Technical Issues and Questions

[cdnchris]

Counting the Amazon Fire we are using 6, so you got me beat

[fdm]

A couple of years ago I got the Harmony Elite universal remote. It works for everything I have (including directv). One remote to replace them all. It takes a few iterations to get everything set up just right, but I haven't had to do anything with it except use it for quite some time. I have about a dozen devices programmed into it.

The nice thing about it is it comes with a hub which blasts the IR signal all over the room you are in so you don't have to aim the remote at anything. Wi-fi is required for the hub.

Select an activity (e.g., watch import blu-ray), everything relevant starts up, start watching. Switch over to directv? Select the directv activity and directv comes on and import blu-ray player is powered off. Done? Hit the off button and everything that was still on shuts off.

Harmony has less elaborate remotes also, but this is the only one I've had. (The Elite (or rather its hub) may be the only way to control certain devices that don't do infrared, like Roku, so whatever controls Roku (too early for me to remember, too lazy to look) necessitates more than just the infrared that Harmony's lesser remotes may only provide.)

[jedgeco]

I also have the Harmony Elite, and generally recommend it.

Logitech is really the only game in town these days for a sophisticated universal remote. It does take a pretty good bit of time to customize, though; for example, by default, the remote communicates with the Hub, which then blasts out signals to your equipment, and does not send an IR signal straight from the remote. You can change this behavior, but it's buried in a menu somewhere.

The Elite is, I think, the third Harmony remote I've had, and by far it's the best, both in terms of build quality and functions. It's also the first Harmony that allows you to program "macro" functions and assign them to a single button, so I'm now able to push one button and it sends all the signals to change the Region Code on my Blu-ray player, which seems like the laziest thing in the world, but makes me much more likely to watch a Region B disc.

[fdm]

Thought to check amazon (while I was checking some of my recent purchases) and there is a 20% off coupon available for the Harmony Elite as I type.

[cdnchris]

I was waiting for something like that. Thanks!

[Calvin]

I've got a 4K TV arriving tomorrow, and I'm keen to buy a 4K Blu-Ray player that also has multiregion capability for Blu-Ray discs. Does anybody know what the cheapest option for this would be in the UK? This modified LG UBK80 is the cheapest that I've found so far, is that a decent model?

[DarkImbecile]

Is your TV also an LG? I’ve heard of some compatibility issues between 4K TVs from one company and UHD players from another...

[kekid]

I had a MacBook Pro from around 2012, on which I could see DVD's (not Blu Rays) from all regions. (It had a built-in CD/DVD drive) Recently I bought a new MacBook Pro, which does not have a built-in CD/DVD drive, so I bought a separate drive from Apple. To my horror, this drive refused to play DVD's from regions other than my own. It allowed me to change the region assigned to the drive, but told me that I could do this only 5 times.

I do not recall DVD's having region-coding at all. If a player could handle both NTSC and PAL, we were in business.

When did this practice infiltrate the computer industry, and is there any way to play DVD's from all regions on my new MacBook Pro?

Thank you.

[domino harvey]

Set your preferences to not auto load the internal DVD player app/utility when it recognizes a disc. Then use VLC to manually open the disc, which will bypass the region coding

[kekid]

I don't have an internal DVD player. It is an external drive. How do I set preferences to not load the DVD player app/utility?

[domino harvey]

By internal, I meant the DVDPlayer app, not the drive. You should be able to open the DVDPlayer application and de-select it opening/running automatically when a disc is recognized by going to Preferences. It’s the apps that read the disc that cause the region blocking, not the drive itself, so you have to stop them from reading the disc automatically and rejecting it, allowing you to open and run VLC, which cares not which region your disc is

[fdm]

The setting you might be looking for kekid is in System Preferences > CDs & DVDs, change the last one to "Ignore" (for video DVDs).

While you are at it you may also want to change the 4th and 5th ones for CDs to "Ignore", but there shouldn't be any region issues with those.

You might also want to change the first three (regarding blank discs) to "Ask what to do" (or "Ignore").

[MichaelB]

Yes, what they said - basically, take the official Mac DVD player app out of the equation. In fact, I’d recommend deleting it: it’s pretty basic and there are plenty of superior alternatives (VLC being one).

But region-coding has always been part of the DVD spec since it was first drawn up in the mid-1990s - in fact, DVDs have six regions rather than Blu-ray’s three.

[kekid]

Thank you, fdm, Domino and MichaelB. I used VLC to play the disc, and it works perfectly.
The fact remains that the Macbook Pro purchased in 2011 had a built-in DVD player, and did not have this problem.
The newer Macbook Pro's do not have built-in CD/DVD players, and they got their external players to check for region coding.
I don't know what prompted them to make the change. Perhaps pressure from the studios.
Any way, thanks again.

[MichaelB]

The fact remains that the Macbook Pro purchased in 2011 had a built-in DVD player, and did not have this problem.
The newer Macbook Pro's do not have built-in CD/DVD players, and they got their external players to check for region coding.
I don't know what prompted them to make the change. Perhaps pressure from the studios.
Any way, thanks again.

