Page 1 of DVD player that actually does what it`s told to.

Hi,

Is there, (or was there ever) a DVD player that will allow the following?

1). Full multi region and copy protection disable.
2). The ability to go straight to the beginning of the film without having to sit through any `obligatory` warning screens.
3). The ability to output copy protected NTSC discs in a form that a PAL only recorder (DVD or VHS) can copy with no problems?

I`ve a Panasonic combination DVD/VCR deck that`s ok for 1), but cannot skip to the beginning of a film. When playing a NTSC disc, the DVD output can be switched between NTSC and PAL, but although I can copy PAL discs ok, NTSC discs won`t copy, irrespective of what the output is set at. If the above can be done as a hardware mod to the Panasonic, I`d be happy to pay someone to do it.

Regards,

Jim.

Oh Well,

Guess I`m asking the wrong people,

Jim.

I`d have taken the deafening silence as a "no", honestly.

J Mark Oates

Maybe Mark,

I`ve read this board for quite a while though; posted a few queries and replies to others, and there does seem to be a core group here who chat inanely amoungst themselves, share the odd `in` joke and like to sound superior. Seems to me the whole point about a board like this is to share knowledge, not hoard it. From what I have found out though, DVD drives on home PC`s could give me what I`m asking about.

Jim.

Don`t take it personally.

I`ve posted a few threads in the Hardware forum, and got 0 replies. You just have to hope that your thread stays near the top/middle of the forum when someone who has an answer comes along. But in my experience, generally, the majority of Hardware forum "help me!" threads get few replies, as the problems tend to get sorted in one or two posts, followed by a slip down the forum into oblivion.

Sorry i can`t help with your query.




The artist who formerly brought ill repute to the username Matthew66

This item was edited on Sunday, 26th June 2005, 15:17

You can do this:

Quote:
2). The ability to go straight to the beginning of the film without having to sit through any `obligatory` warning screens.

If you back-up your DVDs with DVD Shrink, it gets rid of all the stuff that makes it so you can`t skip past screens like that - or you can re-author instead in it and remove them altogether.

It also means that on annoying discs that force you back to the menu to change subtitles or audio track you can change these during the film.

But I don`t know of a player that does everything you want.

--

www.soundalikes.com/ (Version 2. Updated 8/4/05)

to get a dvd player with the "functionality" you`re looking for it`s either gonna be mail order or a computer fair, but they are getting much harder to find because of customs stopping dvd players that can do macro disable.

1). Full multi region and copy protection disable. loads of "old" supermarket models like the dansai 852 & pacific 750`s,could do this just fine but they are all long gone, some of the arianet/h&b/p&b machines can still be hacked for it though (the p&b`s can be bought at the manchester computer, fair Bowlers already hacked)
2). The ability to go straight to the beginning of the film without having to sit through any `obligatory` warning screens. as above, some can over-ride menu locks etc, but most can`t
3). The ability to output copy protected NTSC discs in a form that a PAL only recorder (DVD or VHS) can copy with no problems? most if not all of the above players can output genuine pal50 from any source, some handle it better than others, the p&b`s do a very good job of it

tbh, the easiest way around you`re problems would be to get a supermarket cheapie player (pacific etc) & get a macro disable lead from the internet, total cost of about £40-£45 the only thing this won`t fix is waiting for the menu`s to finish, that ones pot luck at the best of times.

this is assuming you really Need to do it in realtime via you`re dvd recorder, tbh this is how i "used" to do it in years gone by ;) in all honesty it`s much faster to do it via a pc dvd writer + dvd shrink & nero burning rom from here you can rip "almost" any dvd whilst simultaneously
removing both macro & region coding, however the video encoding will remain unchanged (ie ntsc will still be ntsc & pal will still be pal etc) but in most modern players/tv`s this is not a problem.

This item was edited on Sunday, 26th June 2005, 17:16

Thanks guys,

Sorry if my previous posting sounded a bit tetchy. I genuinly don`t understand why the manufacturers are still making machines that are region coded. Even Sony players are being advertised in the national press as multi region off the shelf from Sainsbury`s. This whole region coding thing has got to be a dead duck, surely.

Jim.

In reply to the original question, YES there were DVD players that do *everything* you asked for. I have two of them, Afreey LD2060 and Apex AD-500W running One Firmware For All (OFFA for short).
Basically a DVD player contains a small computer chip containing instructions on how to play DVDs. This combination of hardware (a chip) and software (program instructions) is called Firmware. Some clever hackers re-wrote the instructions to do things like letting you skip copyright warnings, remove macrovision and region codes etc. They released this update under the name OFFA - One Firmware For All.
OFFA is completely unofficial and no DVD players were sold with it. You can add OFFA to certain DVD players, either by recording a special CD and loading it into the player, or in the worst case of my Apex model, unplugging and replacing a chip inside.
Unfortunately OFFA can only be used with a range of 4-5 year old DVD players. You can`t buy them new anymore, but they were made in large numbers and are not too difficult to obtain secondhand. For a full list of supported models and everything OFFA-related, check out the Yahoo Group
(free registration required)
You can also see a beginner`s guide at Clayts ` excellent Area450.com website - this is what got me started. Sadly the site is no longer updated.
OFFA goes far beyond simple region hacking and macro removal. It`s enabled me to link a hard drive to my DVD player, turning it into a multimedia jukebox, with gigabytes of MP3 and video files at my fingertips.
OFFA is a hacker`s dream, but to be honest, if you just want to copy DVD to DVD, you`re better off using a PC with DVD writer. You can buy PC DVD writer drives for as little as £30 new these days, and with some free software from the internet you can copy a movie faster than real-time (e.g. copy a 2 hour movie in less than 1 hour). But for transferring to videotape or converting PAL <-> NTSC it`s hard to beat an OFFA DVD player for simplicity.

Thanks Hamid,

Good information. Much appreciated.

Best Regards,

Jim.