unlocking BD-P1600

[21 jump street]

I have been told you can unlock the normal DVD section of this Blu-ray player but not the Blu-ray discs without taking out the circuit board.
but low and behold i too do not know how to do this

[turk690]

Neither does nearly anyone in this forum, I suppose. BD region coding is a much more tough nut to crack compared with DVD. It's not impossible, but it's a dedicated professional chore best left to the pros--who you pay handsomely for. A look at sites like bluraymods.com will tell you more. You will get away knowing that unless you are a true-blue electronics professional adept at wiring the board or VLSI processor you purchase from these sites, you are better off sending your player to them. Some brands and models are more amenable to region-code tweaking than others: Panasonic is one of the easier ones. Samsung is one of the most difficult.

[21 jump street]

Samsung do appear to be one of the hardest to try and unlock with all the information on here and i still can not make mine region free .from what i am seeing some have done it while others like me struggle to make it happen.

[hech54]

The key is to do your research BEFORE you buy.

[dvd3500]

Most Blu Rays are region free or region a + B anyway though...

[21 jump street]

research was done, as you would know there is a reason why you can not buy region free Blu-rays to begin with. I am more than happy with my player. I do not believe that anyone has unlocked the samsung BD-P1600

[hech54]

If you are more than happy with your player, why does your first post say that you want to unlock it?
If you did your research.....you would have known that most of the moronic posts in the DVD Hacks section
of this site refer to only making the DVD playback region free....or modifying foreign-country firmware with a hex editor
and none of them mention taking out the circuit board.

[21 jump street]

Does unlocking give you flexibilty and choice one would think so. I thought this forum was to help each other YES. Taking out the curcuit board was in reply to someone asking how to make their Blu-Ray discs region free.

[hech54]

99.99% of Blu Ray players sold cannot be hacked as far as Blu Ray playback is concerned.
A select few Blu Ray players sold can be hacked as far as DVD playback is concerned.
Helpful?....yes.
Common Knowledge?....Yes with a simple search.

[21 jump street]

hech54
hahaha, yes helpful to those who did not know. But the playback of region free blu-Ray Discs is as we all know now, possible if one is prepared to have their player taken apart. but i am more than happy with my player being region free which gives me choice. Thanks to all the helpful posts in this forum'

[dvd3500]

The number of region-locked Blu-Rays makes up less than 1% of the total available. Additionally it is fairly uncommon for a Blu-ray to be released months or even a year after it is available in the US. I really don't see the need for a region-free Blu-Ray player to be honest.

Here is a list:
http://bluray.liesinc.net/

With DVDs it was different. There were tons of movies that simply were not available outside the US, or the specials/extras were completely different. This is hardly ever the case now.

[Mighty_Morpheus]

Before purchasing my Samsung (region 2) BD-P1600 player (built 2009/04) I searched the web to find out if I could make my player region free for DVDs, this forum was very helpful, one thread explained how to apply the fix, sadly the suggested fix dosn't seem to work on my player, which means I have a heap of region 1 DVDs I cannot play
Here is what I tried, I'd welcome any other suggestion that don't involve Brazilian firmware & HEX editors as I'd rather just push the buttons on my remote control

Firmware version 2.09 (EUF)
Turned the player on, waited for the Samsung logo, pressed eject, then again to close, waited for 'no disc', then hit 'REPEAT' 5,7,5,3,8
I've tried this many times and cannot get it to display the current region so I can press 9 for all.

I then rolled back to firmware 2.05 (EUF) still couldn't get the fix to work!!! so reverted back to the latest firmware availble from Samsung 2.09

The other problem I have is Sherlock Holmes Blu-Ray will not play past the Warner Bros Logo, it just freezes as the disc loads. The disc is fine as plays in other machines, my other Blu-ray discs play OK so it's not my player. Anyone else have the same issue?
I called Samsung who are looking into it, so who knows what that means or how long it will take for them to release new firmware....

[jman98]

MIghty_Morpheus - Samsung and Sony players of all types are the most difficult in the world to unlock at this time. Honestly, you'd be better off buying a Hiteker (Hitecker? Not sure of the spelling.) BluRay player in Europe as the seller should have already modded it for region free playback for DVD and BluRay discs. I would put the odds of you being able to unlock your Samsung BluRay player in the future at about 1%.

