Media Player DVD Region setting difficulty

[Kenzie]

Hi. Bought my daughter's Windows 7 Compaq Presario CQ57 laptop with 2 GB memory in USA in late 2011. Everything is fine, except with playing one particular DVD. We live in Australia, and play DVDs bought in Australia regularly. An Alf (the alien) entire series one DVD however prompts a message window requiring the changing of the DVD region setting from 1 (USA) to 4 (Australia) , and warns that this will be the last time we will be able to change DVD region even if operating system is re-installed as limited number of changes possible.

Upon attempting to change to region 4 (which Im sure I did long ago anyway, and Aus. bought discs all work fine thus far too) Im told:
Unable to update region setting. The drive reports that it requires media of the destination region (region 4) so please insert appropriate media and try again.

Ive inserted several Australian bought DVDs at this prompt but made no headway. Im presuming computer is currently set at region 1 for some reason and that most DVDs we have played have not been stamped with a regional location setting until I encountered ALF. How can I get the damn setting to change to Australia so the damn DVD will play? lol
Not the end of the world, but any help appreciated, cheers

 

[Shark007]

When you change the Region of a DVD drive, it IS NOT occuring in software. This action occurs on the device itself (the dvd drive) and is ussually limited to 4 changes before it becomes permanent. This cannot be overcome without replacing the drive. A new dvd drive can be had for $20. This may be an option to consider.

A simple solution... get imgburn. Its free.
use this software to rip the original dvd to an ISO.
Then use this same software to write this ISO to a new blank dvd
now you have a region-free dvd.
OR
use software such as Virtual CloneDrive (its free too) to 'mount' the ISO and play the mounted image.

 

[OldNick]

Or to make it even simpler, use DVD43 (free) which sits on your PC waiting to scan each DVD and get rid of regions.

 

[Roderunner]

DVD43 is only compatible with certain 'copy' programs according to it's maker. My choice is Free Download DVD Ripper Software - WinX DVD Ripper

 

[OldNick]

AFAICS the author is being overly cautious, or things have changed. DVD43 allows me to actually real-time play regioned DVDs using WMP, WMC, VLC, etc, and to rip them using several programmes he does not mention.

I have been using Free DVD ripper from DVD Fab. It's VERY basic and just rips the DVD as a playable VideoTS and AudioTS folder. BUT that makes it almost fail safe. It does need DVD43 to work properly AFAICS. Funny thing is I was going to buy their commercial product, which requires _removal_ of DVD43, but I had so much hassle with it I gave up.

That link looks like trialware, not freeware.