Posted by John Howells on 12/22/96 11:25

"chuck" <ccREMOVEiaffone@earthlinDELETEk.net> wrote

> P Pron wrote:
> > As there's a limit to the number of times you can change the region,
> you
> > might like to try http://www.dvd43.com/ which (on more or less
everything
> > I've tried so far) seems to make the computer "region-blind" without
making
> > permanent changes to your hardware. Works fine with 'Shrink...
> >
> > paul
> >
> Yes but ... does the "limit to the number of times you can change
> the region" get controlled by the hardware, the driver, or the
> software?
>
> If I put a Region 2 DVD into a Region 1 DVD drive,
> and use DVD Decrypter to copy the content of the DVD, is this
> counted against the number of times I can change the region?
>
> If it's a software thing, I can just uninstall and then
> reinstall the software to reset to zero. If it's hardware,
> I can't.

Most likely you can't.

If the drive was made after 1st January 2000, and has the maker's authorized
firmware, then the change counter is in the drive, which is known as RPC2
(Region Protection Code 2), though the count should only be stepped after
you have confirmed it is OK. If you don't use something like the S/W
recommended it will stop allowing changes, and reinstalling the S/W will
make no difference.

Drives made before 1st January 2000 (or thereabouts) are known as RPC1 and
have the counter in software. Reinstalling the OS and other S/W will restore
the count. This is why the DVD consortium changed to RPC2, to make it more
difficult to get around the region protection, though ultimately it was
futile.

John Howells

[Back to original message]