DVD player does not respond

[marymats]

Hi,

I bought a Samsung E360 DVD player, which arrived in the mail yesterday. I went to the forum about changing the region on this recorder and did everything correctly BUT failed to read the last post which warned not to highlight a number on the chart if it was not highlighted in the first place (ours wasn't highlighted, but we highlighted as directed on the post before). Now the player does not respond to either the buttons on the unit or the remote. There is nothing mechanically wrong. It is a software problem. Though there is no DVD in the tray, it does not say "no disk" anymore but rather DVD/CD and tries to load it, then tries to open and close the tray (though nothing physically opens or shuts) and finally registers "tray error." I'm almost certain that this problem was caused by our trying hack the DVD and change the region but doing it wrong (highlighting 22). Is there anything we can do to fix this? Here is the thread where I got my information: https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/samsung-dvd-e360/11880

I will be appreciative of any help I can receive!

marymats

[Cornucopia]

No. Unless there is a hardware "factory reset" button somewhere, it is "bricked". Send it back and hope they won't decide YOU messed it up (if so, they would charge you for replacement). Whenever doing such hardware hacks, you are doing so at your own risk.

Anyway, it's so much easier to REMOVE the region code of a title while ripping (to backup disc, e.g.) and then you wouldn't have to even attempt this.

Scott

[jman98]

Anything YOU can do to fix it? Probably not. The only suggestion I have would almost certainly destroy this player's ability to be made region free and might not fix the problem anyway so I won't make it.

Send it back as defective. That's your best bet.

Just so you know, we do not advise buying any Sony or Samsung players of any type and trying to make them region free yourself. The hacks almost never work on their players sold in the USA/Canada.

[october262]

have you tried unplugging the dvd player and waiting awhile???

[jman98]

have you tried unplugging the dvd player and waiting awhile???

That's definitely worth trying. Won't make things worse. Small chance it might work.

marymats - Just something to consider - I get that you're sort of stuck now since you've already gone down this path, but in the future I'd advise against getting a player where you have to do all this complicated crap to unlock it and if make any mistakes at all, the player bricks itself. Not all Philips DVD players can be unlocked, but the ones that can are really simple to do so. You either unlock the player or you don't if you mess something up. The player still works and you can try again. None of this "tray error" stuff if you make a mistake. Honestly, I don't think it's your fault. The next to last post in the unlock section for this player has the dire warning about not selecting 22 but the most recent post, from last month, is from somebody who says they had to select it or it won't unlock. I can't blame you at all for not reading earlier than that.

I do have one final bad thing for you to consider. Even if you get this working and unlocked, there is some chance that a Samsung player won't convert PAL video and that could be a huge problem for you since you live in the USA. Or you may get lucky and your TV can handle PAL signals fine or maybe the player can convert. But as this is Samsung, I am thinking it probably won't convert.

[marymats]

Thanks for all of your comments.

October262 said:

have you tried unplugging the dvd player and waiting awhile???

.

Yes, we did try that. And yes, Cornucopia, there is a factory reset button, too, which we also tried, but even that did not work. I called the Samsung number, and the representative talked me through all of that. I even explained to him what I did, but he said I could send it back for repairs after I received shipping labels. So far, it sounds like they will cover it, but that may change when the technicians see how we tampered with it. I just thought if there was a way to fix it somehow, I would rather go that route than to send it in. Yet, I don't see how that's possible if I can't control the unit at all anymore. Just thought maybe one of you might be able to think of something I haven't thought of. And true, I know I took that chance by tampering with it. I have elderly parents who wanted a DVD I found on Amazon that came from the UK. After it came, I realized I couldn't play it on our DVD players, but by googling, I found this site with the thread on changing the region and thought I'd give it a try. I only wish I would have read the last post. In any case, I really appreciate the time all of you took to reply!

[Cornucopia]

Well then, as jman98 already mentioned, your greater problem is not region coding, but PAL system formatting. Finding a (DVD) player in No America that plays PAL in addition to native NTSC is very rare and usually $$.
With that in consideration, it is MUCH easier to decrypt+rip+convert.

Scott

[usually_quiet]

I have been very lucky then. A while back, I downloaded a DVD ISO of the open source move Valkaama in PAL format to test various players I have access to. http://www.valkaama.com/index.php?page=valkaama&l=en

The test DVD is all-region, but none of these players are region-free. The Philips DVD player I bought for my parents a few years ago converts from PAL to NTSC as does the LG BP220 Blu Ray player I bought for them. My Magnavox MDR513H/F7 DVD recorder converts too.

[Cornucopia]

I guess you have been.

Scott

[jman98]

The test DVD is all-region, but none of these players are region-free. The Philips DVD player I bought for my parents a few years ago converts from PAL to NTSC as does the LG BP220 Blu Ray player I bought for them. My Magnavox MDR513H/F7 DVD recorder converts too.

This is meant to be a general guideline rather than a 100% in all cases kind of thing.

I've never heard of any Philips DVD player that won't convert between PAL and NTSC. Their BluRay players are completely different and usually they don't convert at all, so I'd say either your TV actually supports PAL and you didn't know it or you got really really lucky there. Magnavox and Pioneer and possibly LG are companies who probably make players that convert. For everybody else my default would be to guess it doesn't convert unless maybe it's some Chinese brand nobody has ever heard of before. Insignia used to make converting players but their stuff is getting harder to find and what you can find it now significantly harder to unlock.

[marymats]

Cornucopia said:

it is MUCH easier to decrypt+rip+convert

.
We certainly can try that. If we have any problems, can I ask for your help, although I imagine there is a place to go on this site somewhere. I will try that, however, and see how it goes.

Thanks for your help!

marymats

[usually_quiet]

The test DVD is all-region, but none of these players are region-free. The Philips DVD player I bought for my parents a few years ago converts from PAL to NTSC as does the LG BP220 Blu Ray player I bought for them. My Magnavox MDR513H/F7 DVD recorder converts too.

This is meant to be a general guideline rather than a 100% in all cases kind of thing.

I've never heard of any Philips DVD player that won't convert between PAL and NTSC. Their BluRay players are completely different and usually they don't convert at all, so I'd say either your TV actually supports PAL and you didn't know it or you got really really lucky there. Magnavox and Pioneer and possibly LG are companies who probably make players that convert. For everybody else my default would be to guess it doesn't convert unless maybe it's some Chinese brand nobody has ever heard of before. Insignia used to make converting players but their stuff is getting harder to find and what you can find it now significantly harder to unlock.

You misunderstood something I wrote. The only Philips machine I tested was a DVD Player. I tested an LG Blu-Ray player, an LG BP220. Those are connected to the Samsung TV my parents bought in 2008. The TV's source information display showed it was receiving an NTSC signal from the player. That TV shouldn't be capable of displaying a PAL signal correctly.

[jman98]

usually_quiet - Reading comprehension fail on my part. Sorry. You're quite right of course.