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Games Entertainment

Play Region 1 DVDs On A Japanese PS2 76

Posted by timothy from the regions-are-for-wine dept.
skeller writes, "The Gaming Intelligence Agency has a story about a way to play Region 1 DVDs on a Playstation 2 (which is set by default for Region 2). You just enter in some codes on the controller during boot up. Dunno why it works, but sort of an interesting little tidbit. " The site cautions that the success rate is only about 50% (depending on which of the suggested codes you try), but since it's a non-invasive procedure, it sounds like an experiment worth trying ... if you can get your hands on a PlayStation 2.
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Play Region 1 DVDs On A Japanese PS2 More

Play Region 1 DVDs On A Japanese PS2

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  • Personally i think it good that it will play other region discs, but i doubt the dvd bosses will like it.

    What with all these mainstream devices revealing secret methods for disabling region coding, I suspect that they aren't all accidents. Apex has probably gotten more exposure and more sales from the AD600's secret menu than from their entire marketing department's efforts. Just leak the secret through some anonymous tip, and boost your sales immensely! It'll be interesting to see how many more of these "accidents" there are.
  • That seems to be for region 2 (Britain) players..
    do you know of an equiv of that for US DVD
    players? There are a few things I'd love to
    import from Japan..
  • If you're prepared to pay 750$ it shouldn't be a problem to get your hands on a brand new PSX2(drool). Just stop by the norwegian online store Smartshopper [smartshopper.no] and it should be yours within a few days. The online newspaper Nettavisen [nettavisen.no] had an article [nettavisen.no] two days ago regarding this. Unfortunately the article is in norgwegian too.

    The article basicly says that the import is handled by the norgwegian company Multimedia Import of PSX2 is perfectly legal. The consoles are importet to Norway from China by the mentioned company but another unknown Asian company handles the transportation between Japan and China. However it's unknown whether that first stage is legal. The PSX2 is of japanese model and a separate power adapter is provided. Testing has been performed during the last few days in order to ensure that they work correctly. All service and guarantee will be provided by the import company and the online store since Sony refuse due to the circumstances. It is expected that the PSX2 will be on sale within a few days at the online store mentioned above.

    So if you're dying for a PSX2 - get a norwegian friend to buy you one or send an email to the online store Smartshopper [smartshopper.no] and tell them to send you an offer in English.

  • History shows us, however, that it can't last forever. In fact, history shows us that when the breaking point is reached, bloody revolution ensues. When that happens, all the money in the world won't be able to buy a repreive from the people's wrath.

    Yes, but it's no fun for anyone involved, including the revolutionaries. Which is why, as futile as it may (or may not) be, it's well worth looking for a better way out.
  • Actually you would have been able to play any DVD. Mine worked but then I screwed it over so now it only plays region one DVD's. Somthing about my chipset and my Drivers made the DVD stop picking up disks so I removed the RPC2 jumper and put in a region one disk. That didn't help then I found that it was the drivers and uninstalled them. All was fixed but now I am stuck with region 1 DVD's.
  • That's great link!
    I didn't know it was so easy...
    All of those hacks involve going through
    arcane motions with the remote, but none
    of the ones I read required opening up the player
    or voiding the warranty!
  • Actually, it isn't the EEPROM that wears out. There's a little counter beside the region encoding on most implementations that limit the number of region changes. The firmware then checks against this number all the time.

    If you have an older Dxr2 card/drive, there are utils that will reset the region code practically infinite number of times (because the "counter" isn't updated), as well as reset the count. However, it does involve re-flashing the ROM of the drive to turn it region free, so the card itself is the only thing that needs to be reset all the time.

    Most EEPROMs have at least 1000 write cycles...
  • I just wanted to point out that not all discs are created equal. The region 2 versions are often superior to their region 1 counterparts in terms of audio/video quality (reg2 is more often anamorphic than reg1 for the same titles). However, the reg1 discs often have more special features included on the discs. Check out http://www.dvdweb.co.uk/ [dvdweb.co.uk] for comparisons. Some discs are not available in reg2, but that goes both ways ("Jackie Brown" is for instance not available in reg1).

