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

[roderick]

thanks for that, and I can now understand why it's easier to do the blanket job with RCE. The danger is that the Americans may now get the bright idea of applying it to ALL their future productions - which means that us less privileged mortals in Regions 2,4 etc (though not quite Third World) many have to invest in a generic region-free machine ---- until of course the paranoid boffins at Warner, Columbia, MGM, Tristart etc. come up with some other trick to foil even generic players.....

They would not get away with it under our Constitution here in Oz, as it would be classified as a "restrictive trade practice" under Section 92. But that's America for you - "might is right", it would appear. Rather glad I live here!

Regards,

[setarip]

"The danger is that the Americans may now get the bright idea of applying it to ALL their future productions - which means that us less privileged mortals in Regions 2,4 etc (though not quite Third World) many have to invest in a generic region-free machine"

I'm afraid I don't see your problem. As far as I know, virtually ALL DVDs released by major studios (whether American, British, Australian, Japanese, or "kiwi") are released in versions for EACH region. I really don't understand why you would have a serious concern about RCE protection. On those rare occasions that the product is ONLY available as a Region 1 RCE-protected DVD, you can always follow my earlier suggestion regarding making a region-free backup (Presumably legal under Section 92)...


By the way, you never know who may be a neighbor ;>}

[roderick]

Yes you are correct, setarip, any trade practice which infringes section 92 of the Commonwealth Constitution is unlawful and has legally-sanctioned remedies here. However, you might be surprised to learn that not all of the major DVD studio releases are put on the appropriate regional market here (4) until a considerable time has elapsed, and then not always, particularly in the case of vintage or classical films (a different proposition of course where a lucrative contemporary market may have been identified).

My apologies if I trod on any US-orientated sensibilities, certainly not intended and nothing personal, as my own brother-in-law, who is an American citizen resident in Alaska, also despairs of practices such as these. The whole question of RPC and RCE is a vexed one that really needs a fresh look by the major players, as all the present restrictions do is encourage those who view them as inequitable and unjust, to break them, thereby giving a whole raison d'être to such forums as this.

Thanks for your help and I shall persevere with the Region 1 problem along the lines suggested.

Best regards,

[setarip]

"all the present restrictions do is encourage those who view them as inequitable and unjust, to break them, thereby giving a whole raison d'être to such forums as this."

At the risk of disagreeing yet once again, these forums are based on the assumption (despite the myriad conflicting laws and lawsuits worldwide) that one has the right to make a backup copy of owned media...


"My apologies if I trod on any US-orientated sensibilities, certainly not intended and nothing personal, as my own brother-in-law, who is an American citizen resident in Alaska"

(Just kidding) Does that fall into the category of, "Don't get me wrong, some of my best friends are ______ (fill in nationality, ethnicity, skin color, etc.)" ?

[roderick]

No, no proforma intended, just that, whether by accident or design, the US seems to "call the tune"on these things, which the rest of the world can't be expected to be wildly enthusiastic about if it imposes an unrealistic economic and intellectual burden upon those less privileged.

I quite agree with you, we all should have an inalienable right to make back up copies of our legally-acquired software. We therefore have to seriously question the motives of those who would stop us through attempts at worldwide market monopoly/control, as in instances such as these.

No doubt greater minds than ours will grapple with the question over the next few years as info-techology becomes even more sophisticated!

Thanks for replying.

Regards,

[Floppy]

Region code hack posted by John Gross, April 03 2003:
To convert the Samsung DVD-V6500 player to Multi-Region playback make sure you have
no disc or tape in and then Turn it on. When the display shows "no disc"…...

1. Press the DVD button on your remote control so the Samsung DigitALL logo appears on the screen

2. Press the SUBTITLE button on your remote control

3. Using your remote control enter the code: 7, 6, 8, 8, 4
Note: You should not see the numbers on screen as you type them
If you do Turn off and start again.

4. The current region should be displayed on the screen. (eg "04") If this doesn't happen then turn off
and then on and try again

5. Press the 9 button on your remote control for Region free

6. Press the Open button on your player
7. Close Tray.
8. Power the unit off, then power the unit on again

Was this the hack you tried??

Thx

[roderick]

Thanks for the reply, Floppy.

Yes, John Gross's hack which you posted above, is the one I use, with good results on all regions (including "conventional"discs from Region 1) until we ran into trouble with this pesky new Region 1 disc from Columbia Tristar, which they released in 2002 and almost certainly have embedded with RCE code.

The interesting thing, though, is that the error message encountered on my hacked Samsung player is not the normal one that I encounter when the player is unhacked and region-specific, i.e. "this disc is unplayable in this machine, check your region setting." The 'new' error message reads as follows:-

"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 the option of entering numbers or characters from the remote keypad. If you do this, they come up as a line of asterisks like a normal password would, but then when you hit ENTER, "wrong password" will of course come up if the combination is incorrect.

It seems obvious that Samsung do expect that the "rating limit" (whatever that may mean) for the player can and will be overridden for certain purposes if you insert the correct password. But this is the problem - I don't know what that password is and have no means of finding out unless some knowledgeable user of this forum sees this posting and enlightens me. I hardly think Samsung are going to tell me if I email them!

I did try setarip's suggestion of resetting the hack temporarily to be Region 1-specific, but the same message about the "rating limit" came up, even though the temporary Region 1 setting was otherwise working OK (I know because I tested it with Regions 2 & 4 discs whilst it was so set, and of course they would not play, which is exactly what I expected).

If anyone can help with advice on how to get around this Samsung "insert password" invitation, I would be glad to hear from them.

As I said earlier, I haven't been game to try too many numeric combinations, in case the player locks me out permanently, like a PC RPC2 DVD drive does if you try this too often.

Thanks for your input. Regards,

[setarip]

"I did try setarip's suggestion of resetting the hack temporarily to be Region 1-specific"

I'm afraid that wasn't MY suggestion (I suggested you rip an RCE-free backup copy of your original)...

[roderick]

"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."

As I read your quote above, setarip, you did in fact make that suggestion, but qualified it by saying that the-rip-and-strip alternative might be simpler.

Who knows? Unless someone can crack the password that Samsung request input, your second alternative may be the only one available to us.

Regards,

[setarip]

No, that posting was made by "joegib"...

[Floppy]

I dont have an idea but e-mailing samsung is not a bad idea...

Why not just say that your playing a DVD that is the same region as you DVD Originally and the message comes up... You hardly have to fess up or volunteer all te info... just say someone in a region 1 country gave you the DVD palyer as a present since they send you DVDs as presents from wherever their from...

That is a idea...

[roderick]

Setarip, my apologies for the incorrect attribution of joegib's suggestion to yourself, I didn't look at the authorship carefully enough.

Floppy, your suggestion might also be constructive, will work on it and let you know the outcome. Thanks for the idea.

In the meantime, if any other forum user can throw any light on this strange message the Samsung V6500 displays, or better still suggest a way around it, I'd be glad to hear from him/her.

Regards,

[Floppy]

Your welcome from my small contribution, it was a pleasure...

Let us know what the outcome is...

I will be around..