Strange error message appears on hacked Samsung V6500 combo on recent Region 1 DVD

[roderick]

Hullo again, Decryptit

Some months ago I successfully hacked my Region 4 Samsung V6500 DVD/VCR combo using a hack from this forum, thank you very much to whoever posted it.

My player has quite happily been playing multi-regions (Reg. 1 included) until I recently acquired a Region 1 DVD from the USA.

Now, when I try to load and play this DVD, I get the following error message on screen:

"Your selection exceeds the rating limit for this player.
1. Override (with cursor bar highlight)
2. Cancel"

On selecting "Overide", the message "Enter password" comes up, with "wrong password" on various numeric combinations attempted. I haven't been game to try too many, in case it locks me out permanently.

Can anyone tell me a way around this problem? I suspect that Columbia/Tristar (and possibly others as well) may have introduced some new means of encytption copy protection, even though I can circumvent CSS etc. The DVD was manfactured in 2002.

Would be very grateful to hear any informed ideas from yourself or some other knowledgeable person out there.

[setarip]

I presume the hack you applied makes your player Region-free. Chances are the particular DVD in question has RCE protection ("Region Code Enhanced"), which may not be addressed by the hack. RCE protection PREVENTS playback of a select few Region 1 DVDs on Region-free players...

If you have a DVD burner and DVD Decrypter and/or DVD Shrink software, you can easily remove the RCE protection on your backup copy...

[roderick]

Thanks, setarip. Yes, the hack did make the player region-free until now, and yes, I do have a DVD burner with Shrink software. But I do have some questions as follows:

(a) Am I to understand that I should use my PC DVD burner and software to create a back-up copy from the original, but with RCE protection removed on the back-up copy, then play ONLY this in my stand-alone hacked Samsung player? Or (b) Is there some way to overrride the RCE protection on the actual player itself, perhaps by connecting peripheral hardware to the stand-alone and using some software medium to bypass it? Or (c) Is there software (a DVD/CD-ROM etc.) in existence which will override the code?

(d) The on-screen error message received does offer both options, viz. "Override"and "Cancel", so presumably there is somewhere an override code that works, which can be entered in the dialog box that pops up with these options. If that is so, how do we determine a code combination which works? And does all this mean that I won't ever be able to play the ORIGINAL (notthe back-up) of the disc in question?

Would appreciate some guidance.

Thanks, Rod

[setarip]

"Am I to understand that I should use my PC DVD burner and software to create a back-up copy from the original, but with RCE protection removed on the back-up copy, then play ONLY this in my stand-alone hacked Samsung player?"

That's what I've suggested...

[roderick]

Thanks, setarip, it's a pity that there's nothing presently available to get around the RCE protection that seems to still attach to my hacked player if I try to play a first generation disc therein.

What is the significance of the on-screen invitation to enter a password? And who possesses such password? Is it Columbia Tristar & the other big US companies like them, or the player maunfacturers themselves? Presumably the password may vary from player to player anyway.

Would appreciate any light you can throw on these queries.

Regards,

[setarip]

"What is the significance of the on-screen invitation to enter a password?"

I have no idea...

(I presume this is being generated by your hardware and not the DVD)

[roderick]

Thanks, setarip, though I am inclined to think that because this message has not so come up with other DVDs from Region 1 (or in fact from Region 2 either, Region 4 being my home region), that the DVD itself must contain some type of embedded code which sets off this reaction in the player.

Perhaps Decryptit or one of the other moderators or users may be able to offer some idea on why it is only a very few of the Region 1 DVDs which I have, which cause the player to react like this?

As I say, I haven't encountered it before with any other Region 1 disc I've played, and I've never had any problem playing Region 2 (Europe). The player itself has NTSC-to-PAL signal playback capability, so I don't think that would have anything to do with it either.

If anyone has some constructive ideas on this passwrod conundrum, I'd be grateful.

Thanks for assisting as well as you could anyway, setarip.

Regards

[joegib]

Originally posted by roderick
Thanks, setarip, it's a pity that there's nothing presently available to get around the RCE protection that seems to still attach to my hacked player if I try to play a first generation disc therein.

You mention that it's a Columbia disk and that's certainly one of the companies that uses RCE encoding — see here for fuller information:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/rce.html

Whether you can get round RCE encoding simply using the player depends on the kind of hack applied. Many of the hacks used on players involve a sequence of remote control key presses including a numerical code. Most of the basic numerical codes published set the player to Region 0 (= non-region coded). That's fine for non-RCE disks. If, however, you put a Region 1 RCE-encoded disk in such a machine, as setarip has explained, it refuses to play because the disk is looking for a Region 1 player. The way round this (if you can) is to turn your player into a Region 1 machine temporarily.

For instance, I have a cheapo Chinese player (branded "Pacific) on which I used a key sequence something like "13690" to turn it into a Region 0 machine. If, however, I had input "13691" that would have made it a Region 1 machine and there is a range of final digits that would change it to any specified region. So, you could investigate whether the hack applicable to your machine has a range of variants that allow you to do this. That said, its probably simpler to rip and strip the disk to avoid disturbing your setup.

[roderick]

Thanks Joegib, I'll experiment with changing the remote hack on my Samsung V6500 to Region 1 temporarily, and let you know how it goes.

