Anybody know how to switch off the country code for the Windows Media Player?

I have DVDs with country codes 1 and 2, and have the WinDVD player set for "1". That has apparently changed the country code setting for the Media Player to "1", also. Since you can only switch codes three times before the code is locked in, I was wondering if it were possible to switch both, or just the Media Player, to "0".

JCat, good luck
http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/dvdregion/

It sounds like a lot can go wrong there - maybe I'd better just use my laptop for region 1, and the TV/DVD player for region 2!

You could also google for the make and type of your DVD drive. Combined with the keywords "region", "firmware" and "patch", you might just find a patch which can make your DVD drive region free.

If you're lucky, you then won't have to bother with the regions anymore, even when you would move the drive to a new PC.

Good luck !

Originally Posted by Wout

You could also google for the make and type of your DVD drive. Combined with the keywords "region", "firmware" and "patch", you might just find a patch which can make your DVD drive region free.

If you're lucky, you then won't have to bother with the regions anymore, even when you would move the drive to a new PC.

Good luck !

Click to expand...

I found one, but chickened out, because of all the dire warnings posted. Last night I downloaded a region-free DVD player, and it didn't work, so the next change I make will "lock in" the region. Oh, well. I usually only watch my "Law & Order" DVDs (region 1) on the laptop, as hubby refuses to watch the shows any more in English. We have a region-free DVD player hooked up to the TV, and he's getting a region 2 portable DVD player for Christmas, so it's not as if I'm not going to be able to watch my DVDs.

I can't say I blame you. I wish you the best of luck though. I did not even realize that there were these "regions" for DVD players. (I lived pretty humbly when I was in Germany and made it to 2002 without a DVD player).
I only found out about the regions when I went looking for "Kommissar Rex" DVS on eBay. I realized that even if I could get my hands on one, I would be in for a nightmare trying to play it!!

Originally Posted by 2dogmom

I can't say I blame you. I wish you the best of luck though. I did not even realize that there were these "regions" for DVD players. (I lived pretty humbly when I was in Germany and made it to 2002 without a DVD player).
I only found out about the regions when I went looking for "Kommissar Rex" DVDs on eBay. I realized that even if I could get my hands on one, I would be in for a nightmare trying to play it!!

Click to expand...

We went through that. Not only do you need a DVD player that accepts all regions, but your TV has to have the proper back-up (NTSC for North America/Japan, PAL for most of Europe) if you want to watch in color. We had real fun at school, because the French teachers threw SECAM back-up into the mix when they brought in French videos.