I've done some searching on the net but to no avail.

I have a black Macbook and want to be able to play my Region 1 DVDs on it.  It's a perfectly reasonable thing to expect from my computer (as some of the stuff I own has no chance of ever getting a European release) and it's fairly simple on a PC.  As far as I can tell, VLC runs them but not if you (like me) have an intel Mac.  Does anyone know of a firmware update/crack that will make my player multiregion?

 If not, could anyone recommend a reasonable (and cheap) system to wirelessly send a signal from my main DVD/VCR player to my 'book?

You've got various options.

You can get a stand-alone DVD-player that you can connect to your Mac, and that does not have region limitations (such creatures exist -- Pioneer even has one you can install in your computer replacing the one that's there).

Or: 

Which Superdrive do you have, the Matsushita or the Hitachi-LG? Check through About this Mac>More Info>ATA

The Matshita one now has double region check which is what is locking out VLC, etc.

BUT - go to System Preferences>DVD/CD and deactivate the behaviour to open DVD-Player when you insert a DVD. Just choose Ignore.

Some Intel Macs will play DVDs from other regions with VLC when you do that.

You can also try ripping a DVD to your hard disk using Mac the Ripper, and setting it for Region Free -- takes time, and not as convenient as popping a DVD in the player. 

If you have no luck, you can try hacking the Firmware of your Superdrive. That's risky - I've done it on all my previous Macs though, without any problems: 

Read the instructions religiously, follow them just as religiously. Find which drive you have as shown above - find the corresponding drive and Mac type in the list, and download what you need. Read all the instructions carefully and make certain you've understood them and are doing things in the right sequence, should you choose to go ahead with a hack.

Be aware that your WARRANTY is invalidated if you perform an unauthorized firmware change to your computer! 

http://www.powerbook-fr.com/dossiers/dvd_region_free_en_article30.html 

i'd be very careful with all this , there's no telling if apple will eventually tie the boot up dvd to a region and then you're really stuffed

 since you can get a dvd player with Multi-region for c.£50 nowadays i'd play safe and get one of those , your mac is far too precious to be messed about with !! :)

Flappo The Grate:

i'd be very careful with all this , there's no telling if apple will eventually tie the boot up dvd to a region and then you're really stuffed

 since you can get a dvd player with Multi-region for c.£50 nowadays i'd play safe and get one of those , your mac is far too precious to be messed about with !! :)

Agreed, Flappo. Which is why I added all the caveats. There's a difference between the Matsushita and Hitachi superdrives, with the latter accepting VLC playback on intel Macs and the former nixing that. If you have a Matsu drive you can get very compact firewire DVD-drives that you can attach to your computer for such playback, and which can be used if you want to load up your harddrive with movies to play while traveling (you'll use a lot less battery power when playing from the hdd than from a dvd-disk).

Wow! It's a Matsushita drive I have and VLC version 0.8.6a and I just loaded up Diff'rent Strokes season two (only available on Region 1) Thanks very much

One of the problems of switching to Mac is that because it "just works" you don't get forced to learn about preferences menus and the like, as this case clearly demonstrates.  I do think though that a forced ban on non-local DVD's is a terrible idea, as is the whole idea of regional DVD's.

As I said in the initial post, I own a load of DVD's that I would gladly buy on region 1, if only they were released.  Why should someone in an office someplace dictate that because I'm from Europe, I should never be allowed to watch a DVD of, say, Laverne & Shirley?  I have a friend who loves Japanese animation and buys mountains of Anime stuff that's unlikely to ever be released in the West.  Honestly, when will the music and video industry realise that in this global/internet age, it's pointless trying to continue with regional availabilities?

Yes, Macs are supposed to be able to do most of the things you want without needing a peek under the hood -- but it all depends upon your requirements and if you wish, you can go into the Mac and perform a lot of serious computer work -- the User Interface is really just a convenient skin stretched across that power tool underneath.

The online Mac-community is full of hints and suggestions and a google search has often solved problems I've come across.

www.versiontracker.com is an excellent resource for mac software, both updates to the ones you have installed already, or new software to solve specific tasks - there are literally thousands of software packages there, and many of them free or shareware, all of them adhering to the mac "skin" which makes them easy to use.

And it's absolutely worth it to go through each section of System Preferences, one by one, to learn how your mac can be configured to your requirements - Display Preferences, for instance, can be used to tune your image output to other screens and televisions in very powerful ways. Also take a look at Audio MIDI Setup - using that right will improve the sound quality of your playback of sound files, CDs and movies. 

And VLC's preferences alone are worth an evening of exploration - that is one powerful, free application!