD movies anywhere, anytime on portable devices without restriction, I recommend you convert and digitalize your DVD content to common media files.