zone free issue?

[glouis]

Hi everyone,

I just bought a Samsung 1080p7 player, and first thing I did was to make it zone free. (I live in France, so it was zone 2 programmed as I bought it).
The hack provided in this site seemed to work properly : I put it zone 9 (multizone), and tried to watch a zone 1 movie. It worked properly.
But then after, I tried to watch Starwars ep.III (zone 2), and I got the message "this disk is not readable". I tried with another zone2 disk, and I got the same message
So I set the player into zone 2 again, and then my zone 2 disks worked fine this time...
What happened? Is there any kind of protection on certain disks to protect them against multizone players, or is there a problem with Samsung 1080p7 multizone mode?
Many thanks for your answers guys!

[ropdoh]

I could be wrong here, not having made too many DVD players region free, but shouldn't you set it to zone 0, note zone 9 for region free?

[guns1inger]

Zone 0 is world zone, and is the usual zone for region free playback when altering firmware settings.

[jagabo]

I have a few DVDs that won't play in a zone free (zone 0) player. Just like the OP, I have to set the player zone to match the disc if I want to play the original. I usually just rip the DVD and make a zone free copy.

[jman98]

A few American sold DVDs won't play unless the player is set to region 1. This is a trick that a few Hollywood studios use. I know that Paramount does this. Sony usually doesn't. I don't remember about the other studios. Basically your DVD player has something like a conversation with the disc that goes like this:

Disc: I am a region 2 disc. Can you play me?
Player: Yes. I am in region 0 mode so I can play you.'
Disc: I lied! I'm really region 1. Since you were able to attempt to play a region 2 disc, that means you are either in region 2 mode or region free mode. I will not play on you.

At this point the disc shuts down. This is a simplified but accurate description of how this works - the disc deliberately lies about its region (saying it's a region 2 disc) and if the player attempts to play it, the disc shuts down. This is how the conversation works on a region 1 player:

Disc: I am a region 2 disc. Can you play me?
Player: No, I am region 1 player. I can't play you.
Disc: I lied! I'm really region 1, so you can play me. I will start playing now.

The only solutions to this are to either put the DVD player in region 1 mode for American DVDs or to do what jagabo says and rip the disc and remove this protection. I forgot what this protection is called, but rippers can remove it. I've never heard of any discs but region 1 DVDs doing this. Region 9 doesn't exist according to the docs I've seen, so perhaps using this region code is part of the playback problem. You should be using region 0 for all regions mode.

[glouis]

OK guys, many thanks for your answers, that make me feel better, 'cause I thought my brand new player could be damaged!!!

[KBeee]

A few American sold DVDs won't play unless the player is set to region 1. This is a trick that a few Hollywood studios use. I know that Paramount does this. Sony usually doesn't. I don't remember about the other studios. Basically your DVD player has something like a conversation with the disc that goes like this:

Disc: I am a region 2 disc. Can you play me?
Player: Yes. I am in region 0 mode so I can play you.'
Disc: I lied! I'm really region 1. Since you were able to attempt to play a region 2 disc, that means you are either in region 2 mode or region free mode. I will not play on you.

At this point the disc shuts down. This is a simplified but accurate description of how this works - the disc deliberately lies about its region (saying it's a region 2 disc) and if the player attempts to play it, the disc shuts down. This is how the conversation works on a region 1 player:

Disc: I am a region 2 disc. Can you play me?
Player: No, I am region 1 player. I can't play you.
Disc: I lied! I'm really region 1, so you can play me. I will start playing now.

The only solutions to this are to either put the DVD player in region 1 mode for American DVDs or to do what jagabo says and rip the disc and remove this protection. I forgot what this protection is called, but rippers can remove it. I've never heard of any discs but region 1 DVDs doing this. Region 9 doesn't exist according to the docs I've seen, so perhaps using this region code is part of the playback problem. You should be using region 0 for all regions mode.

The ACTUAL (corporate) conversation goes -
"Hi, I'm Regionn 3, so I'm cheap"
"YOU BASTARD!!!! I want MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!"
You ROBBED ME of $15 that I coulda earned if you bought a Region 2!!!!
Where's my coke???? Where's the Private Schools for my kids?????


Same crappy movie though..

[guns1inger]

@jman98 - the protection of which you speak is RCE protection. Thankfully it hasn't really flourished outside the US. Most rippers remove it or adjust for it (DVD Decrypter resets the region it pointed to to whatever you needed it to be for your own region, for example)

[BiggerJim]

Hi, I live in Argentina and i bought a few month ago this dvd player in USA so it's region 1 code.
I try so many hacks procedures but still not working. Have anyone find the exact method to make it works? O can you tell me where I can download another firmware (form other region) and make the procedure.

Thanks you folks.