BD region free players now available (it was just a matter of time)

Adam Gregorich · 01-26-2008, 07:13 PM

From Consumer Electronics Daily:

"The hack, from Dutch-based Stegen Electronics, so far is limited to Pioneer and Sony players, we found. But Stegen also has work in progress on Samsung's popular and low-priced BD-P1400 and Panasonic's new DMP-BD30, it said.

The online retailer claims street cred dating to the first hacks of DVD regional coding. "Hundreds of hours of development have gone into the modifications for the Sony line of Blu-ray players," Stegen's website boasts. "We have modified thousands of DVD players since 1997, so you can be assured it is 100% working." The modifications or "mods" to make DVD players read discs from all regions came in response to frustration among European and Asian consumers about titles not available in their regions for months after their release in N. American Region 1. The first player-mods were hard-wired changes to player circuit boards -- as our predecessor publication Television Digest was the first to try. Software-based mods came soon after, usually implemented by entering codes through players' remote controls. For years, so-called "multi-region" players have been commonplace and widely available in regions outside N. America -- and openly sold with impunity despite their tenuous legal status.

Stegen's Blu-ray mod -- the first to emerge -- also is hard-wired. The company offers 89-euro kits with boards that require "advanced soldering skills." For 150 euros, it will take players from existing Blu-ray customers and modify them. And Stegen sells new modified players. Models available for modification or first-time sale include Pioneer's BDP-LX70A and U.S.-equivalent Pioneer Elite BDP-95FD. Those high-end players sell for 1,599 euros at Stegen. More affordable are Sony's entry-level BDP-S300 at 599 euros, and Sony's step-up BDP-S500 for 899 euros.

The BDA had no comment, but it's fairly obvious the mods would violate hardware warranties. More important, the mods raise an issue about whether the players maintain their ability to receive firmware updates, which happen often with Blu-ray players. Stegen claims its hardwired mods don't jeopardize future-proofing in Blu-ray players. "Even with the modification installed, the players remain fully upgradable with the latest firmware updates," the company said."

PatWahlquist · 02-04-2008, 08:33 AM

Hm, interesting. I had been in contact with them recently about their "mods", and region free wasn't one of them mentioned. We talked at great length about what they do, and it included upgrading the power supply too. Supposedly, this will greatly improve audio quality primarily as well as improving video quality, but somewhat less significantly. They said they've done a lot of PS3's as well, but I'm not willing to send my player half way across the globe. Meanwhile, I'll just have to content myself with a region free XA2.

DaViD Boulet · 02-17-2008, 10:23 PM

Fascinating. While I understand the studios' desire for region coding, I also understand the consumers' desire to be able to... well... purchase and watch BD movies.

I personally have owned two region-free DVD players (still have both of them) and don't doubt that my future might include a region-free HDM device at some point as well. I hope that the BDA does what the DVD industry has done in the case of region-free DVD units: turn a blind eye and allow the minority of consumers who purchase such units to enjoy their purchased world-wide software for personal use.

Sam Posten · 02-18-2008, 01:11 AM

Just a matter of time till HDMI handshaking is hacked too and pure digital 1080p streams are rippable if they arent already...

Adam Gregorich · 02-18-2008, 01:27 AM

In other words never underestimate the consumer (or the hacker). If I remember correctly the first/easiest DVD player to "hack" was a Sony too. That paved the way for the Apex and other brands to "accidently" allow you to change the region code via the remote with no hacks. Like David said hopefully they will turn a blind eye to it.

Sam-
I agree. There is no reason to now, but as soon as the image constraint token starts to be used, someone will come out with a "little black box".

**HTF Ads**

James_M · 02-18-2008, 01:32 AM

So when will we get a BD player that's also SD region free?

Sanjay Gupta · 02-18-2008, 03:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich

If I remember correctly the first/easiest DVD player to "hack" was a Sony too.

Actually, there was no need to hack anything with the first Sony player, the SD-7000. All one had to do was to remove the cover on the player, and lo & behold there was a switch to activate/de-activate regional coding.

I don't know whether this was deliberate on Sony's part, or that they simply screwed up. Anyhow, in the next model, the SD-7700, Sony simply removed the switch, but the terminals for the switch were still right there on the board. Thus, all one had to do was to short the two terminals to de-activate the regional coding function.

By the way, here in India, every single DVD player sold, by all the companies, have their region coding, factory de-activated. If not, then the company gives you a code that you can enter, to turn of the region coding. So much for region coding and companies adhering to DVD standards.

Marko Berg · 02-18-2008, 04:03 AM

Excellent, excellent news. Although availability of region-free Blu-ray players is limited at the moment, I'm sure it won't take long before some other entrepreneurs follow suit.

Blu-ray is looking more and more enticing now!

Cees Alons · 02-18-2008, 04:35 AM

Excellent news indeed!
But I fear that any firmware upgrade might deactivate the deactivation (

) by overwriting it.
If so, the hack may even have to be modified for each firmware level.

It's unfortunate that BD-players are specifically sensitive to this, because so many firmware upgrades are to be expected.

Unless it's basically (the equivalent of) one of those switches Sanjay referred to, of course!

Cees

Sanjay Gupta · 02-18-2008, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cees Alons

But I fear that any firmware upgrade might deactivate the deactivation (

) by overwriting it.
If so, the hack may even have to be modified for each firmware level.

It's unfortunate that BD-players are specifically sensitive to this, because so many firmware upgrades are to be expected.

Cees

Cees,

According to the site, their hack works even with firmware updates. Although I am not 100% confident of this claim, but that is what they are stating.

Quote:

Hundreds of hours of development have gone into the modifications for the Sony line of Blu-ray players.
We have modified thousands of DVD players since 1997, so you can be assured it is 100% working.
Even with the modification installed, the players remain fully upgradeable with the latest firmware updates.

Worlds First Multiregion modification for Blu-ray players

Quote:

This player has been modified to play both blu-ray region A and B, as well as DVD region 1 and 2.
Switching between the regions is performed using the original remote control.
The Blu-ray player is updated to the latest firmware versions, and is fully upgradeable with official firmware updates.

Multiregion Sony BDP-S300

Multiregion Sony BDP-S500

Multiregion Pioneer BDP-LX70A