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Thread ID: 53465	2005-01-18 07:55:00	Can I play region 1 DVD's on this player	Misty (368)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
315495	2005-01-18 07:55:00	Very recently I bought a DVD player from Noel Leeming. It is a Samsung DVD-147. I specifically asked whether it would play a DVD from the USA. The salesman said that they are virtually all produced to play all regions now and that this Samsung would be able to do so. Today I went to buy the specific DVD I have in mind from Amazon. It is "Fierce Grace" about the life of Ram Dass. I was just about to complete the order when I got all these warnings below from Amazon - Please note: Your order contains at least one Region 1 (Canada and U.S.) encoded DVD. Region 1 DVDs might not play in DVD players sold in the country where this order is being shipped. Please also note that some Region 1 DVDs contain a Regional Coding Enhancement. Some of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on their “region-free” DVD players. Learn more about DVD region encoding and formats. To modify your order, edit the quantities below. DVD Region Encoding ***PLEASE NOTE*** The Warner and Columbia film studios have recently added Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE) to some Region 1 titles such as The Patriot and The Perfect Storm. Some of our international customers have had problems playing RCE discs on their "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here. Because DVD is subject to the same issues of piracy and market sharing that govern the entire video industry, region encoding was introduced to set geopolitical boundaries for compatibility of DVDs and players. For instance, a DVD encoded for Region 1 can only be played on a Region 1 (United States and Canada) DVD player. There are currently six global DVD regions (see chart), and DVD manufacturers can encode their product to play in any combination of regions. The vast majority of DVDs are Region 1 or 2 compatible, and many DVDs are "all region" for playback on any player, anywhere. DVD Video Formats: What's the difference between PAL and NTSC? There are two television display systems in commercial use: PAL (common in Europe and parts of Asia) delivers a scanning/frame rate of 25 frames per second, while NTSC (used in the U.S. and Canada) delivers a scanning/frame rate of 29.97 frames per second. Currently there are no DVD players that convert from PAL to NTSC or vice versa. However, many PAL DVD players are able to display NTSC video on televisions that support what is known as the 60-Hz PAL system. For all DVD players in the U.S. and Canada, NTSC is the exclusive system in use. This got me all worried and I read the comments on the box the player came in which mention nothing about multi-region etc. I tried to check on Google and was alarmed to read that a New Zealander was asking how to "hack" this very same DVD player to play region 1 & 2 DVD's that he has. My research says that New Zealand is in Region 4 and uses PAL. This is getting beyond me - but does not look good at all. Can anyone tell me please whether this Samsung will be able to play a Region 1 DVD. I do not think for a minute that the DVD will have RCE (Regional Coding Enhancement) because it has been out for a while and is not a big budget movie at all. Misty :@@: :help:	Misty (368)
315496	2005-01-18 08:10:00	My parents have a Samsung DVD player. The "hack" in question was very trivial. It was a matter of holding down a button on the remote whilst turning it on, selecting Multi-Region and power-cycling it. I'd be extremely surprised if it wasn't the same with your player, however the exact instructions evade me right now. Edit: DVD-147 gives very little on Google - any more identifying model numbers or anything (off the box or the sticker on the player).	ninja (1671)
315497	2005-01-18 08:28:00	Hi Ninja I does say Multi Mode Pickup System plays DVD/DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD+R/DVD+RW/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/VCD/SVCD discs however as I understand it this has nothing to do with regions - just adds to the possibilities. It also says Progressive Scan Video Output in very big letters in numerous places. However Consumer Magazine says that does not mean anything in New Zealand [.....but hang on a minute the DVD I want to play comes from the USA !!] No other identifying numbers on the box or the player itself. It does mention Letter Box Eliminator but that seems to be something to do with bar codes. Life does get complicated. Misty :groan:	Misty (368)
315498	2005-01-18 08:29:00	Ok, it's DVD-P147 (which probably just stands for pacific). Here's what I did on my parents one: Turn the player on with no disc in it. Press the REPEAT button on the remote (not repeat ab). Type in 76884 on the remote A number should appear at the top right of the display (probably 04) for a region 4 player Press number 9 on the remote to set it to multi-region Wait 15 seconds then turn off the unit using the power button on the player. Turn back on and it should be region free This may work with your player - the above steps need to be done reasonably quickly. It'd be worth getting hold of a Region 1 DVD to test it before buying any. As a rule DVD players aren't _allowed_ to play DVD's outside their own region.	ninja (1671)
315499	2005-01-18 08:32:00	DVD/DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD+R/DVD+RW/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/VCD/SVCD discsType's of media it can read - pretty much all of em so no concern there. Letter Box Eliminator Means it has the ability to remove the black bars around widescreen format movies, on non widescreen TV's. There is some policy (I think) that DVD players can't be sold off the shop floor that play anything other than the region they are purchased in. That is why they have to be modified afterwards. Fortunately it is quite easy to do as the manufacturers don't want to muck around making different players for all the different regions. Give the above a crack anyway.	ninja (1671)
315500	2005-01-18 08:36:00	Thanks Ninja I really do appreciate all the time and effort you have put in to advising. Will borrow a DVD region 1 to test if I can find someone who has. Am not mean as would buy a region 4 DVD - it is just that the market for this DVD is very limited and just cannot get one in Region 4. Hence the focus on Region 1 thanks again Misty :)	Misty (368)
315501	2005-01-18 08:38:00	T	Misty (368)
315502	2005-01-18 08:40:00	Thanks Ninja I really do appreciate all the time and effort you have put in to advising. Will borrow a DVD region 1 to test if I can find someone who has. No worries, it took me ages to find the code for the one I did. You can give the code a try without a region 1 DVD - if it works it'll show up on screen and let you change it. It's just be worth testing it before ordering one from overseas to be 100% certain. If it doesn't work, it certainly won't break anything. Failing that there are a few other Samsung codes around that'd be worth a try. Post back either way.	ninja (1671)
315503	2005-01-18 08:44:00	there was a site that someone mentioned a while ago (it might have been in the old fourm) and you typed in the dvd player and it came up with the dvd region tweak	Prescott (11)
315504	2005-01-18 08:51:00	Hmm... a couple of hacks for similar model numbers: For a DVD-P148: 1. Power on your player 2. Press and hold both the Play and Stop buttons on the player (this is called a Cold Start) 3. After a short while you should be presented with a set of language options. Release the Play and Stop buttons on the player 4. You will now need to select a language option between 1 and 6 After this change the region with the following instructions: 1. Press the Repeat button (not A-B button, just Repeat) on your remote control 2. Using your remote control enter the code below, note that you must know what Region your player is CURRENTLY set to in order to know which code is appropriate: for Region 4 use 7, 6, 8, 8 and 4 3. A code should be displayed on the screen indicating the current Region setting of your unit. 4. Press the 9 button on your remote control for Region free, or 1 for Region 1, 2 for Region 2 and so on. 5. Press the Open button on your player 6. Press the Standby on remote It's done! or DVD-P142/4 Region code hack posted by n0rk, November 09 2004: Ensure that the tray is empty. Press "Repeat" Press 5 7 5 3 8 The number two will appear on the screen Press 9 Wait 20 seconds Switch the player off then on . NOTE : the remote has TWO repeat buttons, one on the left with "Repeat A B" and the other on the right with just "Repeat", use the one on the RIGHT These came from here: www.videohelp.com Not a bad site, but horribly cluttered.	ninja (1671)
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