How do you use the Movie and Music disks bought abroad in players here including in-Car DVD's ?

rmamila on 16/05/2013 - 13:49

I have bought heaps of DVD's and CD's for my elder kid while I was living in US. They were not cheap and do not want to just throw away. Now my second one is in that age to use all those DVD's but just not able to play them in my BluRay player at home or in player in the car which came with Toyota (brand should be Clarion I think).

Is there any way to use them in the same players without buying another set of cheap crappy players for home and car. Is there any way to upgrade firmware on the players to accept disks from different zones?

When you buy an original disk from a company you pay for it to use personally and you are paying a hefty price to own it. The usability of it shouldn't be bound to the place you live at the moment. If you keep travelling are you suppose to buy the same DVD again and again for different regions. I don't think so. no idea about the legal side of it.

What other people really do with those disks you buy abroad.

Electrical & Electronics

Comments

  • _Bruce_ on 16/05/2013 - 14:06

    CDs are not region locked. If your CDs do not play it has nothing to do with US/Australia and everything to do with them not conforming to the CDDA standard.

    From Wikipedia:

    Some major recording publishers have begun to sell CDs that violate the Red Book standard. Some do so for the purpose of copy prevention, using systems like Copy Control.

    Some do so for extra features such as DualDisc, which includes both a CD layer and a DVD layer whereby the CD layer is much thinner, 0.9 mm, than required by the Red Book, which stipulates a nominal 1.2 mm, but at least 1.1 mm. Philips and many other companies have warned them that including the Compact Disc Digital Audio logo on such non-conforming discs may constitute trademark infringement. Either in anticipation or in response, recent[when?] copy-protected CDs bear stickers and warnings that the CD is not standard and may not play in all CD players, and no longer display the long-familiar logo.

    DVDs are a different story. I try to only buy players that are region free. First however, you should check for firmware updates for your players as some have region free firmware available that can be installed and will solve the problem.

    Blu Rays are almost a lost cause.

    The work around for all three (CD Audio, DVD Video, Blu Ray Video) is to rip them using a computer (ALL of the DRM measures have been broken on a PC) and reburn them without DRM. Annoying, but this will always work.

    • altomic on 16/05/2013 - 21:11
      +1

      get the model number of your players.

      then google "model number unlock code" (change model number to be the actual model number e.g. DMR-EH57)

      some DVD players can be unlocked through the remote buy pushing a series of buttons in particular order.

      e.g. for a Panasonic DMR-EH57 dvd player
      The button sequence is;

      [ENTER][6][+10][<<][00F2][AUDIO][8][1][SUBT.][4]

      Pause approximately 2 seconds between key presses on the OneForAll RC for best results. If nothing happens, don't worry. Just try again.

      The Panasonic DMR-EH57 device will go into standby mode, and wake up from it immediately after. During that time, it will briefly display an 'HELLO' message in the device display. Your device is now region free.

      • rmamila on 11/11/2013 - 10:34

        Thanks. This is very useful information. I will try to find a lead with this hint. cheers.

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