Page 1 of Hack for the Dansai 852, please!

I bought the Dansai 852 from Tesco yesterday.

I had noticed on the Bargain Bucket forum that some people had found that it was multi-regional out of the box, and one guy had found a temporary hack for the machine.

Unfortunatly, the one I bought was neither multi-regional out of the box or with the hack. I tried the hack several times with a region 1 copy of `Sleepy Hollow` without any success.

Does anyone know a hack that would work on this machine.....if they do I would be most grateful to find out because it plays region 2 disks with great picture and sound.

Cheers, Paul H.

are you willing to have a look inside ?

Steve
www.dvdchips.co.uk

Thanks for replying Steve,

I have to be honest and say not really. I am not too good when it comes to looking inside electrical equipment.

I was really just wondering if there was a quick and easy way to make it multi-regional from the handset.

If there is no easy way around this problem I will just take it back to Tesco, and then buy a Cyberhome AD-L528 for £99.99 from WH Smith.

Thanks, Paul.H

no problem .... dont be too hasty I`ll try to take a look at one Monday or Tuesday

Steve
www.dvdchips.co.uk

Inital findings are :-

This player is MACRO FREE !!! it uses an AV3169 Video Encoder which does not have the ability to apply Macrovision to the signal ... very strange I`ve only ever known this before in Karaoke enabled machines.

The Player is NOT multiregion out of the box

Steve
www.dvdchips.co.uk

Steve, thanks for investigating this. Does that RCE hack that`s been posted really work? I haven`t got any RCE disks yet. Also I guess if that works then that will enable playing of R1 disks too. Steve, dod you investigate this yet?

It does work. I am not in the habit of wasting everyones time. I have since found 1 RCE disc that will not work with this temporary workaround which is Titan A.E. It seems that this disc has the player check for the region code before each chapter as well as before the root menu so even though you can access the root menu with the workaround I posted I have been unable to find a way to get the film to play.

I will let you all know if I have any success with this disc.

My findings were that the "RCE hack" didnt work at all on "The Patriot" and the other remote "trick" for Region 1 mentioned on the bargain buckets forum was very hit and miss although it was possible to sometimes get the disks to play ....

Going further into the electronics of the player I was able to make a chip for auto region .... this was not RCE compatible so I then added a manually selectable "RCE MODE" for playing RCE disks ... basically the player switches from Auto Region to Region 1 only for this mode ....

So there may well be a remote hack but it`s yet to be discovered but at least for now the player can be chipped for both Auto region and RCE and of course the player is already Macrov*sion free from factory .....


Steve
www.dvdchips.co.uk

Aguaz and Steve, Thanks guys for all your investigation work. Aguaz, I was not implying that you were wasting my time, but I really can`t get this particular disk to play.

I tried the multi-regional hack on a region 1 version of `Sleepy Hollow`. After keying in the hack I could access the menu and all the extras (trailers, etc). However, whenever I tried to play the movie, or access it from the chapter selection, a message popped up on the screen telling me that the disk was incompatible with the player. I did try this several times.

However, I put in a region 4 `Star Wars, Phantom Menace` disk, and it played straight away, WITHOUT the hack!!!

I also ordered a Cyberhome AD-L528. It plays the `Sleepy Hollow` disk, but there is a rather load whirring noise when it plays a disk.

The Dansai does seem like a better machine, but I am a bit worried about it not playing this particular region 1 disk.

I really do not know which player to keep!!!

Thanks, Paul.H.

I`m feeling generous .... the first 5 Dansai 852 owners to mail me who are willing to chip their players ( and have the ability to do so) can have the chip for FREE .. a discount of £10 ... You must be prepared to have your email address posted up here so that I can prove that this is a true offer.... all I ask is that you report back about the chip ...

the install pics are here .. if you cant do it then please dont ask for a chip

http://www.shoyle.f9.co.uk/dvdchipsuk/dan852install.htm

Send your mail to evets[at]ku.oc.spihcdvd

Your email should have the subject : FREE DANSAI

and the message should simply be your name and address.

I will reply to every mail to inform you if you are within the first 5 or not .... when the offer is closed I will post it here ....

Dont say I never give you anything :)

Steve
www.dvdchips.co.uk