Denon DBP-1611UD multi-region DVD player giving puzzling message onscreen

[outfoxed]

Hi everybody. I don't know much and I'm confused. I just bought two new Region 1 box sets of DVDs from Amazon.com, and when I put a disc from each into our Denon DBP-1611UD multi-region player I got a message "Warning! Wrong region code" on the screen both times. The player has always played DVDs from any region before, and still does apart from these new ones. I called a TV repair man, and he brought around 2 other multi-region players of different brands, and they wouldn't play these new DVDs either. Then a friend took them home and tried them on his Sony DVP-NS718HB player, and the DVDs from both box sets played perfectly. Can anybody here explain the crucial difference between his player and ours? I'd love to be able to understand. Also, to do something about it if possible. Thanks so much. Joan

[hech54]

Read the "fine print" on back of the box set for region coding and video format(NTSC or PAL)....and compare that to a DVD that plays on the player.

[outfoxed]

Thanks Hech. They're both Region 1 and in NTSC format, and we have other Region 1 DVDs in NTSC that play on this machine. Joan

[jman98]

Just a guess - maybe your player is in region 0 (all regions) mode right now. Some region 1 DVDs will not play when the player is in region 0 mode. You have to change it to region 1 for the discs to play. This is called RCE and it's only used on some region 1 DVDs. It is a foolish attempt by Hollywood to try to thwart region free players from playing region 1 DVDs. Basically the DVD deliberately misidentifies itself as being a region 2 disc and if the player attempts to play it (that means that the player must be either in region 2 or region 0 mode as no other mode can play a region 1 DVD) the disc sends an error and refuses to play. It's only if the player says it can't play a region 2 DVD that the DVD then identifies itself as a region 1 disc and tries to start (it will play if the player is really in region 1 mode).

[hech54]

RCE and it's only used on some region 1 DVDs

That would have been my second suggestion...

[outfoxed]

Thank you very much jman, and hech too. That seems to make sense to me. I wouldn't know where or how to start dismantling it though. The Denon manufacturers provide customer service by phone and maybe they could help, but they're in the USA and I'm in Australia and I don't know... Maybe it would be easier to find someone to burn me copies of the DVDs with no region coding if that's possible. Thanks again! Joan

[jman98]

To translate this page into newbie friendly English, it says that your Denon only operates in region free mode.
http://www.avforums.com/forums/blu-ray-dvd-player-multiregion-hacks/1419290-denon-dbp-...ti-region.html
That means that you can't do what I suggested, which is to change the region on the player to 1. Normally region free players let you set the player to any region at any time you wish. So you could change it to region 2, watch a region 2 DVD, then change it to 4, watch a region 4 DVD, change it to 1, etc. I've heard of a few players that only operate as region 0 (region free) players. That is EXACTLY what RCE was designed to do - stop such players from playing the DVDs.

Yes, it's certainly possible for someone to rip your DVDs to a hard drive and reburn them as region free DVDs.

[outfoxed]

Thanks again jman. Maybe I'll write an outraged letter to the makers of these DVDs.