I'm very surprised by this assertion, because in my experience every DVD player supplied by Apple themselves had the same restrictions built in - I first encountered it with my very first Mac with a built-in DVD player, which must have been no later than 2004/5. As far as I'm aware, they've only permitted five region changes from the moment that they first started including them in their hardware.

And this was certainly true of my own (only just retired) 2011-model MacBook Pro.

[PfR73]

MichaelB is correct. Every Apple computer I've owned or used for the past 15-years utilized the region coding restrictions with max 5 changes for the built-in DVD player app. If you had a computer that did not, then you lucked out with some kind of fluke.

[tenia]

DVD-Rom players as a whole are built-in at firmware level with a 5-changes max restriction. It's not limited to Mac, but to the DVD-Rom players themselves. There are softwares that allows either to bypass that or to reset it at will, and IIRC, also some unofficial firmwares doing the trick, but as domino explained, it's not so much the issue of the DVD player setup itself than the softwares checking it out. Some like VLC (or MakeMKV) not checking it out allow to bypass the problem.
The 5-changes restrictions also exists on BD-Rom, and includes BD region locks. I'm wondering however if you get 5 changes for DVD AND 5 changes for BD (you should, logically), but since my PC monitor isn't HDCP compliant, I have to use a dedicated software anyway and so never bother with region issues.

[Jonathan S]

So is installing something like VLC also the best way to solve this region-code restriction for DVDs on a Microsoft/Windows PC? To play a DVD, I currently use Cyberlink PowerDVD, which came with the PC, though it's not set to open automatically when I insert a DVD.

When I go into the PC's Device Manager then into DVD/CD-ROM drives, there's a DVD Region Code panel which tells me I must select a code for the DVD drive, limited to 5 changes as usual, and I'm now down to 3, so I assumed that would override any playback apps. I can't find any PowerDVD setting to counteract it.

A techie friend sent me some Region Free software that allows him to play any DVD region whenever he likes, but it doesn't work for me (and I've tried an updated version plus uninstalling/reinstalling). So presumably either the PC's drive or PowerDVD is overriding even the Region Free software?

[Rayon Vert]

Thanks for the participants in this discussion because I just assumed my portable Apple external dvd player would only play Region 1. Now I see it plays all regions on VLC with no adjustments having to be made! Cool. (2013 was the purchase for the Mac and the external player.)

[Lemmy Caution]

Was at an electronics store in Shanghai and they were offering something they called World Tv.|
A cable box that hooks to your internet and TeeVee and provides US, French, German, etc cable tv.
Supposedly a one time fee of $130 and your good to go.
There was also a feature with movies, another for music.
There was a cheaper option (around $60) just to have software that gives you access to the same.

Anyone have any idea what this is. Probably dodgy since this is China, but intriguing.
Right now I use a Slingbox, but this has two significant drawbacks.
First off, AM and PM are swapped between China and the East Coast US, so evenings here you get morning, daytime TV. And secondly, intranet in China is fast, but internet outside China is throttled by the gov't so that streaming is pretty crappy. So the slingbox video I get is highly variable and often blurvision.
And I mostly watch basketball which involves a lot of movement and smallish figures.

Any idea what this World TV thing might be?
I wanted to read about any drawbacks and hidden fees, but first i have to figure out what it is.

[kekid]

Our university built a small theater for the film classes. I know nothing about projectors (I see Blu Rays on HD monitors). The Blu Ray player used is a region-free Sony.
When I played the Criterion Blu Ray of "The Earrings of Madame De...", the image filled up the 1.85:1 screen, thus distorting the picture. (The film is in 1.37:1 aspect ratio)
The technical support person tells me the projector decides how to show the image based on resolution, and that we cannot change the aspect ratio of the projected image. If true, this projector does not project the content in the correct aspect ratio, which would be a serious problem.
So my questions are: (1) Is it true that some projectors will automatically project the image contained on a Blu Ray disc in incorrect aspect ratio, and cannot be changed? (2) If this is untrue, how can the AR of the projection be changed? There is nothing on the projector remote that relates to this. (3) If this is true, is there some adjustment we can do on the Blu Ray player to correct this?
They spent a fortune to build this theater, and I really hope that we don't get stuck with seeing films in incorrect aspect ratios.

[stanstelling]

Check the Blu Ray player Screen Settings and make sure Screen Format is on Normal and not Full.

[WmS]

Our university ... technical support person tells me the projector decides how to show the image based on resolution, and that we cannot change the aspect ratio of the projected image.

In my uni teaching experience, the technical support person was always an IT guy who was too lazy to read the manual. I'm sure the correct setting is buried in the manual somewhere.

What are the projector/player model numbers? I remember having a similar problem at first with my Seiki/Optoma setup, easily fixed after a dig in the menus.

[kekid]

Thank you. I will look for the manual and the projector model number on Monday.

[stanstelling]

Check the Blu Ray player Screen Settings and make sure Screen Format is on Normal and not Full.

As someone who does this for a living, the best thing is to start from where the image begins, so make sure the Bluray player's settings are correct. Get a small monitor or TV and plug into the player and make sure it's outputting correctly. Most projectors are going to take what they are given and output it.
As WmS says, most IT guys don't care about this sort of thing. This should be something easily fixed.