timespeed

Old thread but this might be helpful to someone. A free program called "PgcEdit" can modify DVD files to be region free. At the top there are buttons like File, Edit, Trace, Preview, DVD, etc. Go to "File" > Open "DVD". Now click "DVD", and then "Region Code" and press the "Region Free" button. Press ok and save the DVD. Free program "IfoEdit" can also do this by clicking "Open", select your DVD's .ifo file. Then click the "Region free" button and save. I don't know if there's any differences between how these two programs do it but PgcEdit shows all regions checked which is reassuring I guess.

Great suggestion. I don't have any DVD+RW discs right now but I did test DVD-RW and it didn't work in my DVD player. However, burning DVD folders VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS to a DVD+R disc using ImgBurn did work. Apparently some older DVD players require both folders even if the audio one is empty. Some of the .bup and .ifo file hashes didn't match after burning. Maybe it's the Ecc block size thing mentioned earlier in the thread. Or maybe user error on my part. Or timestamps. I might do more testing eventually but right now I'm glad to know DVD folders are another option like ISO files. I don't seem to be getting the right click context menu "Play with Windows Media Player" or VLC player when the burned disc is inserted but maybe that's my Windows settings. Anyway, hope this reply helps someone searching this topic.

I can't edit my post anymore but just to add to my last couple of sentences: Please note that I don't know if you would get the same file hash if you made ISO2 on a different computer, operating system or DVD burner hardware. But you could test it to confirm. 🙂

If you want to make an OLD ISO match a new ISO, I haven't figured that out. 😔 However, if you want to mount an old ISO and use its folders to create a NEW ISO, let's call this ISO1, and then mount that and create ISO2 from those folders, you can make ISO1 and ISO2 match by doing this: Open a program called Nirsoft RunAsDate. This does not affect your system clock by the way, it just temporarily tricks a selected program. Choose a date and time. Uncheck "Move the time forward according to the real time". I think unchecking it freezes the program time? Now run ImgBurn through this program. From the mounted ISO folders, create your new ISO file (aka ISO1). Then mount ISO1 and use its folders to create ISO2. Now ISO1 and ISO2 will match as long as you create these ISOs using ImgBurn running through the RunAsDate program with exactly the same settings. This ensures the ISOs have the same timestamps. Also ISO1 and ISO2 must have the same volume name.

ImgBurn is very good DVD burning and copying software! 🙂 But it's not a DVD ISO editor (correct me if I'm wrong!) so I was hoping someone could advise about that. I haven't been able to find much about this metadata stuff, maybe it's not well documented on the whole internet? 🤔 Interesting point you mention about DVD-R, I didn't know that! But I would prefer to use DVD+R because it's a little better at error correction. But even if I chose DVD-R, I test ISO backups before burning. I want to figure out why UltraISO (or a similar program) changes something in the original ISO file if I open it, save it as a new ISO and yet the new ISO file hash does not match with the original (even though I didn't change anything). 😭 It would be great to manually change the ISO metadata myself so it matches so no matter what, the original is truly preserved even if I make changes, I can revert it back and it will match. Also, I wonder if I can burn the DVD folder "VIDEO_TS" instead of using ISOs, or would that cause playback problems on DVD players?

What software can I use to preserve the same DVD ISO file hash even after burning it to a disc so I don't have to keep it on my HDD? In UltraISO I tried opening a DVD ISO file and saving it as a new one but got a different ISO file hash compared to the original ISO (all files inside both ISOs have identical file hashes). I also compared both ISO files in IsoBuster and it shows DVD > Session 1 > Track 01 > "ISO" and "UDF" are the same for both ISOs but under "IFO" (also listed under Track 01) has less files in it in the new ISO. Obviously this must affect the ISO file hash even if both ISOs play fine in VLC Player. Maybe the ISO metadata has been changed even though all visible files inside are identical (in file hash and creation date). If the ISO hash is already different now, obviously it will be different when burned to a disc. So how can I edit the ISO metadata or structure so they both match? Or should I just create a backup of the VIDEO_TS folder instead of an ISO or will that be bad for DVD playback and preservation? I don't know if I can burn a .ISO file itself to a disc and have it remain a .ISO file but the disadvantage would be it's unplayable in a DVD player. I would prefer it to be burned to a disc that's playable on a DVD player and still has the same file hash if I want to create a backup of it later on PC. This would ensure the original is perfectly preserved and also avoids any potential privacy issues like hardware IDs, timestamps or anything else that was not in the original, ending up in any future backups.