Philips DVP2880/F7 - region free code

[vidblue]

Hello,

Does anyone know the confirmed working instructions for this player?


I see one listed here but doesn't seem reliable. Has anyone could able to make this player region free?


https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/philips-dvp2880/12119


Thanks

[hech54]

That ddwolf guy who replied and said it did not work for region 2 DVDs is an idiot.
What he encountered was a VIDEO FORMAT problem....not a region problem.

Region Codes and Video Format(NTSC and PAL) are not the same thing.
Making a player "region free" does not solve the video format problem.
There are TWO hurdles you need to overcome, Region and Video Format(PAL, NTSC).
Hopefully somewhere in the menu of the player there is also a setting for video output format.....hopefully.
Sometimes it's as simple as a N/P button on the remote.

[vidblue]

Yeah, you are right about video formats. Per manual, this player seems support both NTSC and PAL. I'm hoping if someone could confirm if the hack works before I purchase it.

Does it matter where a player was manufactured for this hack to work?

[hech54]

Does it matter where a player was manufactured for this hack to work?

That can be a problem sometimes.

[jman98]

Yeah, you are right about video formats. Per manual, this player seems support both NTSC and PAL. I'm hoping if someone could confirm if the hack works before I purchase it.

Does it matter where a player was manufactured for this hack to work?

We CANNOT give you the confirmation you seek. Here is why. While I've never known Philips to do this, some other manufacturers deliberately change firmware at the request of Hollywood to break hacks that worked in the past. Sometimes you cannot downgrade the firmware, so if they make this change, the hack never works again. I've bought several Philips DVD players over the years and the hacks listed here always worked for me, but no, I am not going to bet everything I own that this will for 100% certainty be the case for you. Hollywood is persistent so maybe in the future they will make Philips do this kind of thing too, but I've honestly never heard of a hack on a Philips player not working.

Philips players always can convert between PAL and NTSC and I've never heard of a player they made not doing this, which has nothing to do with unlocking the player for region free play.

Yes, some companies use completely different hardware in different countries for players that use the same model so for example the (made up) Acme DVD-XYZ1 player in Australia will be made with different hardware than the DVD-XYZ1 for France and the Australian one will unlock for region free play but the French one won't. I've never heard of Philips doing this as they seem as best I can tell to see value in making the players the same so they come off the same production line and they just change which region they are coded for prior to shipping them out, but other manufacturers like Samsung do the exact opposite and players sold in different parts of the world use the same model number but are not hardware identical.

[vidblue]

Thank you. Actually I was hoping to see a response from someone who had tried it and could confirm. Nevertheless your reply encouraged me to take the risk and buy it which I did. I can confirm the given hack works.

Many Thanks to dark mind for sharing it!!

[bibi13]

Just tried on my DVD player and it works fine.

[gregoryb]

I just want to comment on PAL <-> NTSC conversion in Philips DVD and Blu-Ray players. Conversion only occurs for the video streams which may be output through an analog channel.

Digital TVs can natively display the MPEG-2 video signal of a DVD. Their ability to display PAL or NTSC DVDs is dependent on their ability to handle the resolution and frame rate. These characteristics for PAL are 720 x 576 @ 25 fps while for NTSC they are 720 x 480 @ 30 fps. Any DVD displayed via HDMI will display correctly on any digital television able to display the appropriate resolution and frame rate.

Analog signals, however, must be encoded in an appropriate format whether PAL or NTSC so they can be viewed on a TV. This occurs in all DVD players as the encoding is not inherent to the DVD (apart from resolution and frame rate).

In the past, Philips DVD players converted all output to the TV type designated in the setup menu. You could therefore watch an upconverted PAL DVD through a component video or HDMI output on an NTSC TV or vice versa.

On newer models, since 2012 I believe, Philips has eliminated component video output from their DVD players. On these models, PAL <-> NTSC conversion only takes place for the composite video output. HDMI output is at the native PAL or NTSC resolution and frame rate respectively.

For those of you wishing to view a DVD of a different system than your TV, be aware that you must make the connection using the composite video only, unless your TV can natively handle the resolution and frame rate of the other system.

You may think, "I'll watch the upconverted local DVDs through HDMI and the non-local DVDs through composite video." This will work but you must plug in/unplug the HDMI cable manually for each DVD. As soon as the HDMI cable is plugged in, PAL <-> NTSC conversion ceases. If you watch a non-local DVD through the composite video input while the HDMI cable is plugged in, you will see a grainy, black and white picture.

