European DVD RESOLVED

won't play here - u$a

from Elemental Forums

Thank you all  for really helpful advice and info to help me cut thru all the 'noise' and get to solid info.  :)

A friend visiting from Germany has the Battlestar Galactica complete series (the more recent one with olmos, etc, not the ponderosa in space older version) on dvd.  Won't play on my dvd player, nor my PC. 

Went www to find solution.  I get all this jive about regions (USA = #1, Europe = #2... china = #6) ) and data about region rerstrictions for playing dvds. Seems all the editions that play in USA cost twice the cost of other regions.  Amazon has a disclamer that circa > 'this won't play on USa DVD players.'

Is there any fix for this? 

(Seem like, after all this time, the region jive should be dropped.  )

198,451 views 24 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Lots of information here Elana... ( LINK )  :)

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting LightStar, reply 1

Lots of information here Elana... ( LINK )  :)

Thank you Lightstar.  I already did several searches.  I first checked out the wisebread one.  I was confused by my search results, and a bit gun shy as I wondered if this approach was legal? hence my starting this thread. 

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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting ElanaAhova, reply 2


Quoting LightStar,
reply 1

Lots of information here Elana... ( LINK )  :)



Thank you Lightstar.  I saw the wise bread one.  I was confused by my search results, and a bit gun shy as I wondered if this approach was legal? 

 

Should be perfectly legal if the DVD player was designed to have region codes removed Elana. Try looking at those articles first.

Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top

Austrailia's Consumer Protection agency [the ACCC] declared Region Coding restrictions a 'restriction of trade' and thus contrary to our Consumer Law.

To conform with International Controls [read USA] any/all DVD players/recorders/PVRs had to be imported into Australia as Region 4 but anyone was then entirely free under our Consumer Law to alter them to accept any/all codes....usually as an extra fee...but Panasonic got around it by simply not declaring in the RTFM that they were already Region Free....and thus were the weapon-of-choice.

Every DVD and Blue-Ray machine I have ever had can play them all...;)

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

There are two options: Most players will accept a code (entered from your remote) to make then region free. Try this website to see if your player has a code listed:  http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks   If not found there, try a search "Region free dvd code" and maybe some other site will have your player listed.

The other possibility is to buy a region free player. I have bought several from this site with no problems:    http://www.220-electronics.com/region-free-blu-ray-players.html  (they have blu ray and dvd players from various manufacturers). Do a search "region free dvd player" to find other sellers.

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

It looks OK to me. I have no experience with Samsung players, but it fits your requirements.

Have you looked into converting your present player to region free? I've tried it on a couple players of mine over the years, and it works fine. The manufacturers build them that way; you aren't hacking it in the normal sense, you are utilizing the manufacturers engineering and software. 

I looked into region free players a long time ago because I like old British movies, and most of them are unavailable in North American format. I go to Amazon in the UK and get my movies and so on from them.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/

I hope that this helps.


 

 

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting willistuder, reply 9

It looks OK to me. I have no experience with Samsung players, but it fits your requirements.

Have you looked into converting your present player to region free? I've tried it on a couple players of mine over the years, and it works fine. The manufacturers build them that way; you aren't hacking it in the normal sense, you are utilizing the manufacturers engineering and software. 

I looked into region free players a long time ago because I like old British movies, and most of them are unavailable in North American format. I go to Amazon in the UK and get my movies and so on from them.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/

I hope that this helps
 

 

Yes appreciate suggestion.  Initially, I was planning to hack my current DVD player.  However, granddaughter needed one for school work (take home dvd enrichment yada).  So passed it on to her  a few days ago - so now looking into a replacement DVD player.  Also exploring ripper thingy s (new to me) to make backup media in case a DVD gets scratched badly, etc.   Another new thing to learn about now ...  Thanks for suggestion.

