Problem with DVD playback on Lenny

[Pål Dahle <pal.dahle@nr.no>]

Greetings!

Problem :
I have 4 DVDs that I would like to run on my Debian box. This is
currently how I am doing:

DVD   RegionCode     Playback
----------------------------------------------------------------
1     2              Fine with all players
2     1-6            Fine with all players
3     2              With vlc only, and only if run as root
4     1              Scrambled/blocky playback with all players

What confuses me is that one of the DVDs can be played by vlc
if I start vlc as root. Sigh...Moreover, all DVDs can be played
on my Dell D820 laptop running Ubuntu 8.10.

Here are some detail about my system:

Machine : Acer Aspire L5100
System  : Debian 5.0.1 Lenny
Playback: vlc/mplayer/totem
Packages: libdvdcss2   1.2.10-0.2
          libdvdnav4   4.1.2-3
          libdvdread3  0.9.7-11
          mplayer      1:1.0.rc2svn20080706-0.1lenny1
          vlc          0.8.6.h-4+lenny2

Here are the details for my DVD-player as retrieved by lshw
and regionset:

description  : DVD-RAM writer
product      : MATSHITADVD-RAM UJ-875S
physical id  : 1
bus info     : ide@0.1
logical name : /dev/hdb
version      : 1.00
serial       : fG5E0BFD
capabilities : packet atapi cdrom removable nonmagnetic dma lba
               iordy audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
configuration: mode=udma2 status=open

regionset version 0.1 -- reads/sets region code on DVD drives
Current Region Code settings:
RPC Phase: II
type: SET
vendor resets available: 4
user controlled changes resets available: 2
drive plays discs from region(s): 2, mask=0xFD

Any tips would be highly appreciated.

Pål