Have you ever tried to play a DVD on your Mac only to have your computer ask you to change the ‘Region Code’?dvd_drive_region.png

Due to various copyright agreements, your Apple computer’s native DVD player wants to act like a normal DVD player that is connected to your TV at home. Unfortunately, these DVD players are “locked” so that they can only play DVDs from the region of the world in which they were purchased/licensed. Brewster being an international community, it is common for students and faculty to attempt to play movies from regions other than region 1 (North America).

Apple’s DVD Player app not only requires the Administrator password to change region, it also limits you to 5 changes before causing your DVD drive to stop working. Yes, you read that right. It will STOP WORKING if you change the region code more than 5 times.

GOOD NEWS!~ There’s a great way to deal with this limitation and it is already setup on your computer. Brewster Academy installs the VLC media player to help play many different types of media. One of the nicer features of VLC is the fact that it will play DVDs from any region without restrictions on region codes. Here’s how you can use it.

Step 1: Open VLC

  • You will find VLC in either you “Applications” folder or listed under “Launchpad”. The icon looks like a traffic cone.

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Step 2: Open media

  • When you first open VLC it looks like this:

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  • Click on the “Open Media” button.

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Step 3: Choose Disc from the top of the media screen

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  • Then make sure that your DVD is selected in the drop down menu.

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Step 4: Click ‘Open’ and Screenshot 2016-04-15 13.58.04.pngEnjoy!

 

Now, if you would like VLC to open automatically when you insert a DVD, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open System Preferences (Click the “Apple” icon in the upper left-hand corner of your screen and then select “System Preferences”

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Step 2: Choose “CDs & DVDs”.

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Step 3: Change the setting labeled “When you insert a video DVD”

  • At first, the screen will look like this

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  • We want to change the setting from “Open DVD Player” to VLC. However, when you first select “Open DVD Player” you will be presented with the following options.

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  • Please choose “Open other application”
  • Select VLC from the screen that next appears

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  • Your new settings will now look like this:

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Congratulations! From now on your computer will immediately open VLC whenever you insert a DVD.