region code issue

[DeviatedAngel]

Please bear with my long-winded and not-so computer savy brain...
I was recently offered a few DVDs from my aunt in the UK that are region 2. Normally I would pass up that offer because of the trouble it would take to convert them, but some of the movies are EXTREMELY hard to find in region 1 format, unless you want to pay over $50 each on eBay (which I can't afford).
I have a year-old desktop that I use to make back-ups with AnyDVD & CloneDVD. The computer came with Sonic CinePlayer, and I remember choosing region 1 when I first used it, but now I can't find an option to change the code setting.
I also have a hand-me down laptop that has both the InterActual Player (once again, I can't find out how to change the region settings) and InterVideo WinDVD4 set at region 1 with 2 code changes left. Unfortunately the burner only does CDs & can't do DVDs.
I'm a little afraid to find out how the desktop computer would react to Region 2's (don't want it to get stuck there) & would prefer to switch the settings over on the laptop since I'm sure that I can change it back.
I know that to be able to play them in my regular DVD player I have to copy them to a region free format and convert PAL to NTSC, but I have questions on how to achieve that...
Does anybody know the workings of Sonic CinePlayer & how to find out if I can change the code? I went to their website & all I got was a headache...
If I were to download the trial version of Nero 7, will that take care of the PAL/NTSC thing?
If not, does anybody know of a free conversion program that will work?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[linx05]

Forget the players, enable AnyDVD and it will let you play the discs fine.

 

[DeviatedAngel]

Thanks so much, I recieved the DVDs this weekend & tried them without all the extra BS and they copied & played perfectly! I'm so grateful that I didn't have to go through all the extra crap!!!!

 

[quikke]

I have a similar problem with the region code. I just buyed a new laptop (Acer) that includes a Matshita DVD-Ram UJ 850-S double layer burner. I just buyed the AnyDVD license to avoid playability and burning issues, but to my surprise I put a dvd with a different region code (4, my laptop has configured region 1) and my laptop can't play it for a "region code restriction", so I'm surprised that a program that should solve all that problems didn't work for me, as far as I know, Any DVD should work to play any region dvd in any dvd player. Can anybody give an idea how to solve the problem? In the case that the problem is with the DVD drive, what can I do to solve it? Thanks...

 

[linx05]

Have a read of this quikke: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=637240&postcount=2. Maybe you should have used the trial first instead of just buying the license straight up. That's why it is there.

 

[deaacs]

Matsushita's precedent could have been capitalized by BluRay - imagine with those kind of restrictions on every drive what would happen? There must be *some* way to read scrambled discs in them, after all CD copy protection is based on the idea of reading "scrambled data". What if you locked the drive while a correct region disc was inserted? You know, like when you open ImgBurn, and you eject your disc and put a new one in and you can't run any files on it because ImgBurn locked it? Personally I always buy liteon and use LtnRPC.exe. The best idea might be to buy a new laptop dvd drive.

 

[Webslinger]

a Matshita DVD-Ram UJ 850-S double layer burner.

Ugh. Matshita (Panasonic oem) burners should really be avoided. They are cheap junk, die easily, and also suffer from region coding issues.

Laptop companies love Matshita because they are cheap.

 

[quikke]

Have a read of this quikke: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=637240&postcount=2. Maybe you should have used the trial first instead of just buying the license straight up. That's why it is there.

Ok thanks...