Page 1 of Do you need that hack!?!

After browsing through loads of forums one thing that amazes me is the amount of people who want a hack for their machine, apply it and then find they have a problem. I bet the majority haven`t got region 1, 3 or 4 disks but they still insist on making their machine Multi-Region.
I`ve only got region 2 disks so i won`t be applying a hack (if my machine needs one) until such time as i need to. As the old saying goes `If it ain`t broke, don`t fix it !!!!!!` Any thoughts !

Most people are eager to get their new DVD so converting to multiregion enalbles them to buy American imports quicker than released in the UK & also the majority of big movie releases have better extras on imports than they do in the UK. The UK versions do get the same extras but you normally have to wait even longer for a special or limited edition of the said film which costs even more money :0( so for me, multiregion is the only way to satisfy all my needs

Lee

Point taken.

"After browsing through loads of forums one thing that amazes me is the amount of people who want a hack for their machine, apply it and then find they have a problem."

Eh? I can`t say I`ve noticed - can you give any examples?

The only common problems I`ve noticed are:

1) Someone hacks their player to multi-region, buys a region 1 disc, then finds that their telly isn`t NTSC/60Hz compatible (i.e. the common "Why is the picture rolling/black and white?" question.) That`s nothing to do with the DVD player itself, and besides they`re still able to play their region 2 discs as before (and now PAL discs from other regions, e.g. R4).

2) Someone tries a region hack, only to find that it doesn`t do anything (either because they aren`t doing it properly, or because the hack was for a different hardware or firmware version than the one they own). Again, the player still works fine and they`re able to play their region 2 discs as before.

If there are swathes of stories from people who`ve killed their player by misapplying a region hack, they`ve pretty much escaped my attention.

"I bet the majority haven`t got region 1, 3 or 4 disks but they still insist on making their machine Multi-Region."

Well, I suppose a lot of people feel they`re sticking two fingers up at "The Man" by removing the artificial, profit-motivated shackles of Region Coding - and if they do, more power to them, to be honest. Even if they never think they`ll buy anything other than R2 DVDs, the door has been unlocked, and that`s what counts.

Apart from that, I think it helps to determine whether the hack actually works before spending large amounts of money on R1/R3/R4 DVDs!


Mike

Quick example Moans, I bought Donnie Darko on dvd region 1 about 4 or 5 months ago, as of today there is still no release date for a region 2 disc.
I`ve never heard of anyone having problems with their player after hacking it and I don`t agree with region coding in general to which I`ve never heard a convincing argument for the reasoning of this.

Sadly, what you`ll find is that they are all asking pretty much the SAME questions ! There are two or three that pop up a million times...

There are plenty of really good reasons to mod your player and get discs from other regions. You are probably correct though, that some (although I`d say it was a small minority) simply see these sorts of pages on the internet, and only want their player modded so that a) they are the same as anyone else, and b) they can tell all their friends why their player is better...

There also seems to be a healthy obsession with wanting Macrovision hacks. I can understand why if your TV doesn`t have enough SCART sockets (alternatively buy a very cheap £10 SCART splitter from Argos which handles RGB), but just what the hell is the point of recording DVDs ? If it`s for the kids bedroom, buy `em a DVD player - they`re down to £60 for goodness sake. Again, it`s because they see other people doing it and they "want the same", even though there`s no actual net benefit to them !

On the other hand, I do understand the need for people to want to hack VCD playback, particularly those converting their home movies, old VHS cassettes, etc to the silver disc.

My perception is that there are more and more people asking for VCD hacks (due to Far eastern companies removing the capabaility, to avoid paying Philips $10 licence fee per player, as they cracked down on manufacturers making "their" format available on cheap players) than there are region hacks these days :-)

"There also seems to be a healthy obsession with wanting Macrovision hacks. I can understand why if your TV doesn`t have enough SCART sockets"

Or *no* SCART sockets, which seems to be a more common concern! It`s surprising how many people are still using ancient tellies with only RF inputs on them.

Mike

Clayts, you mentioned a cheap Scart splitter box. I bought one as I only have 2 sockets on my TV, but took it back to Currys as I was getting loads of picture interference. It was crap and cost about 20 quid.

Do you know of a decent one ?

Just ordered one from Maplin, I`ll let you if it works OK,

Dave