I am looking to purchase a Toshiba L500 laptop and a salesman told me that if you were to play more than 3 overseas DVD's in them it will lock the hard drive or whatever gizmo it is to that region code and the only fix is to replace the internal componet. Is this correct.

Technically YES but its 5 times.

You can get around the region lock using software like ANYDVD HD.

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Are you talking legit OS dvd's or up toppy copies?

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As I understand it, the 5 times rule is only if you go into properties and change the region code yourself. Unless things have changed where the region code automatically changes with a dialogue warning when you insert a foreign DVD?

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speaking of region.. what region is australia and what regions will work in any dvd player?

Yea i think this is this the case, unless you change the region code each time you watch a dvd you shouldnt have a problem, I have a toshiba and have played quite a few non legit dvds from bali.

Australia is region 4.

Region free dvd's will work in any dvd player.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code

you could try this software "dvd43".

http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-...ls/DVD43.shtml

^^^ +1 for vlc works for anything.

+1 for VLC. Just make sure your laptop has the region code set to 4 to start with (only once, when you first play a region 4 dvd in a brand new laptop), otherwise all DVDs will look scrambled in vlc. I made this mistake with a new PC and it took me a while to figure it out.