    If you have a multi-region dvd: research the titles you buy to make sure that you get top quality.
  • a) where can I find information about the menu hack that disables region coding?

    b) Will this machine play Video CDs? That's my biggest demand in a player, because I think video CDs are at present the best way to send the relatives a home video or something. (No, I don't have the capability to do this yet, but I'd like to.) ;)

    timothy
  • Yeah!!! Globalization, whoop!!!!!

    If hardware makers are gonna exploit the Malaysians, let the Malaysians import region 1 dvds!! Eat that, multinational corporate scum!!! Death to the double standard!!!!!!

    Ryan
  • Would you like Raisin Bran, Total, or Cocoa Puffs?
  • and shut down Macrovision

    I've seen this term alot on this page+links on here, what is it? I have never seen it before, but all the dvd-hacks seem to include wether or not it can be deactivated.

    Macrovision is an analog copy-protection scheme. I don't know how it's implemented with PAL video (or even if it's implemented for PAL), but with NTSC, it's designed to screw with a VCR's AGC circuitry by throwing some noise into the vertical-blanking interval.

    You can see if Macrovision is present if you have a TV with a vertical-hold control (mainly older TVs). (You can also use the green-screen or color monitor that you used years ago with your Apple II/Commodore 64/[insert your favorite vintage 8-bit computer here]; they usually had a vertical-hold control. (At least my Apple Monitor II does, anyway.)) Adjust the vertical hold until the picture rolls down the screen enough that you can see the vertical-blanking interval at the top. Macrovision will look like a bunch of boxes fading between white and black over a period of half a minute or so. Many prerecorded tapes use Macrovision, and nearly all DVD players add it to the video-out signal.

    Radio-Electronics magazine published a construction article in '87 or '88 for a device that would remove Macrovision from a video signal. Similar devices have also been available through mail-order outfits (and might still be available) for about as long, and they've even found their way onto store shelves occasionally (Best Buy had 'em a couple or three years ago, but probably doesn't now). It can also be disabled in some DVD-playback equipment, such as the Apex AD-600A DVD/MP3 player (that everyone's been talking about lately) and the Creative Labs Dxr2 DVD decoder.

  • Kung-fu Buttmonkeys? Man, where do you get your games?

    You're not cleared for that information fnord.
  • For the "secret" menu try:

    http://www.nerd-out.com/apex/Secret_Menu/secret_ menu.html

    Dunno about video CDs - sorry.
  • Sounds like the future DVD player for all DVD pirates.
  • For the Apex AD600A, start unit with NO DISC, Wait for display to show NO DISC, PRESS SETUP on remote SETUP screen will open, go down onto menu item preferences, press STEP on the remote, press Track >>|, Track
  • For computers only...but then _anyone_ can still find the DeCSS sites...found this in Lemuria.org...

    Link to RealMagic (a supplier to the retail and OEM channels):

    http://www.realmagic.com/faq_hwplus.htm#I need to switch between two region

    (12. I need to switch between two region codes since my DVD collection includes movies from these two regions.

    You can run Setup from the second diskette (application) and select "Change Region Code". you will be allowed to change five times after which you'll need to send the board for commissioning for another five times (this process can be repeated five times). However, we suggest that you get two boards and set the first to your first region and the second to the second region. You can swap the boards in the system depending on the region code of the movie. Even though it might not look very practical but on the long run it proves to be more economic and less shipping hassles (you can compare it with having two Consumer DVD players for two different regions). NOTE : This regulations are not set by Sigma Designs but this is the Content Scrambling System governing the distribution of the movies. Sigma Designs apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

    A list of the distributors on a universal basis is shown on the web site. These distributors can commission the board as well as any OEM resellers ( such as Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Toshiba, Hi-Val, ...) which are packaging the board with the DVD-ROM drives.)

