Is This Really Code-Free?
 

Since my husband travels to Asia a lot, we decided to purchase a code-free DVD player. We bought it about a year and a half ago, through some company on the Internet. Today we sat down to watch the second season of _The Sopranos_ which he bought in Hong Kong. Got the message "wrong region." Apparently, it is a Region 2 DVD, but should still work on a code-free DVD player, I would assume. However, after looking on the back of our player, we spotted a number 1. Does this mean that our "code-free" player is not really "code-free"? The DVD player is a Pioneer DV-525.

Were we ripped off? [sigh]

Thanks in advance,

If you post more details such as the make and model of the player, people here could offer better advice.

However, speaking in general terms, a "code-free" player could be set for a given region (say R1), but you could easily the change the preset region by a few keypresses on the remote. You would have to change the region of the player to the region of the disc that you are about to play in it.

Most of the players that are sold in Asia are capable of switching regions. So, it is unlikely that you were ripped off. Post more details about the player and I am sure you will learn how to change the region (if it is indeed possible to do so).

Re: Is This Really Code-Free?
 

All Pioneer 525's that have been modified to code free will have the original region sticker set to whatever region the player originally came from (Mine for example was the Japanese export model for R1, and it bears the R1 sticker). A few questions here. First the Sopranos dvd: HK releases wouldn't be coded to R2, but rather R3. I can find no trace of a Sopranos release in HK, so can you provide more details on the discs? It could be a problem with the disc's encoding (my 1st pioneer 525 gave me a region error message on my Thakral R0 Drunken Master 2 dvd). Second here is a test you can do. Pop the disc in, or any other region coded disc you may have (apart from R1), now hit the setup key on your remote, go into the general tab, then setup menu mode, select the basic option then hit enter on the remote (ignore this if it is allready set to basic), now hit the display key on you remote. This should display what region your player is set to. Most 525 mods work by autoswitching the region when you pop in a region coded disc. If your disc is region 2, and your player is truly code free, you should see Region 2 displayed here along with the rom revision in your pioneer. Not every 525 mod was done this way, but the vast majority that I've seen were, so give this a test. Hope this helps!

I thank both of you for your replies. I e-mailed each of you with specific questions (like what further details should I tell about my DVD player; and how come when I do as you suggest, the display button displays nothing?)

I did find out that I have a copy of The Sound of Music that is a Region 3, and it plays just fine on the player. However, even on this movie, when I try the setup/display thing, it still doesn't show what region is being used. Am I doing something wrong here?

The only difference I can find between the two disks is this: SOM is NTSC, while TS is PAL. Still, it seems it would still play on the DVD player, just, perhaps, not very well. For example, when we played TS on my husband's laptop DVD player, it was fine. But when we used a line to hook it up to the TV, it was in black and white and the horizontal hold kept flipping.

What do you think?

Oops!
 

Oops! I just took a second look at The Sound of Music DVD, and it not only has a 3 right in the middle of the globe, but a 1, 2, 4, and 5, as well! Looks like it can be played on a region 1 DVD player anyway, so that doesn't prove that my player is code-free!

Darn it!

What you may find is that your player is code free, but you need to set it to that mode. My Pioneer 535 came code free, but I got exactly the same message (wrong region). When I phoned the shop, I found they'd programmed it code free but hadn't used the preselect code free (that's cause sometimes you need to manually set the region for RCE disks).

Check out the manual and it might have something with the menus. Hopefully this will be of some help.

code free
 

I have a Pioneer 535 bought in Korea.

Most players in Asia have been modified "region Free" or "multi region"...Some will change automatically others you have to change manually vis the remote(a better option).

Mine has been modified so I can change the regions via the remote control.

Mine too has a large"1"on the back to signify a region one player.

So far all region(1,2 and 3 )have played without problems.Including RCE discs.

The Pioneer modification usually requires that you make a manual region change using the remote. It doesn't change automatically.