As a matter of interest, my brother, who lives in your Region 2 (Germany), has the same disc - 2002 Columbia Tristar "Macbeth". He tried it in his own multi-region player, which, like yours, is a cheaper machine but Japanese, marketed by a company called Yakumo, model XL2 chipped Region-free (which coincidentally he bought in the UK on a visit across the Channel a few months ago). He was able to play the disc OK in this machine. So it appears that some region-free players like his have got around the RCE codes OK.

By contrast, it seems that machines like mine which have been hacked to region-free, are more likely to encounter problems than those with an original region-free chip.

Many thanks for referringme to the most informative dvdtalk URL, I now know a lot more about it. One question arises, though. The Dvdtalk webpage states as follows:

"Q: How Can I Tell if I have a DVD that is RCE?
A: If you try to play a RCE DVD in a region-free or multi-region player that doesn't play RCE discs you'll see this map: (RCE World Map displayed, along with warning " this disc is intended for playing on non-modified Region 1 players" )"

My player does not in fact display the world map and the associated error message to which dvdtalk refers. All I get is the message I quoted in my earlier posting, viz.

"Your selection exceeds the rating limit for this player.
1. Override (with cursor bar highlight)
2. Cancel"

However, the main thing is that, as I understand it, I now have two possible solutions: Either set the hack temporarily back to Region 1, or strip the RCE from the copy and play it in preference to the original.

Other forum users may be interested to know that the above-mentioned player (which my brother came across in a shop at Ridgmont in Bedfordshire) does not seem to have any of these problems, so I am seriously considering asking my daughter to bring one back to Australia with her when she visits the UK this Christmas!

I'll let you know how I get on with this, and many thanks for taking the trouble to suggest these solutions.

Best regards,

[setarip]

"As a matter of interest, my brother, who lives in your Region 2 (Germany), has the same disc - 2002 Columbia Tristar "Macbeth". He tried it in his own multi-region player, which, like yours, is a cheaper machine but Japanese, marketed by a company called Yakumo, model XL2 chipped Region-free (which coincidentally he bought in the UK on a visit across the Channel a few months ago). He was able to play the disc OK in this machine. So it appears that some region-free players like his have got around the RCE codes OK."

If your brother's DVD is a Region 2 DVD, it DOESN'T have RCE protection...

[roderick]

Thanks for reply, setarip. No, I have verified that the DVD in my brother's possession is the same Region 1 Columbia Tristar disc that I have (it was sent to him from the USA).

In view of this, it would appear that it is the type of player which is crucial, i.e. is it first generation region-free chipped (which the Yakumo XL2 is), or has it been hacked from another region like my Samsung V6500 (originally of course Region 4).

It appears that the RCE code has some means by which it picks up whether or not the player has been modified.

Do I understand from your closing comment that no DVDs for the Region 2 market are encoded with RCE protection? if so, it's going to be easier in the future to purchase from the UK rather than USA.

[roderick]

Reply for joegib:

Joegib, thanks for the tip re modifying my Samsung hack back to Region 1 for trial purposes.

I reset it to Region 1 temporarily and tried again, but got the same message, viz.

"Your selection exceeds the rating limit for this player.

1. Override (with cursor bar highlight)
2. Cancel"

So it would appear that the RCE code is capapble of picking up a hack modification even to its own region, 1.

Your other solution is obviously going to be the better one, viz. stripping the RCE from the back-up copy and playing that instead, until I acquire another generically region-free player which the RCE coding will allow.

Regards,

[setarip]

"Do I understand from your closing comment that no DVDs for the Region 2 market are encoded with RCE protection?"

As far as I know, RCE has only been used on Region 1 DVDs - and not too many of the Region1 DVDs at that...

[roderick]

Thank you for this intelligence, setarip,I shall where possible in future purchase DVDs from Region 2 only (UK/Europe), as my hacked player has never had any difficulties with these.

The trouble with DVDs from the United States is that very often they don't give any indication either on the cover or on the DVD itself, that RCE code has been embedded therein - just the usual innocent globe with "1" superimposed. And it's not even as if the Americans do it with only recent titles - this particular Roman Polanski film of "Macbeth" with whose DVD version I have had all this trouble, goes back to 1971! I really don't know why they bother with such old films that only Shakespeare buffs like me might want to collect. It might be more understandable with recent titles like "Polar Express" etc.

Thanks for all your information, it has been a great learning experience.

Regards,

[setarip]

"Thank you for this intelligence, setarip"

My pleasure ;>}

"The trouble with DVDs from the United States is that very often they don't give any indication either on the cover or on the DVD itself, that RCE code has been embedded therein"

I doubt that there is EVER an indication that RCE protection has been applied - since it's only another way to attempt to ensure that, theoretically, the DVD will only be playable on a Region 1 DVD player.

"I really don't know why they bother with such old films"

If a studio is having DVDs produced with RCE, they'll ALL be produced with RCE at production time - regardless of how old the original movie may have been. Why bother deciding whether or not to use RCE, when you can simply apply it to all of yourproduction runs?

"Thanks for all your information, it has been a great learning experience."

As I've often said, the day I stop learning will be the day they toss the shovels of dirt over me...