Manufacturers make hardware changes all the time during production that break hacks that worked in the past. Also, sometimes hacks only work for models sold in specific parts of the world other than where you live, again because of hardware differences. Unfortunately, the sad realty is often what happened to you. By the time you read about a hack that did work, the model you can buy has already been changed and the hack no longer works. Honestly, I wouldn't touch any players made by Samsung and Sony because both companies are consumer unfriendly and far too willing to bend to the will of their Sith Lords in Hollywood.

[hech54]

It amazes me that people read that COMPLETE MESS of a discussion about unlocking this unit FOR DVD PLAYBACK ONLY....then go out any buy it thinking (a) they can do it or (b) they never had any kind of second thoughts that even a tiny bit of that discussion was complete bullsh!t from newbies who do not know their a$$ from a hole in the ground.
Amazing.

[dvd3500]

At least here in Europe most players (DVD or Blu-Ray) can handle the NTSC signal properly.
With dual layer blank DVDs running around 1-2 € one could *cough* make a *cough* region-free *cough* "archive" that is a 1-to-1 errr... facsimile of the original and play that on a region locked (2 and B) Blu Ray player.

In the US most of the player barf on the PAL standard even if you make said.. facsimile.

I bought my mom an Elsa somethingorother DVD player here in Europe and she took it to the states. It was the easiest way to handle the DVD region thing for her. If a DVD doesn't work on that player she uses her crappy Magnavox.

Yes I am rambling.

[Mighty_Morpheus]

To put things into perspective, most people interested in films have a large collection of DVDs, it just so happens a lot of mine are Region1, I live in the UK and so am restricted to buying a region 2 Blu-Ray player. My option is then to either accept that I cannot watch region1 DVDs on it or try to hack the player so I can. I am not bothered about blu-ray discs as I only intend to buy them new from the UK, however as mentioned in a previous post most blu-rays are region free.

Looks like I made a bum decision on buying a Samsung player, will know better next time.

Thanks for the useful advise jman98
hech54 you were less helpful, remember you were once a newbie!

[hech54]

hech54 you were less helpful, remember you were once a newbie!

Newbie and common sense are not the same. I've been dealing with region codes and video format issues for many many years and I would NOT buy that player based on that 75 comment long discussion about hex editing and foreign firmwares....not to mention the most recent posts that say that the hack simply does not work.

[dvd3500]

My option is then to either accept that I cannot watch region1 DVDs on it or try to hack the player so I can.

Mate, you can do a a 1 to 1 copy sans region code in like 30 minutes and it will cost you like 2 GBP. It'll play on ANY DVD/Blu-ray player since all region 2 players MUST handle the NTSC signal.

Not sure if it is legal in the UK. Here in Germany it is only legal under certain circumstances.

I actually prefer using the copies since the originals can get scratched etc. On a dual layer DVD it is a one to one copy in most cases, particularly if you get rid of the crap like logos and commercials.

So you really have a number of choices:
1. Get a region 1 player (expensive unless you buy one in the US and stuff it in your luggage)
2. Get a region 2 player that can be easily region unlocked. I have a Philips and a Thomson both of which were easy to unlock via the remote control.
Either way you have take up space and a connection to your TV. I justified this to my better half by using the DVD player to play CDs as well. Newer DVD players can be dinky, hardly bigger than an A5 paper block.

3. Copy (within legal limits )) to dual layer DVD. Takes up less space and keeps your originals from getting scratched.
Only issue here is the legality and that the cost continues with your collection.

That's pretty much it.

[Mighty_Morpheus]

Thanks dvd3500

In the past I've make backups of DVDs, especially the expensive Disney one's as my little one trashes them on a regular basis and I am not about to keep buying the same film every few months, sorry Mr Disney.

The main reason for me choosing the BD-P1600 was price, the ability to playback different file formats as well as it's network capabilities so I can stream files via wireless from my PC, saves all that time burning

I read somewhere before buying the player it could be hacked, turns out that's not true. In the main I am happy with the player, except for the fact Sherlock Holmes won't play. I can get round the DVD issue for now by playing them on my old DVD player, just means two players when I would rather only have one.

A question to hech54 then...
You say you know the difference from a hole in the ground and your a##, if this is true what BD player would you recommend? It should have wireles network capability, playback DIVX, MP4, MP3 and others. able to hack so it can play any region DVDs & Blu-Ray discs all for under £150.

[dvd3500]

except for the fact Sherlock Holmes won't play.

99% sure this is a firmware prob. Update it and see what happens

I can get round the DVD issue for now by playing them on my old DVD player, just means two players when I would rather only have one.

My Philips BDP 7300 can play ripped DVDs directly from a network or a hard drive. I am sure your Samsub can do the same. That would solve that prob.