Subsequent DVD Region Change

Microsoft DirectShow 9.0

Subsequent DVD Region Change

On Windows 9x, when the DVD Navigator detects that a region change on the DVD drive is necessary, it uses DVDRgn.exe to request a region change on the drive. This application is regionalized along with other components of the operating system. This application is not installed by default under Windows 98. A method of installing it on the target system is demonstrated below.

In Windows 2000, the DVD Navigator invokes a property page on the DVD-ROM drive device in the Device Manager. This property page is also brought up by the DVDPlay.exe application when a region needs to be changed. The UI of this property page is very similar to that of DVDRgn.exe and it is regionalized in the operating system.

For RPC1 drives, the Windows Operating System components manage region changes. RPC2 drives maintain the region setting in their own hardware. When the number of allowed changes are exhausted on a RPC2 drive, the drive will fail the call to change the region and the region-change component in the operating system will indicate that to the user.