As an aside, the hack still works.

[Constant Gardener]

I just want to comment on PAL <-> NTSC conversion in Philips DVD and Blu-Ray players. Conversion only occurs for the video streams which may be output through an analog channel.

Our BDP2900, purchased in 2013, certainly converts PAL to NTSC frame rates for its HDMI (the only video) output. The NTSC-only TV displays resolution and frame rate when it initially finds the signal, always 1920 x 1080 and 60 fps. (As soon as I bought the thing, I applied the region-free hack and made sure I could play PAL.)

It plays our R2 PAL dvds perfectly, as well as R1 and Blu-Ray "A" discs. I haven't tried a "B" disc which I suspect would not work.

I cannot see Philips removing the PAL/NTSC conversion, as the region-free thing is a good reason to buy their brand. However, best to test this before buying or before the return period expires.

[dlane]

Of course I am in a bit of a pickle which is what brought me here.

Background:
I bought a DVP 2880 from Amazon. It was billed as multi-region. When it came it worked fine. Two months later, it suddenly stopped showing DVDs and "Not supported format" showed up on my screen. I tried unplugging it, playing different region DVDs, manually changing the region, changing from HDMI to component cables. Nothing I did would get them to play, but at least the opening menu came up and I could change settings. The "Not supported format" message did not come up until after the DVD was trying to load. I am pretty sure this was an asian player originally as it has the round two prong A/C plug. I am in USA and used an adapter.

From bad to worse:
I did the unspeakable and stupidly hit the factory reset to default before thinking it through. Now I can't even see the menus. As soon as I power the thing up it immediately gives me the "not supported format" now. I think when I did the reset it must have flipped to PAL or something so not even the menus can be seen now. I don't know the keystrokes to get it back to NTSC. And not enough menu screen shots in the manual to wing it. So now I have two problems I guess. Any ideas?
Thanks

[october262]

Of course I am in a bit of a pickle which is what brought me here.

Background:
I bought a DVP 2880 from Amazon. It was billed as multi-region. When it came it worked fine. Two months later, it suddenly stopped showing DVDs and "Not supported format" showed up on my screen. I tried unplugging it, playing different region DVDs, manually changing the region, changing from HDMI to component cables. Nothing I did would get them to play, but at least the opening menu came up and I could change settings. The "Not supported format" message did not come up until after the DVD was trying to load. I am pretty sure this was an asian player originally as it has the round two prong A/C plug. I am in USA and used an adapter.

From bad to worse:
I did the unspeakable and stupidly hit the factory reset to default before thinking it through. Now I can't even see the menus. As soon as I power the thing up it immediately gives me the "not supported format" now. I think when I did the reset it must have flipped to PAL or something so not even the menus can be seen now. I don't know the keystrokes to get it back to NTSC. And not enough menu screen shots in the manual to wing it. So now I have two problems I guess. Any ideas?
Thanks

does the player even play any dvd's at all any more ? you may have a dying/dead laser or you have a blown circuit somewhere.
in other words your player may be toast.

[jman98]

If your player was set to PAL, which I doubt, you would get something out of the video output. You'd be able to see the setup menus, but they might scroll and be in black and white. I think your player is defective as october262 points out. "Not supported format" means your player lost the ability to do region free playback. Typically Philips players just need a code to be entered and they don't require special hardware for region free playback. I don't know if the seller hardware modified your player or simply entered a code to make it region free, but it sounds pretty broken to me now. I have owned several Philips DVD players and while I like the brand, like most other manufacturers they use a lot of cheap components to keep prices down and sometimes the quality on their players is hit or miss and if you get unlucky, they just die on you sooner than they should. Another thing to point out is that a lot of Americans put their players in wooden "entertainment center" type cabinets and these are VERY bad for modern DVD and BluRay players. Players today need a lot of free space to air cool. Any type of cabinet with closed sides is bad. I have personally seen the effects of heat damage kill a DVD player placed in a wooden entertainment center with all kind of junk piled around it. If you placed your player in such a cabinet and it had very little free space around it, I can't rule out heat damage.

[dlane]

Like I said there is no output anymore at all. Before I reset I could at least see the menus. It was only after the rest that I lost those as well. The tray still goes in and out and you can put a DVD in. It starts playing because the number counter on the unit still counts up, but you just can't see or hear anything except that "not supported" message. And it is not in any cabinet or enclosure, it is free on the table top next to the TV unit.