XBOX region free?? (1 Viewer)

[James D S]

Michael, the dongle method has promise. An R2 PAL to NTSC second player isn't all that bad of an idea. Have you confirmed this yourself or someone you trust?

 

[Sean Oneil]

Who'da thunk it?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

You can only plug in 1 dongle. Anyone who says they've plugged in 2 and had it work is lying. Once you choose a region, it's hard locked to that region

 

[Ike]

So, if I've not plugged any dongles (I have two stand-alone DVD players, a PC DVD player, and the remote for the PS2, so I didn't need the X-Box player), I could buy a Region 2 Dongle, and make it a Region 2 Player?

 

[James D S]

Any reputable sites selling an R2 dongle in the states?

 

[Bjoern Roy]

Although being European, i have the US XBox. A friend of mine brought his US R1 DVD dongle to me yesterday. We don't have a R2 dongle, but all the dongle does should be related to 'region codes' and not 'video formats' like NTSC and PAL.

The motivation behind our test was to see how the 'NTSC' US XBox handles 'PAL' DVDs (regardless of the region code issue). Since we didn't have non-R1 capability, we had to organize PAL R0 (codefree) DVDs, which should have and did play fine on the US box.

The problem, as i expected, was that the output was not PAL for those PAL discs. The US box converted it normal NTSC, which resulted in a jerky mess in pans.

Since we didn't find any options to change between different output modes (like PAL, NTSC-50, NTSC-60, etc.) our experiment ended right there.

So the problem is not merely 'region code' problem, but also an 'video format' problem.

This isn't really surprising me, though. DVD players and such from the US have almost always been NTSC only, while their european siblings were multiformat (PAL, NTSC). Making an US DVD player 'region code free' usually results in a player that can play R1-NTSC (US) and R2-NTSC (Japan), but not european R2-PAL or australian R4-PAL DVDs, simply because the unit can then play all 'regions' (R1-R6), but NOT PAL.

Anyone actually gotten a PAL signal out of their US Box.

The next test would be if a PAL US Box actually outputs NTSC with US DVDs or at least PAL-60 (judderfree).

Regards

Bjoern

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Bjoren,
Could it be that along with the Region coding it instructs it to lock to NTSC output (and PAL/NTSC conversion) ?
WHy not wait until you have an R2 dongle to play with before reaching a conclusion in your little experiment

 

[Bjoern Roy]

Oh, good point, Jeff. That could be possible, although i rather doubt it. But you are right, we should try a R2 dongle on a NTSC box before we jump to conclusions. Problem is, i don't know anyone here who has interest in the european XBox, let alone that dongle. We all already have NTSC boxen.

Maybe i can borrow a R2 dongle from some store.

 

[Alec guapo]

I have a US Xbox and I am living in Japan. Every time I go to a DVD store here (Japan) and ask the storekeeper if I can watch Japanese DVD's on my US Xbox, I get a "no, sorry." I hope someone can help me to find a way to purchase and watch DVD's in Japan on my US Xbox. This region coding is really frustrating. THe only other option I have is to have friends mail me DVD's from the States. Help anyone?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Go to Akihabara and pick up a region free player (Assuming you're in Tokyo, every city has an electronics Mecca in Japan tho)
Otherwise you just have to wait for someone to crack the region coding.

 

[Dave F]

Did the dongle idea from a few posts up get disproven? If not, and if you haven't already used a R1 dongle, just get a Japanese one.

-Dave

 

[Jeff Kleist]

That was testing output. The XBox will permanently lock to whatever region the dongle that is first inserted is.
You could also buy a Japanese PS2

 

[Ike]

What region is Japan, and where could I get a Japanese Dongle? (Maybe the funniest word ever)

 

[Wolf Jenkins]

Is DVDRegionX out in the US yet? They are selling it on Amazon.co.uk for European Xboxen. Has anyone seen it shipping for US systems yet? I keep checking lik-sang and they don't have it yet...

 

[Jeff Kleist]

There are tons of UK sites that ship to the US. The names escape me at the moment but they're out there

Ike Japan is Region 2, and you can probably get one from NCSX.com

 

[Wolf Jenkins]

I figure I can get it sent from the UK, but didn't know if would only work on a PAL machine...

 

[Alec guapo]

I am living in Tokyo, yes. Maybe I will try this experiment as well by purchasing a Japanese Xbox dongle (R-2 I assume)and then plug it into my US Xbox. I already have a US dongle, so I guess I would have to unplug that first. I don't know if this will work and I don't want to blow about $30 if it doesn't.

Jeff & Michael, are you sure that the Xbox region is locked once you plug your first dongle in? Do you have any other sources that confirm this?

Thanks for the other suggestions, but I don't think that I can buy a Japanese PS2 without my fiance getting pissed off and I don't want to have to spend more money on a region free DVD player.

 

[BrianB]

Alec, as far as I know, once you insert one 'region dongle' into the Xbox, you've effectively stamped the machine with that region.

 

[Dave E H]

Anyone know anything more about DVD Region X?

 

[Alec guapo]

I have a theoretical question. If the all Xbox's are the same, and it only changes when you plug in the dongle, then the Xbox should able to play games from other regions. I have heard that the Xbox can not play games from other regions, so there must be something inside the intital hardware. If it is in the hardware already, then there probably would be no need for this "region stamping" thing. Maybe buying a different region dongle would work then. Why are you guys so sure that it would not work and that there is this stamping thing?