Problems Playing Region 6 DVDs on VLC (or anything else...)

[Gena]

Firstly, please excuse my total lack of technical knowledge and proficiency.

Ok so I am in China. And we buy ripped DVDs all the time. And I can play them on my computer because they are not set to any specific region. My computer is set to Region 1 (North America) and I can't change it.

Well I bought a bunch of DVDs recently but they are not pirated. They are Region 6. And I can't play them through the normal DVD player because it is the wrong region. So I tried to play it though VLC which usually works. It didn't. It can't break through the region code or whatever (the error reads: read failed for -1/4 blocks at 0x0). Then I tried Xine Player and MPlayer, programs that were suggested to other people when VLC did not work for them. Neither of them worked. I can watch other DVDs (like the ones I bought in Greece, which are Region 2) through them (as well as through VLC). But not the ones from China.

Then I decided to try and rip them and reburn them and play them that way. So I used MacTheRipper and made them region non-specific. I tried playing this ripped version through VLC, Xine Player and MPlayer and it still doesn't work. So then I tried burning it on a disk to see if that would work. And no it doesn't. I also tried a program called Matinee which is supposed to play ripped DVDs through the Mac DVD player and that doesn't work either. Also I tried reformatting the ripped version as an mp4 on HandBreak but it couldn't even read it. Nothing freaking works.

As I right all this I become certain that either I am missing some big step or these DVDs will just not be played on this computer. I tried them on a friends Region 6 DVD player (I don't own one) and they work, so it is not something faulty with the DVD.

Does anyone have any ideas? It will seriously be a huge waste of money if I cannot play these. Plus, after spending this much time fiddling, it would really be nice to figure out what I am doing wrong.

BTW: I have a iBook G4.

Any other information you need to help: please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks in advance.

Gena

[funman]

i think that the dvd drive can't read the data from the discs

you'll have to change the region of the drive, ask your manufacturer, you can change it a limited number of time.