:)  :) 

 

 

Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Samsung DVD players work great Elana, a friend of mine has had one for years.  :thumbsup:

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting LightStar, reply 11

Samsung DVD players work great Elana, a friend of mine has had one for years.  :thumbsup:

 

what aboout >  "This unit features HDCP copyright protection technology, and must be connected to an HDCP-compliant device." < I will have to figure out oif my HD TV (old) will work with this DVD player.  :)   Oh, basic HiDef TV sets (not hooked to cable/web/pc) and DVD playing have  become so freekin complicated!  (or I am getting too old.  LOL)

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top

HDCP is a copy protection protocol that has been around for about 15 years. It has gone through a few versions, and it seems that newer versions may not be backwards compatible with v1.0. Most new devices have it built in; your older TV may have it. Look in the manual (or search online for the manual) to see if your device is compliant. If not, apparently this HDMI splitter  http://www.amazon.com/ViewHD-Powered-Splitter-1080P-Model/dp/B004F9LVXC  will allow a non-compliant device to view the program in full HD. If none of this works, you could use the standard RCA white-red-yellow cable to connect to your TV, but at a lower resolution. My guess is that you stand a good chance of success if you buy this unit; if not, try the splitter. Here is an article that will be helpful. They discuss how they have used the splitter successfully and give a good overview of HDCP.

 

http://www.howtogeek.com/208917/htg-explains-how-hdcp-breaks-your-hdtv-and-how-to-fix-it/   

 

Reply #14 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting willistuder, reply 13

HDCP is a copy protection protocol that has been around for about 15 years. It has gone through a few versions, and it seems that newer versions may not be backwards compatible with v1.0. Most new devices have it built in; your older TV may have it. Look in the manual (or search online for the manual) to see if your device is compliant. If not, apparently this HDMI splitter  http://www.amazon.com/ViewHD-Powered-Splitter-1080P-Model/dp/B004F9LVXC  will allow a non-compliant device to view the program in full HD. If none of this works, you could use the standard RCA white-red-yellow cable to connect to your TV, but at a lower resolution. My guess is that you stand a good chance of success if you buy this unit; if not, try the splitter. Here is an article that will be helpful. They discuss how they have used the splitter successfully and give a good overview of HDCP.

 

http://www.howtogeek.com/208917/htg-explains-how-hdcp-breaks-your-hdtv-and-how-to-fix-it/   

 

 

awesome info.  Thank you.  :)

Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top

You're welcome. I hope it works for you. I'll be curious to find out the results.

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

Ok, cool, will report back, expect I will have items in hand and set up.  Say 10 days...   :)

Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Any exciting developments to report?

Reply #19 from Elemental Forums Top

Oh, yes.  Sorry, I did not subscrinbe to this post - so forgot.  Yes, cheap dvd player that playes mods dvds from anywhere except china.  Thanks again for pointing me in right direction.  Now I just have to figure out how to make copies of a few DVDs I own so that i don't lose them when they wear out.  My grandkids watch a few of them fairly often.   :)

Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I guess that you didn't have to buy an adaptor, then. Is that true? If so, that's great.

Reply #21 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting willistuder, reply 20

I guess that you didn't have to buy an adaptor, then. Is that true? If so, that's great.

 

yes, not need adaptor.  Yea!  :)  :)  :)

Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I know this is late but vlc media player usually plays all
just get a connection from pc to tv and some popcorn 

Reply #23 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting benmanns, reply 22

I know this is late but vlc media player usually plays all
just get a connection from pc to tv and some popcorn 

 

good to know as backup!   :)  whats vlc media?

Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting ElanaAhova, reply 23

good to know as backup!   :)   whats vlc media?

An open source Multimediaplayer
VLC stands for VideoLan Client
It plays most common file formats the rest would be to much to mention since i dont like advertisment since im not getting paid for doing it :P
You can read more here:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

It is absolutely free very light, comes with no advertisment, in my opinion it is the only mediaplayer that needs to be on any windows system these days.
Hope this helps you.


Edit: Whoops this was already recommended in post 4# sorry didnt see that back then