SLV-D300P region free

[yuhr]

Could anyone instruct me on how to make this Sony combo player region free (it's set to region 1 now). TIA.

[Noahtuck]

I don't know that you can make it region free, but i'm gonna guess you want to so you are able to play import dvd's ? pretty obvious huh
If you back up the import dvd's they will be "region free".

Now the real problem, if they are pal dvd's.... you may as well give up now.

[yuhr]

Yes, I'm trying to play a DVD bought in Paris, the player says something like "Cannot play due to regional restrictions", I don't know which system/format the DVD made in.
A friend of mine was able to play it on his PC, after somebody switched Region1 code to Region2, but my friend doesn't know how to switch it back (?).

[Noahtuck]

Yeah, PC's will play either PAL or NTSC video, if he throws another region 1 dvd in it and plays it, it will (should) ask him and change it back to 1, but you can only do this i think 4-5 times then the dvd player software/drive will be locked to that region.
There are programs that that will defeat this or you can flash your drive to be region free.

I have a list around that show's which countrys/regions are PAL and NTSC, i'm assuming that it is PAL if it is a region 2 dvd, most region 2 dvd's are.
I have only bought dvd's from japan (NTSC), australia & the U.K. which are pal.

"Cannot play due to regional restrictions" is what Sony players display on the screen when trying to play a PAL dvd, even if you rip it to your HDD & back it up to a dvdr, it will be region free and if it is PAL it will still show this.
You can check with a few programs to see if it is PAL, AVIcodec, Gspot, DVD Decrypter, you can tell by either the frame rate or the res. the video is.
PAL dvd's are usually 720 x 576 & 25fps.
NTSC dvd's are usually 720 x 480 & 29.97fps.

[garryheather]

Most, if not all Sony players require chipping to make them all region - my guess is they have too much invested in the movie industry (ie Columbia Tristar) to make DVD players that are hackable by a code on the remote.

I have yet to come across a Sony DVD player that didn't need a hardware mod of some kind to remove region limitations, although the formatting of the video is another matter, of course.