Posted by
Meiguoren
18 yrs ago
I came to China with a bunch of USA DVD's that won't play on the panasonic player supplied by my landlord. Anybody suggest how to override the regionalization code on the DVD player? I'm also having the reverse problem with the DVD player on my computer. It's American and won't play DVD's produced in HK or China. I don't want to pay $$. As a matter of fact, I'm pissed as hell at this! All of my DVDs / CDs are legal and I think I'm entitled to have them play on my equipment wherever in the world I happen to reside.
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For what it's worth I agree with your opinion on region locking. For all the talk of free trade the manufacturers are allowed to throw up this huge annoying roadblock.
Still, pretty much any player has some way of unlocking it. Sometimes it's just a code from the remote, sometimes you need a custom remote.
For the standalone DVD player, google: "unlock" and your model name. You might well find something that helps. The objective is to set it to region 0, that is "unlocked".
For the built in, it's a two parter. Google: "The Firmware Page". You will find new firmware for most DVD players, and instructions on unlocking. Part 2 is that your operating system might get "confused" if you keep changing region. I used to use a program called DVD Genie to get around this but that was a while ago.
It should be noted that flashing internal players typically voids the warranty. On the standalone one setting a code on the remote probably does not void it.
Also note that if you buy a DVD player, say, at Fortress, the sales guy will be happy to explain how to set it to region 0, that is "unlocked".
"It's American and won't play DVD's produced in HK or China"
Pretty sure you mean "region coded to HK or China".
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Thank you, this is exactly the information I need. Yes the worst one is that Santa gave our little daughter a bunch of Disney DVD's ($$$) that had been purchased in the USA and (you guessed it) they wouldn't play. I was so angry I actually wrote to the Disney Company and asked them to swap them out. (They have a policy that they will replace a damaged DVD for a nominal fee.) They actually replied and said they couldn't if the original packaging had been opened. So I replied to them that I would just go buy pirated copies, which I did. A. H.'s.
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You did tell them what they richly deserve. Still, I hope they don't come after you. ;)
For a while I just ran our US DVDs on our US portable DVD player. We bought it for the kids to use on the flight and I made sure it could run on both 110-120V and 220-240V. Composite is composite and it could shoot to the TV, which takes both PAL and NTSC, just fine.
Note also that some rare DVDs will not run on region 0 players.
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Ken A
18 yrs ago
Not sure if you're actually looking at buying a DVD player, but I've had a Pioneer DVD Recorder for a few years now and have never had any issues playing various region DVDs, or the VCDs (legit ones).
What's more annoying to me is not the fact that US/UK DVDs won't play on Asia region players (they won't play on my Asia version 360 for example), its the fact that HMV happily sells all sorts of region DVDs. I put them into my 360 and it won't play them because they're not Asian region, then I put them into my Pioneer DVD player and there's no problem.
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In the past I've found it easy to unlock region specific DVD players by googling for the secret 'up, down. left, right' code to type in on the remote controll. However, my parents swear they can't do this on their Sony DVD recorder. Also, my Sony Vaio computer is fixed in Region 3 (Asia) and no amount of googling has yielded a multi-region solution. So caveat emptor if you ever think about getting a Sony.
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"In the past I've found it easy to unlock region specific DVD players by googling for the secret 'up, down. left, right' code to type in on the remote controll"
If you buy a player in HK they'll happily explain the procedure. :)
"However, my parents swear they can't do this on their Sony DVD recorder. Also, my Sony Vaio computer is fixed in Region 3 (Asia) and no amount of googling has yielded a multi-region solution. So caveat emptor if you ever think about getting a Sony."
Sony is unfortunately notorious for locking people in. This is just one of the ways. Sony products are very nice (I am staring at my lovely Sony monitor right now) but they do have this drawback.
This was the reason I bought a JVC camcorder instead of a Sony. With Sony, you have to use Sony software for file transfer and it only works on a PC. On the JVC I just plug in the USB cable and copy the files over as if it were a portable hard drive. No need for special software.
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We have two Sony DVD players. No problems with region codes. Didn't even have to enter a "secret code". But my new apple notebook will lock to a region after you have changed the regions more than 4 times.... I can't say how annoyed I am about that! At least you can flash the drive (risking it to be damaged). Oh well, the price you pay for being blinded by nice design...
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"But my new apple notebook will lock to a region after you have changed the regions more than 4 times.... I can't say how annoyed I am about that!"
This is the case for almost any Windows machine as well. I you use caution flashing a drive is very low risk.
"We have two Sony DVD players. No problems with region codes. Didn't even have to enter a "secret code"."
Did you buy them in HK?
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Xpatguy38, yes, we bought the DVD plyers in HK. In fact, just recently, a sony salesperson told me that all Sony DVD players sold in HK are (although not officially) region free. Why then, don't they have region free DVD drives in computers, ps3 etc? So weird...
I wasn't aware that windows computer now also have regionalised DVD drives. My old notebook (Compaq) certainly didn't.
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"Xpatguy38, yes, we bought the DVD plyers in HK. In fact, just recently, a sony salesperson told me that all Sony DVD players sold in HK are (although not officially) region free. Why then, don't they have region free DVD drives in computers, ps3 etc? So weird..."
Presumably because those drives are bought in huge batches and mounted in a place regardless of region. Also those consumers are less likely to care.
"I wasn't aware that windows computer now also have regionalised DVD drives. My old notebook (Compaq) certainly didn't."
They have been regionalized since the very beginning. The movie industry would never have stood for it otherwise. Your Compaq was regionalized, just to 0.
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Ha ha, well I'll be buying a DVD player in HK before too long! I have too many DVD's from all over the world to be locked in to one system My computer is warning me that I can only watch x more DVD's before it locks into one region. (How can they get by with this?! I mean, it's a LAPTOP, don't they expect it to travel?!) From what I've read by googling stuff, apparently people bypass this by ripping the DVD to HD and then reading it from there, right?
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"(How can they get by with this?! I mean, it's a LAPTOP, don't they expect it to travel?!"
The recording and movie industry has enormous clout. Just look at all the piracy brouhaha. I understand that it's illegal but the amount of press generated is totally out of proportion to the crime.
"From what I've read by googling stuff, apparently people bypass this by ripping the DVD to HD and then reading it from there, right?"
Yes.
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According to Wikipedia, regionalising DVD players etc is illegal in AUS and NZ because its contrary to WTO commitments (well done! Wish the EU and US courts would have the guts to make such a decision). Now, would that mean that if I buy a PS3, Wii, X-Box or normal DVD player that they are all region free? Anyone any more details on this?
Thanks!
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Ken A
18 yrs ago
Wupper do you mean if you buy them in Australia or NZ? or do you mean anywhere in the world?
I can definitely tell you that the Asia version (bought in HK) xbox 360 cannot play all DVDs, and it cannot play VCDs. My Pioneer DVD Recorder (also bought in HK) on the other hand has no issue playing DVDs of any region and all VCDs.
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