Windows: Can't change the region of any Blu-ray drive

[RasterEyes]

Forgive me that this isn't a MakeMKV-specific question. I'm just hoping people here might have expertise on this subject.

I'm not having any problem ripping Region 2 content using MakeMKV, even though all three drives I've tried (an internal Pioneer, an internal LG, and a USB external drive) are set to Region 1. But I'd like to be able to play the Region 2 discs I'm ripping with either PowerDVD or VLC so I can match content to episodes (3-4 episodes per disc, tracks not reliably in episode order, episodes not showing title of episode when played).

Both PowerDVD and VLC won't let me play these discs without changing a drive's region, but every time I try to do that, and even though I have 4 changes available on each of three drives, I get this error message:



I've googled for any answer for this, and have found nothing at all that helps, and very little that even vaguely recognizes this particular problem at all.

I'm wonder if I specifically need a Region 2 DVD, not a Region 2 Blu-ray, inserted in my drive in order to change the region. Could that be the problem?

If so, I'm stuck for now, because I have no Region 2 DVDs.

[Sunoo]

Numbered regions are for DVDs, lettered regions are for Blu-rays.

[dcoke22]

I seem to recall there's a way to change the region in VLC software, probably in the preferences somewhere. Unfortunately, I rarely use VLC so can't point you directly to it.

[RasterEyes]

Numbered regions are for DVDs, lettered regions are for Blu-rays.

Ah! So there is no convenient built-into Windows interface for the Blu-ray region, just the DVD region.

[RasterEyes]

I seem to recall there's a way to change the region in VLC software, probably in the preferences somewhere. Unfortunately, I rarely use VLC so can't point you directly to it.

I found a region setting in PowerDVD, based on your comment. I'm not sure yet if I was changing the region for PowerDVD itself, one of my internal drives, or both of them. (The USB drive was unplugged.) It's not convenient right now to check more closely, but I'll look into it tomorrow.