    Unfortunately, this is for Win95/98 only, but with DeCSS/LiVid, who needs Real Magic..._OR_ Sony (member of the MPAA and CCA) for that matter?

    This just goes to show that the REAL reason for region coding is to enrich the distributors (MPAA members!). They sell the same movies in different regions and release them to video/DVD at times that suit them to artificially inflate their box office profits. Different movies are priced differently in different regions not out of consideration for content but for profit reasons...They get us into the theatres when _they_ want us there, and then ask for inflated profits when we want to buy their movies on disc/video. _AND_ they're able to do this internationally! When we point out their lousy tech, they _SUE_ us!!!

    Long Live DeCSS!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Does anyone have recommendations for standalone (non-PS2) DVD Players that have good audio/video quality for a reasonable price?

    Thanks!
  • and shut down Macrovision

    I've seen this term alot on this page+links on here, what is it? I have never seen it before, but all the dvd-hacks seem to include wether or not it can be deactivated.

    Thanx,
    Eraser_
  • This is pretty interesting. A company with one of the biggest movie/music library around and a member of the DVD Consortium releases a DVD player with region locks that are easily defeated.

    The only way I could forsee this happening was if Sony wanted to build up even more PR in the West. What better way to make an imported Playstation2 more attractive than by:

    A) Allowing regional DVDs to play on machine. (You can bet this won't last long)
    B) Making it illegal to import. (Nothing like making something forbidden to build demand for it)

  • Wow... that is kinda of interesting... I guess I will have to get one now... sigh... I wonder what other little secrets are locked inside there?
  • Yes! The old NES Contra 30 guy code!

    It must be the most famous code of all time...EVERYONE knows it!!!!

  • I think it is a case of the hardware makers not giving a shit about the whole encoding schemes (not in sonys case, cuz they are obviously involved with the media part)

    The hardware makers don't get any benifit from the region code crap, there is no extra $$ for them in that scheme. So who are they to care if 20 lines of code are 'accidentaly' left in and allow a loophole? =]

    Bout time the man stuck it to the man

    NH
  • Macrovision is implemented for both Pal and NTSC -- there's not a lot of difference between the two, other the timing of the blanking interval (the fraction of time when the electron gun is turned off between writing lines).

    There's some technical documentation at macrovision.com [macrovision.com], although some basic info is at howstuffworks.com [howstuffworks.com].

  • Maybe they are putting these "hacks" in for themselves....

    I can just imagine the designers putting in a seemingly obscure workaround for their own use. These things tend to get out though.
  • Whats the bet that this was a testing function that the programmer forgot to remove. The funny thing is that it must have been one of the designers of the machine that has leaked this out.

    Unfortunatly I am sure that this loophole will be fixed soon enough....
  • Mmmm, I don't know when the playstation2 will be available in Europe and what it will cost, but if you need a cheap standalone dvd-player, why not go for a Yamakawa?

    These things can be made region free and Mvision can be disabled with only a few button presses. It seems to have a lot in common with the Apex mentioned here (Why is hifi/video equipment always more expensive here in Germany :( )

    It costs 256 Euros here in Germany and also goes by the name of Raite (original manufacturer), Kiss, SEG nad probably others (see Apex).

    Marcus
  • I'm owning a pc-Dvd sollution and was thinking of bying a ps2 allmost only because it's a kinda cheap dvd-player. The thing is that I live Europe and own mostly region 1 discs. This would be a big problem if the player would only play region 2 discs. Now this comes sort of like a blessing, even without a physical modification, the possibility to play any disc on the ps2. First of alla I hope that they won't fix this in a hurry. And secondly that the MPAA won't make a big fuz of it. To the favor of all European Dvd-enthusiast like me: Sony. don't fix it, plz.
  • Their web site has an annoying pop up box that follows your mouse curser around and it doesn't let you use your browsers back button to back out of their home page. Seems more like the tactics of a porn web site than an electronics one to me. Not that I have anything against porn.
  • Granted, the Apex will never play "Flaming Kung-Fu Buttmonkeys".... Kung-fu Buttmonkeys? Man, where do you get your games?
  • a) where can I find information about the menu hack that disables region coding?

