Software players such as PowerDVD or WinDVD impose the same restrictions as standalone players. Some standalone players can be manipulated with codes so that they become region free (see Enable region free mode on your DVD player for more information about that)

Software players on the other hand can be manipulated with unlock or reset software.

DVDFab Region Reset is one of the tools that can be used to unlock the DVD and Blu-Ray regions in popular software players.

region reset

The program will automatically recognize supported software video players and display instructions on how to reset or unlock the region code. The supported video players are PowerDVD 10, 9 and 8, PowerDVD 7.3, WinDVD 10 and 9 as well as the TMT video player 2 and 3.

The instructions differ depending on the installed video player. The region code limit of PowerDVD 10 can for instance be reset to 5 regardless of the actual limit. A new region can be selected in the same menu.

WinDVD on the other hand can only be manipulated in safe mode which means that the computer has to be restarted into safe mode where the DVDFab Region Reset software needs to be executed again to make the changes to the region code.

DVDFab Region Reset can be downloaded directly from the DVDFab homepage. Blu-Ray users can look at Blu-Ray Region Code Remover for an alternative.

There have not been many releases on Blu-Ray disks though except for movies. Blu-Ray disks can have a region protection which means that it can be that a movie won’t play on a Blu-Ray player if the disk and the player have been purchased in different regions.

The world is divided into three regions: Region A spans across most of Asia, region B includes Europe, Africa and Australia while region C includes North- and South-America and Japan.

Not all Blu-Ray movies are region encoded though. The decision is made by the motion picture studio releasing the movie.

The Blu-Ray Region Code Remover removes the region code of Blu-Ray disk rips on a computer’s hard drive so that these rips can be played regardless of the user’s region. It furthermore supports removing of region code from Blu-ray titles and Java-enabled titles. It can also remove Prohibited User Operations for a better user experience.

The software program requires Windows XP or Windows Vista and the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0.

I had to update the firmware of the DVD drive with a altered firmware that would make the DVD drive region free. Here is how I did it. First I wrote down the exact type of my drive. You can find that information by pressing Windows Pause, clicking on Hardware and there on Device Manager.

Locate the DVD / CD-Rom drives entry and expand it. If you look at the picture below mine is called GSA-H10N and was manufactured by LG. (You find the company logo on the drive itself normally).

Now that I had the information needed I went to the Firmware page which is a repository for many altered firmwares for a lot of DVD drives. I searched for my drive and found it on that page. I downloaded the new firmware and executed the file. I was able to change the firmware with the click of a button (the only button available is Update) and the new region free drive was available immediately.

I did check the region of my dvd drive with Drive Region.

This is not really an alternative if you ask me and a better easier way is to hack the DVD player and enable region free mode which plays DVDs from all regions of this world. You probably think that this is a complicated process which requires knowledge and time – it is not. Region free mode can be enabled on most DVD players by simply using the remote to enter a certain code that enabled the region free mode.

Sounds probably to good to be true, what do you think ? All you need to do is go to the videohelp website and search their database that contains hacks for almost 5000 DVD players. I can’t guarantee that your DVD player is among the 5000 listed but the chance is pretty good. Want an example to see how easy it is ?

I just picked one random DVD player from Samsung with the modell number DVD-HD870.

• turn on dvd player
• make sure there’s no dvd in closed tray
• press ‘repeat’ button
• ‘no disc’ disappears in left corner
• press 29334 if you have a R1 player
• 57538 if you have a R2 player
• 56732 if you have a R3 player
• 76884 if you have a R4 player
• 53814 if you have a R5 player
• 24462 if you have a R6 player
• current region code is visible in left corner
• press 9 for code free
• press ‘Standby’
• enjoy!!