it really seems like only a firmware replacement will help in unlocking this region code.

Don think any software in the market can overcome it yet.

[quote author=“jashsu”]Try VLC to play other region discs:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

Report your success and which Vaio or which Matshita drive you have.

Doesn’t work with a TR3AP3 (Matsushita 812)

I too found this problem and had previously used DVDRegion Free.
I received this reply from them:
“Hi,

Since Matshita drives refuse to read DVD data when disc region is mis-matched with drive region, so there is no way to decrypt DVD, and no program can work.

We suggest you order Lite-on drive, it is cheaper and works stably.

Any questions in future, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Ellen Zhang
DVDIdle Support Team”