    Try here [nerdout.com]

    b) Will this machine play Video CDs?

    Yes it will (at least mine does), in addition to mp3 cds and karaoke (sp?) discs.
  • I meant here [nerd-out.com]
  • This only adds to the theory that *all* DVD players have some way to circumvent the region coding. If/when the region coding scam is revealed as a violation of world trade laws, ther'll have to be some way of undoing the region lock on all DVD players.
  • Ah, the Konami code. I lost count of how many games they used that one in. What the hell. Time to fire up NESticle.
  • So this brings up the question, was this intentional, or accidental? Is this an intentional easter egg left in by free thinking programmers who suppor justice and anti-region codes? Or is this a leftover debugging tool, or just some bizare chance set of circumstances that reset things? I prefer to think it is cool programmers, but I don't know if I have enough faith left in the coolness of the rest of the world to wholeheartedly believe this... Can anyone who's tried it offer any info either way?
  • I dunno about the futile bit... MPAA seems to be playing a pretty good first round with the DMCA and all, and their scare tactics.
  • The Matrix for all.
    But those with PlayStation 2s
    Lucked out anyway.

  • Secret PSX2 Codes: (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A-Start

    Thank you.

  • fantasticos! (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    moyána, perola berindimanda con ""playsataion"" ó ""dreamcast"" ?

    quesa, garanda bonas fiiyana gorindimanda á ""DVD"" é ""l33t 5k1llZ""

    HOLA!

  • I wonder when the DVD-CCD is going to realize, and accept, the fact that their attempts at controlling where we can play OUR DVD media is pretty much futile.


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!

  • Ive played PS2 and this is a great opportunity. You can even switch the menus to English on the PS2 console. This station is very English ready, minus some launch titles. The ability to play Region 1 DVDs seems to stem from the software encrytption on the the memory card, and hopefully any PS2 bought now and restored with American software later would be 100% ready to go. Heres to hoping.
  • Whats the bet that this was a testing function that the programmer forgot to remove. The funny thing is that it must have been one of the designers of the machine that has leaked this out.

    Oh I'm sure it was some debug code. Just like that DVD player that Tescos are selling over here which switched to multi-region when you `accidentally' zap it with an Aiwa hi-fi remote control. I think somebody, somewhere is sympathetic to the cause...

  • The page says that Region 2 is "Japan and Asia". Actually, it is Japan, Europe, South Africa and Middle East (including Egypt).

    -jfedor
  • At first I couldn't believe it, but after a few unsuccessful tries, I can confirm this "hack" really works !!!

    So far it's not a complete success though, a lot of titles will not work (such as Armageddon, Tomorrow Never Dies and others), while some don't work correctly (only menu navigation works) and some others don't work at all (including zone 2 PAL DVDs).

    Anyway I have hope that if the feature is there it means it is possible, it just needs to be perfected. My guess is that there is an ultimate manipulation to be done which should unlock all DVDs.

    Oh, and yes I did try with Dual Layer DVDs (Saving Private Ryan) and that didn't seem to cause any problems.

    While I am at it, I live in Europe and here we can plug in RGB signals through Peritel cables. Well, the news is that the Peritel cables that worked for the Playstation 1 also work for the Playstation 2 !! The great thing about this is that the quality is MUCH improved using the RGB signals !

