Newbie, and considering hacking Toshiba HD-A2 to play PAL discs

[Puppets86]

Hi, brand new here, and not sure if this the right place post this, but please tell me if not. I stumbled upon this place in my search to find out if I can find a way to make my Toshiba HD-A2 dvd player play PAL discs. I have a bootleg(not copywritten material) from the UK that plays on my computer, but not on my Denon DVM-1815 or my Toshiba HD-A2. I found this https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/toshiba-hd-a2/7554
and I've never done this, so am a little leery, but figured I'd see what kind of feedback I got on it. What I'm getting out of this is the first firmware shown converts the player to the European version, which supposedly plays PAL, and the second one makes it region free, which isn't my biggest concern. My concern is how risky is this? Obviously you run the risk of the player not working after this, correct? Or, is there a way to bring it back if you screw up. I got this player at some black friday sale at WalMart for $85 but still, I don't want to ruin it just to watch a PAL disc here and there. If anyone thinks the odds are that it will work out fine, then I may take the chance, but I'd like to hear from some people that like to mess with their equipment quite a bit to see if it's worth a try. I'm assuming all I'd have to do is follow these directions . Any advice or feedback at all greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[jman98]

The biggest concern for you is that unless you are 100% sure that your TV can play a PAL signal correctly (the odds are that it CANNOT since you live in the USA, but some HDTVs can - not all though - Samsung HDTVs can't), you are wasting your time doing this. This hack does NOT do PAL->NTSC conversion. It simply allows you to play PAL DVDs on the player and it outputs PAL video - useless for many of us here in the USA.

Your first linkie not workie. Too lazy to go any further to see what the heck you have found.

Is there any risk to this? Well, not much, but I can't give you a 100% guarantee that you won't botch it and brick the player. If you apply the patch correctly, the player should be OK. But there are no 100% guarantees in life. The odds are that if you apply the firmwares correctly that they will work, but they are not 100%.

The HD-A2 is now quite valuable because of this hacked firwmare. You're easily looking at $200+ US to buy a new one if you brick this one. It basically comes down to how lucky you feel, how technical you are and whether or not you trust yourself to do this.

[dwisniski]

There is a thread devoted to this subject at avsforum.com. I believe many people have successfully flashed their HD-A2's to make them play PAL discs and region free.

[Puppets86]

The biggest concern for you is that unless you are 100% sure that your TV can play a PAL signal correctly (the odds are that it CANNOT since you live in the USA, but some HDTVs can - not all though - Samsung HDTVs can't), you are wasting your time doing this. This hack does NOT do PAL->NTSC conversion. It simply allows you to play PAL DVDs on the player and it outputs PAL video - useless for many of us here in the USA.

Your first linkie not workie. Too lazy to go any further to see what the heck you have found.

Is there any risk to this? Well, not much, but I can't give you a 100% guarantee that you won't botch it and brick the player. If you apply the patch correctly, the player should be OK. But there are no 100% guarantees in life. The odds are that if you apply the firmwares correctly that they will work, but they are not 100%.

The HD-A2 is now quite valuable because of this hacked firwmare. You're easily looking at $200+ US to buy a new one if you brick this one. It basically comes down to how lucky you feel, how technical you are and whether or not you trust yourself to do this.

Thanks for all the info! I fixed the link, but I do have a Samsung HLP5063, so I guess it's waste of time, like you said. I do trust myself to do it, but yes, I'd hate to ruin the player, especially since I got it so cheap.