Desperately seeking R2D2 region hack!

[Purpleyez]

Hi all,

Just thought I'd edit this long forgotten post to remove the link to the old website for this product.

Original post (edited) below:
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Hello all,

After 18 months of waiting I finally took delivery this week of my Nikko R2-D2 DVD player/projector - see here if you don`t what I`m talking about just google "Nikko R2-D2" . It`s amazing - bizarre but amazing! The player is region coded 1. I do not know what the internals are as far as the DVD player goes - I wondered if it may be a slot load PC DVD drive but who knows?

Does anyone have any information on a region hack for this player or can suggest any other places I might seek such information? I can post any information I can get off the unit or from the manuals etc so please ask if you need any other info - I`ll do my best!

Otherwise if anyone knows of any instructions for working out hacks, I`m keen to learn!

Best regs to all and thanks,

[jman98]

It's not possible to hack all DVD players. Many region 1 players cannot be hacked at all. Man people just assume that they can buy any old player and hack it later. Then they find out they can't and they post here. 99 out of 100 don't get a way to hack their players. You can always ask as every now and then someone will post about some weird player that doesn't have a hack listed in our database nor will a Google search find such a hack, yet someone will post with one that they know works. It's very rare and unlikely, but it happens.

Note that any sort of combo unit (DVD/VHS, DVD/TV, DVD/home theater, etc.) almost never has hacks for it. The website says in big letters that it ships "region code locked". I'm guessing that like so many people you just assumed that you could unlock it after the fact. Does this thing have power issues too? I hope it can be switched to your power because running such a device through a step down converter is probably not a great idea. You also need to be aware that the cycles are different between North America and Australia and some power converters don't adjust for that, which means that your device may burn out sooner than it should.

I'm not trying to offend you or criticize you, but you need to get an honest answer and understand that your story may not have a happy ending.

[Noahtuck]

I saw the title of the thread and thought, you don't need a hack!!
R2-D2 is a Universal Interactive Astromech Droid!!!

Where did you get your's ??

Being in region 4 land i would have thought you would have checked that out before buying or seeing if they had one compatible to your region.

[Purpleyez]

Hi jman98 and Noahtuck, thanks (I think) for the responses. Some people consider my Star Wars affinity stupid but I'm not so stupid as to buy a region 1 player without realizing. I knew this player was region 1 when I bought it but when I saw this item - the biggest radio controlled R2-D2 toy you can buy - I had to have one! The fact it is a DVD projector also was just a bonus. I contacted the manufacturer who told me it would not be released in Australia - only Japan, Europe and USA. Considering I have some region 1 DVDs I figured R1 was the way to go. I suppose putting the word 'desperately' in my post title is not totally accurate, I would like to make it region free but if it can't be done I will deal with it. I will still keep looking for a hack and it will still be the pride of my droid orientated Star Wars collection until he is usurped by a life sized version

MTFBWY (and me!)

[RabidDog]

I'm sure you need some sort of protocol DRoid to hack this? Possibly..

[Purpleyez]

Hi all,

I wondered if - 2 years down the track - anyone out there has any new ideas on this topic?

My R2 unit is still stored away, brand new in his box. I had an initial play with him but then packed him away until the day I might be able to free him of his restraining bolt (region code - haha). I've recently setup a HD projector & Blu-Ray system so poor old R2's capabilities are a bit outdated now but I would still love to find a region hack to make him play back my old Region 4 Star Wars DVD's in my hobby room.

As always, any help, ideas or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks all.

[Purpleyez]

Yep, another year or so has passed & still nothing! I'llkeep trying though...

Anybody? Anybody?

Does anybody even know what the internals of this droid might be - with regard to the DVD plaver component I mean?

Cheers,

[jman98]

There are a small number of companies in Europe you can find on the internet whose business is to convert DVD/BluRay players to region free. They can't convert everything, but they can convert a lot of machines and I think they are willing to do work for hire. Do you have such businesses in Australia? I want to warn you though that this route will be expensive and it would be cheaper and much easier to just buy a region free DVD player in Australia.

[dragonkeeper]

Since this currently just a novelty item, why not back up the disk you wish to play and make them region free. Even on a mid level PC the whole process would take 15 min or less.

[Purpleyez]

Thanks for your thoughts guys!

jman98: I don't know if there are companies in Aus who do such work. However if it's expensive for regular DVD players I'm sure it would be completely prohibitive for a half size Astromech droid with unknown internals! I already have several region free DVD players - but it's not about being able to play my R4 DVDs... it's about being able to play my R4 sci-fi dvd's in my "Man Cave" on my R2-D2 DVD projector.

dragonkeeper: "just a novelty item" ???? I'm horrified and offended!!! OK, not really! :^) It is more than just a novelty item to me though - it's the awesomest R2-D2 in my fairly substantial R2-D2 collection. It's the biggest remote controlled R2-D2 you could buy - without building one yourself!!! Anyway, I totally love it! Aside from all that though you probably make a very valid argument as far as 'backing up' my DVDs and making them region free. I have no idea how to do this of course but I will look into it. If you have any suggestions for a good set of instructions online I would love to hear back from you.

Thanks again guys!

[jman98]

All rippers remove region coding, so ripping any region 4 DVD to your hard drive will make the copy region free. Then you can just reburn it. Having said that, you do need to understand that some region 1 DVD cannot do anything with PAL video, even region free. You'll just have to test it and see what happens.

We have tons of guides on the process. Here's one. There are others.
http://www.my-guides.net/en/content/view/50/26/

[Purpleyez]

Thanks jman98! Much appreciated. I'll give it a go.

I will keep looking for a region hack for this thing though. So if anyone has any other ideas please bring 'em on!

I have tried to contact someone I saw who posted on another forum that he/she knows how to take the head and body of this unit apart but I haven't heard back yet. Not surehow confident I would be anyway about dismantling something I spent several thousand dollars on!!!

Cheers,

[dragonkeeper]

Aside from all that though you probably make a very valid argument as far as 'backing up' my DVDs and making them region free. I have no idea how to do this of course but I will look into it. If you have any suggestions for a good set of instructions online I would love to hear back from you.
Thanks again guys!

Take a look at DVDFabDycrypter.

[Purpleyez]

Thanks for the recommendation dragonkeeper. I will check it out.

[D2R2]

What is the brand/ model number of the DVD player?

[dragonkeeper]

Did you ever open the unit up to take a look at the internals? I bet it's pretty much off shelf parts (meaning a they purchased the components for a particular DVD player and place the parts inside of old R2D2. Narrowing down the manufacture will help a lot.

[Purpleyez]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your interest! I don't know as yet is what inside this feisty little droid. The product was made by Nikko Home Electronics though I would reckon that you are correct dragonkeeper - that the internal AV components are made by others. I did see a post somewhere online where someone was saying that the projector component was made by Texas Instruments but there was no mention of who made the DVD player. I haven't been brave enough to consider dismantling it - not something I would embark on lightly considering the value of this thing! The only thing I can say about the DVD player component at this point is that it is a slot drive unit.

Anyhoo... as always, any further help or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

[D2R2]

Hey Purpleyez,

You have a Region 1 R2D2 DVD projector, does that mean you have an English manual?

If so can you send me a copy?

email address: dien_nguyen@hotmail.com

Thanks.

[networkjunkie]

Is only region 1 (USA) supported or also the regions for Japan and Europe? A possibility could be to contact the manufactor and change the DVD unit.

Regards, J