  • It would be a positive step forward if the federal government banned region coded dvds in the US. It could be legitimately done by classifying it as a restraint of trade, and restraints of trade are big time antitrust violations.
  • I'm not a lawyer, but from what I've read about the DMCA, since it is illegal to bypass "technological protection mechanisms" it is probably illegal to use the code to switch a psx2 to region 1. I would hazard a guess that the DMCA was largely written by the MPAA's lawyers.
  • If it's this easy, I wonder how it will impact the US encryption import policy on hassles of getting it released into the us. They went to all that effort to make "bulletproof" encryption in and out of memory. Seems like such a waste of time, both on Sonys' behalf and on the US govt. for making such a stink. If everyone knows it'll be reverse engineered anyway, why all the fuss in the first place?
  • It would be a positive step forward if the federal government banned region coded dvds in the US. It could be legitimately done by classifying it as a restraint of trade, and restraints of trade are big time antitrust violations.

    What really stink is that while big comapnies want to be able to move their jobs to wherever the labor is cheapest, they want to restrict what media we can buy, how we can play it, and how much we're going to pay for it. Can you say "double standard?"

    We keep hearing about a "Global Economy." It seems, however, that the only thing big business is interested in globalizing is their iron fist. The rest of us are just supposed to take it like they give it in whatever part of the world we happen to be in.

    If business is able to take their manufacturing and labor wherever they want to, buy materials and parts wherever it's cheapest, why shouldn't we? Why shouldn't we be able to buy an anime DVD from Japan if it hasn't been released here? Why shouldn't I be able to buy a DVD of some britcom from the UK?

    If we're going to globalize the marketplace, let's globalize it for everyone, not just the select few.

    You know why it won't be allowed to happen anytime soon? Because it should shake the very foundataion of the economic system that allows they super-rich to remain super-rich and gain more wealth. A truly open, free, global market would mean that companies could no longer exploit the poorest nations in the world to produce their product for the lowest cost, to be sold for as much as they can get somewhere else in the world. It would level the playing field. Economic dispariety would begin to dissappear, and the super rich would no longer be super rich.

    History shows us, however, that it can't last forever. In fact, history shows us that when the breaking point is reached, bloody revolution ensues. When that happens, all the money in the world won't be able to buy a repreive from the people's wrath.

  • This isn't as "noninvasive" as you might think. Some DVD players have an electrically-erasable ROM in them, they can only be erased and reset a few times.

    I want to echo what this AC has posted. &nbsp I can't speak for what might happen on a PS2, but if it functions like the "typical" DVD players, you generally are restricted to setting and resetting the regional coding a certain number of times - usually 10, but in some cases 5.

    Last fall, I purchased a Pioneer DVD drive for my PC that dual-boots Mandrake 6.5 and Win98 and decodes with a Creative dxr3 card. &nbsp Installed it, popped in a Region 1 (U.S., blah) DVD, and it promptly refused to play it. &nbsp After some more putzing around with it and thinking that it had been set for the wrong Region code (it was purchased from a surplus place), I found Pioneer's region-code utility here [slashdot.org]. &nbsp Soon as I ran it, I discovered that the DVD player was not set for ANY Region! &nbsp Sounds great huh? &nbsp But only if you have a DVD that is not encoded with a Region... &nbsp and there are a few out there but not many as yet. &nbsp So I ran the utility, set it for Region 1, and I was good to go. &nbsp But again, most of these units have a limit on how many times you can change the encoding before you're stuck!

  • Just as they have made it a law that a dvd player may only play 1 region, the new playstation, which will be so much more widespread than any other dvd player, there is a way of getting it to read other region discs. Now its just to see what the bosses will do about it....Personally i think it good that it will play other region discs, but i doubt the dvd bosses will like it. Lets hope the PS2 doesnt have as many DVD player probs as has been speculated, because it sounds like its been rushed out very quickly. By the time it gets to the UK and US these bugs will have(better) beeen sorted out. Probably not intentional, but just because they rushed the PS out. If people took their time in this world, it would be a much better place!

  • Jeez.. When I saw PS2, I instantly thought "IBM PS/2" and wondered how sick some people really were.

