produce copy of DVD without region code

[rlu]

Hi Folks,

I could use a bit of help. I'm a linux user, and I've installed and played with various utilities such as dvd::rip, dvdbackup, dvdstyler, devede, and others, but I'm still confused. My goal is simply to remove the nasty region code (1) so I can play these DVDs on my german player.

I have a set of DVDs of a TV mini-series called Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Each of the 3 DVDs had 2 hour-long episodes on it. I have used dvdbackup to rip the contents of the first DVD to disk. "du -sh" tells me the hierarchy uses 4.8G of space, so this might fit on a DVD-5, yes?

I've read that the region coding is simply a set of bit-flags set somewhere. My inclination would be to use some hex editor on one of the ripped files to set the coding to region 0, and then make an ISO (udf) of the hierarchy, thus preserving all the menu and title structore. Is this possible? If not, I would really appreciate some pointers about how to go about this task in the simplest possible way.

thanks,

Rob

[setarip_old]

Good ol' DVD Decrypter has a facility (one simple click) to change the Region code...

[manono]

"du -sh" tells me the hierarchy uses 4.8G of space, so this might fit on a DVD-5, yes?
Probably not since DVD-5s hold 4.37GB.

I'm unfamiliar with the decrypter you used but ordinarily they produce output for 'All-Region' by default. And that should be good enough for your player. Otherwise, as setarip_old says, try DVD Decrypter.

[hello_hello]

Alternatively, have you Googled to see if you can make your player multi region?
There's an article on it here with some links to sites with unlocking codes: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/dvd-unlock

Back in the good old days I unlocked a couple of DVD players without any problem. I think they were both Pioneer.

[rlu]

thank you all for your helpful replies. In the end I installed DVDshrink on a windows server I had lying around, and that did exactly what I needed. I'm sad that I couldn't solve the problem easily using linux tools, but happy that I can now view my DVDs. I will have to spend more time understanding how DVDs are put together and how the linux tools work.

manono, you were right: the original data does not fit on a DVD-5. (and thanks for the welcome :)

cheers,

Rob