Impossible to make Evesham laptop DVD multi-region?

[Iam]

Hi,

I bought an Evesham laptop a few weeks ago, after first asking in their Bristol showroom whether or not the DVD player could be made to play any region of DVD. I was told it could, simply by d/loading DVD Genie from the web.

In fact tho, it can't - & Evesham refuse to do anything about it, as multi-region ability is not something they advertise in their literature, & they don't appear to believe I was told the DVD player could be made to work as multi-region. I did n't get it in writing, before I ordered, but that was what I was told.

Anyway, they've not heard the last from me on the issue of their customer support, I'm posting here to see if anyone knows how it might, after all, be possible to make the DVD RAM multi-region?

The DVD is a Matshita DVD-RAM UJ-845S.

I've tried DVD Region Free+CSS (which has replaced DVD Genie), plus AnyDVD, plus DVD43, plus MasterDVD Region Free - none of them work. I've tried the RPC-1 site - there's no firmware fix for the Matshita UJ845.

Any suggestions welcome. My current plan is stiff letter of complaint to Evesham, possible action via trading standards, & to buy & install myself a replacement DVD Ram drive, after first checking specifically that it can be made multi-region.

Iam.

 

[muckshifter]

err, did you Read This ?

Let me know.

 

[Me__2001]

has your drive been set to a region ? my drive is region free because i never set it to one and i also use dvd genie to bypass the region setting in WinDVD

 

[KGB-911]

I use DVD Ghost.

 

[Iam]

Yep Muckshifter, I read That a few hours ago ... problem is that there is no formware jobbie for the Matshita UJ-845S, so I'm knackered, I reckon.

The DVD player was set to region 2 when I got it ... DVD Region Free + CSS has replaced DVD Genie, & just don't work, like the other software hacks I've tried. I suspect it may be because the Matshita is a relatively new (maybe obscure?) model, so there's no firmware fix for it. As it's an RPC-2 thingy (that being the closest to a technical term my ignorance allows) it needs a firmware fix, or needs a software program that can cope with it (like DVD Region FRee + CSS does definitely not) ... just mucking with the software DVD player (WinDVD) won't do it ... or at least that's what I seem to have gathered from what I've read. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

DVD Ghost is not one I've tried ... I'll give that a go, but have little hope, since I've now tried 4 such programs as listed in my OP, none of which worked.

Iam.

 

[Iam]

And sure enough - just downloaded & tried DVD Ghost - popped in LA Confidential Region 1 - no good

Iam.

 

[Me__2001]

i think the drive itself has to be region free aswell not just the player software

 

[KGB-911]

My drives are not region free. but it works with Ghost.

 

[muckshifter]

Iam,

Your drive is actually a Panasonic UJ-845B, however, I did a search on your behalf and could not find any 'firmware' for it ... looks like it is too new at the moment.

You WILL have to change the firmware first before you can use any 'region free' software ... I'll look for an alternative for you, but don't hold your breath.

 

[Iam]

Thanks very much Muckshifter - & to everyone for their suggestions.

Iam.

 

[muckshifter]

Thanks very much Muckshifter - & to everyone for their suggestions.

Iam.

Oh I haven't given up yet ...

Try http://www.dvdidle.com/download.htmhttp://www.dvdidle.com/download.htmone of these, nothing to loose.

Also, try http://discinfo.rpc1.org/http://discinfo.rpc1.org/DISCInfo I just found there is a newer version out 1.5.5 ... read the whole page, some interesting information on there.

DISCInfo is a freeware program to display hardware information’s from and ATAPI/SCSI device under Windows operating system. Basically what it does it that it sends SCSI commands to the device and retrieves the information from them. The most useful thing of the program is to show useful information about a DVD-ROM devices. It can check current region status. If the drive is region free it will state No Lock Detected but if the drive has region protection (RPC-2) it will show you the correct settings, like how many changes are left and currently set region. With the latest version program is also capable of using identified info about a CD/DVD drive to pass parameters to main firmware page and look for the firmware update files on it. It can recognise external USB/Firewire HDD/CD/DVD devices (SPTI access only) and for easy sharing of the files it enabled grabbing the screenshots of the program and internally save them to a file without any extra image manipulation tools.

As a side note to any other readers ... It is NOT illegal to have your DVD player 'region free' ... I would go as far and say that any manufacturer that locks your DVD player is doing so illegally. Ask before you buy ... if they don't know or tell you otherwise then go elseware. Oh, and your TV DVD players can also be unlocked.

 

[kurgan]

Hi

I'd also be very grateful for any additional information you might have, I have exactly the same drive in the otherwise lovely (Aldi) Gericon 1st Supersonic PCI E laptop, and I'm in the same boat - nothing will convince the drive to become (or even just think it's become) a region-free drive.

Many thanks anyway, this is the only light I've seen after scouring the 'net for hours!

 

[Raje]

Makes you wish the old low tech tricks still worked, like taping a penny inside the cd hold. We used to do that a job that would only play DMX formated cd, pop a penny in with your cd f choice, and bang, it worked, and I don't know why.

 

[kurgan]

Muckshifter:

I found this thread regarding the Panasonic drive you said may be the same as the Mat****a:

http://macminiforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265&page=3&pp=10

and was wondering if you think that the firmware flash mentioned there might work? (I'm obviously very nervous of using it in case I bugger up my brand new laptop!) If it makes any difference, my drive is reporting as having D100 firmware...

Thanks in advance!

 

[muckshifter]

kurgan, I wouldn't like to second guess if it will work.

And it looks like The Firmware Page at www.rpc1.org has been closed down.

 

[kurgan]

It seems to be back now thankfully, but the news isn't good: http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=33537&highlight=uj-845 .

So it seems that patch is good for setting master/slave settings, but not the region. I'll keep checking, but I guess I shouldn't hold my breath anyway!

Thanks for your time and thoughts anyway, I genuinely appreciate it.