  • Re:Most DVD players are region changable! (Score:3)

    by Genom ( 3868 ) on Sunday March 12, 2000 @11:28AM (#1208707)
    Now, this may just be my view of it (I have been known to be wrong before) -- but isn't region encoding really just a way of legally price-fixing the dvd player/discs rather than an anti-piracy measure like Macrovision?

    (Price-fixing being illegal, instead they "modify" the players and discs so they're not *exactly* the same - and of course incompatible with players/discs not modified in the same way - so that they can sell them for whatever price they want, wherever they want, and not have to worry about people importing to take advantage of the cheaper prices elsewhere, or about the laws preventing price-fixing getting in the way -- "Honest, they're two different models - this one has 90xxx-a12-r1 software in it, while THIS one has a 90xxx-a12-r2 software..." Of course, the difference in the player is easily changable using software or arcane remote commands, so that they don't have to actually change their production lines at all. Limiting the ammount of times a given players region encoding can be changed simply gives them a level of protection against consumers finding out about and exploiting the "codes".)

    Macrovision is an anti-piracy measure that discourages copying (legal or otherwise). In preventing the "evil pirates" from making copies, they also prevent Joe and Diane Consumer from making backup copies. This works out well for the MPAA and other interests since we all know VHS tapes degrade with use. If they watch the movie enough that the tape wears out - they have to buy another one. Of course, there are ways around Macrovision, so the "evil pirates" still can make their copies. So really it's only the Consumers who are affected.

    Now enter digial media. Now it's possible to make PERFECT copies of the media you buy. This *SCARES* the corps. Now, not only will the copies made by "evil pirates" be cheaper, but they'll be the same quality. Also, Joe and Diane Consumer could conceivably make a PERFECT backup of the movie they bought. Even if the disc wore out, they could make a perfect copy in no time. Thus the corps lose the extra sales from repeat purchases.

    So, they decide to encrypt the data...and that leads to the current DVD-CCA/DeCSS problems. DVD-CCA strands by their bull$#!t lines that it was copy protection to keep "evil pirates" from stealing from them, when in actuality, the "evil pirates" can simply make a bit-perfect copy of the disc, encryption and all, and have a playable disc. The encryption only disallows non-licenced players from playing the encrypted discs. It's just another way for the DVD-CCA to bilk both media companies and consumers out of more money, and maintain a monopoly on DVD players/encoders.

    Region encoding is another matter entirely, but like CSS encoding, its purpose isn't to provide piracy protection (as Macrovision's purpose was, bypassable as it may be), but to make more money for the companies selling players/discs, by allowing them to get around the laws prohibiting price-fixing.

  • DVD region stuff (Score:3)

    by kzanol ( 23904 ) on Sunday March 12, 2000 @04:23AM (#1208708)
    I'm currently using a Samsung 709 Region 2 player; since the region switching using a one4all remote controll is not really comfortable, I decided to get a chip solution from techtronics.com [techtronics.com] The experience I had with this company was really something new for me:
    • 1) I waited over 5 weeks for them to deliver the product.
    • 2) when I posted a complaint to their webpage after this time I got rather unexpected results:
      • I didn't get a reply
      • The complaint never got posted to their website
      • All access from my providers IP addresses to their website was blocked.
      • All access to their mailserver with sender address in my domain was blocked. Just try sending an email to webmaster@techtronics.com with any sime.com sender adddress if you want to check it.
      • OK, so I sent them a query from a different IP range - guess what, THAT IP range is now blocked as well. Unnecessary to state that I didn't get any reply, is it?
      • currently they seem to block at least:
      • 2 Distinct IP blocks for different ISPs
      • all email from my domain
      • all email with my name, regardless of domain

    3)While I did finaly get the ordered chip after 6 weeks, my credit card was charged twice. For some harmless fun, go to their website click the "order tracking" link (or klick here [techtronics.com] and post a comment regarding their policy of just blocking access for complaining customers instead of answering. Just se how long it takes befor your access is blocked as well. Conclusion: Be aware that doing business with this company may lead to serious aggavation and unexpected results !Caveat Emptor!

  • Re:This is very good news (Score:3)

    by Monte ( 48723 ) on Sunday March 12, 2000 @02:38AM (#1208709)
    I'm owning a pc-Dvd sollution and was thinking of bying a ps2 allmost only because it's a kinda cheap dvd-player.

    Not very "cheap" if you ask me - you can get (locally) an Apex 600 DVD player for US$160, it has a "hidden" menu that will allow you to disable region coding and shut down Macrovision. Oh, and it'll play CDs full of MP3s, too!

    Granted, the Apex will never play "Flaming Kung-Fu Buttmonkeys", but this talk of buying a PS2 because it's a cheap DVD player seems silly to me.

  • Most DVD players are region changable! (Score:3)

    by Broken Bottle ( 84695 ) on Sunday March 12, 2000 @07:24AM (#1208710)
    We service DVD players at the company I work for and I can tell you from personal experience that the *majority* of standalone DVD players are region programable, so this situation with the PS2 doesn't surprise me at all. I'm not sure if all DVD players are reprogramable, but I'm certain of Philips, Sony and Panasonic. For example, on Philips DVD players, if you start it with no DVD in the drive and holding down a certain key pattern on the remote, it sets it up for program mode. Then, by entering certain key combonations on the remote, you can change it's region designation. It's fairly hush hush info. Philips refuses to send us the manuals to program it, but, due to some reoccuring problems with a certain model, we've had to do it over the over the phone with then so many times that several of the guys have have written down the instructions. Again, what's *ALWAYS* the weakest link to your security? Yes, the human beings involved :) Not only is DVD encryption useless, but the region encoding anti-piracy protection is also VERY easily compromised. Chris

  • Possibly destructive! (Score:4)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12, 2000 @04:15AM (#1208711)
    This isn't as "noninvasive" as you might think. Some DVD players have an electrically-erasable ROM in them, they can only be erased and reset a few times. You can change the region, but only about 10 times or so, and then the region can no longer be reset. Proceed at your own risk, you might end up with an unusable PS2 set to the wrong region.

  • A smack in the face to the DVD CCA (Score:4)

    by m0e ( 55482 ) on Sunday March 12, 2000 @03:53AM (#1208712)
    You know, whether or not this code was left in accidentally, left as a quick 'n' easy upgrade path for rollouts in other areas, or whatnot, there's one thing I can't help to think about one thing:

    I bet that one (or more) of the designers just wanted to give the DVD CCA some actual multi-billion-dollar-revenue ass to try to kick so they'll think twice about screwing with the little guy.

    Sure, the DeCSS thing may have been more of a big deal in a sense; but if they took the time to trace the link you put on your page that you got from your friend's brother's cousin's sister's friend's boyfriend and then pay a lawyer $450/hour to cite it on a legal document, then they're probably gonna gripe about this until someone decides they're tired of monopolistic punks and they go on a mass killing spree.
  • I thought that the PSX (dunno about PSX2) controller protocals are fairly well reversed engineered. Why not just jury rig something to either:

    A: Capture the codes for analysis, ie, sniffing the PSX controller traffic, and

    B: Using a PC to play back the signals?

    The PSX2 takes regular PSX controllers if I remember correctly.

    I imagine that the "40%" rate is because someone isn't entering the code properly. I don't imagine that the console designer included the debug code that would only work 40% of the time...

    -=- SiKnight

  • Time to Sleep (Score:5)

    by Yardley ( 135408 ) on Sunday March 12, 2000 @02:06AM (#1208714) Homepage
    Hey, want to disable region-encoding limitations on your DVD player? Check out Multi-Region Hacks for Domestic DvD Players [reviewer.co.uk].

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