That’s what I seem to be in.
Ignore the fact that my ma’s in town, forget for a while that it’s been quite sometime since I last updated, disregard my newly-found enthusiasm for anything to do with Pradosh C Mitter, Lalmohan Ganguli and Topshe. This be thick hot soup, massah, and I be trying to swimming without swallowing too much. Ignore all grammatical licenses too.
Now, then, the ingredients:
1) A nice little site called cd-wow.com, which ships DVDs and CDs worldwide, with NO SHIPPING CHARGES.
2) A computer, ten months old, running Windows 98 (This is the part half of you will grimace in disgust and spit on the ground and say “By the Hoary Hosts of L’Naksh, there lies the foul problem!” )
3) A PSony DVD Drive, preferably pborrowed pfrom psome pfriend.
4) Power DVD XP4, cracked beyond recognition.
5) WinDVD Platinum 5, Ditto.
Instructions:
Go to site, click on Bargain Basement, order three DVDs. Pretend you are Omniscient, scoff at all warning labels, and ask for Takeshi Kitano’s Zatoichi, Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, and Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap!.
Simmer for five days.
On the fifth day, God created animals, and fish and birds and snakes…oh, sorry, wrong line. On the fifth day, accept all three DVDs in the mail, and proceed to next step.
Try not to dance on the way.
Now then, rub hands and gloat. Insert first DVD in DVD drive. Make sure the first one is Zatoichi.
Read the message that comes up. The message should, in optimal conditions, say “You have three chances left before your counter is set. Current counter is Region 3. Are you sure?” (This part is important) Be sure. Be confident in the powers of Power DVD Tweaker Pro and click “yes”. Watch DVD for unspecified period of time. Insert second DVD. Make sure it is This is Spinal Tap.
Repeat above Step until counter becomes 0.
Take deep breath, and laugh in the (figurative) face of Stupid DVD-player makers who think of thwarting Happy Moviegoers.
Uninstall PowerDVD, run Regedit, and remove all traces of entries. Restart. Reinstall. Watch happy message when you insert DVD. Uninstall. Install WinDVD. Crack. Insert DVD. Watch happy message again. Ignore sinking feeling in tummy. Install Win2000, reinstall drivers, reinstall player. insert DVD, read Happy Message.
Soup’s served!
Ok, so right now my DVD drive ( or rather, the DVD drive I had *cough* borrowed) plays only Region 2 DVDs. Which is not much help because I have only one Region 2 DVD to watch. So I need to do some serious shit to get it region-free.
A little searching shows that a firmware flash/crack might be required, and detailed instructions for how to do so for the Sony DDU-1621 are given right here. The only thing is, this is a firmware flash guide for Firmware version 1.x, while the version I am using is version 3.5. The patch up there says it’s not tested. So, ahem, do I go ahead with this? Or does anyone know of any software ( other than the $39 priced kinds) that can reset the region-code for a DVD?
Help!
If you see a familiar figure rummaging among your dvd collection tonight, look away. This is Spinal Tap! indeed!
Why don’t you move to Bangalore? Would save me some trouble.
And no, sorry, can’t help you with the software. I do have a Philips dvd player that plays any region, though. Muahahahaha!
I vote change his region. Now.
I protest! I vote change not his region. Never!
Unregionable voters. That’s why this country is in such a sorry state.
Looking to buy one soon. Would appreciate the relevant numbers and anything other than this region business I should be watching out for please.
Thanks!
One mistake I did was to get a player that didn’t support 5.1 sound. I went for economy and bought the model that was cheaper (forgot the number – 6.x?). Depends on your budget, really.
philips 625?
5.1 noted. Thanks!
are you buying a DVD player or a DVD drive for your computer?
For a complete audiovisual experience, I suggest that you invest in a DVD player that has 5.1 sound support. Personally I went for a computer overhaul, got a Sony DVD drive, Creative 5.1 soundcard and Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. The package came to 12k. A good player costs the same. (10k + )
You can pick up players with stereo support for about 5k.
Computer-based upgrade is preferable because you can think of ripping DVDs, or using cracks and stuff, which I am about to do right now.
Thanks!
Was thinking of a DVD player for now.
Have to get a new comp before I upgrade it.. but that is very much on the agenda too :)
Why don’t you move to Bangalore?
I haven’t been able to convince MR and Best Book Stall to move there yet.
What all this region business?
The DVD format has this very dumb geographical region based locking scheme. DVDs made for one region won’t play in a drive set to another region. In a vain attempt to control piracy, the MPAA assigned China a whole region to itself.
All new drives allow you to change the region five times and no more. Of course, since the counter is stored in the drive’s firmware, and the code to oversee the counter is also in the firmware, patching schemes range from removing region-locking entirely, to allowing the region to change any number of times. My drive’s patch is of the latter type.
In a vain attempt to control piracy, the MPAA assigned China a whole region to itself.
Ha ha! Thanks for the explanation.
That’s right. Instead of going ahead and actually encouraging people to make better movies, they think up ways NOT to make us see movies. How conniving can you get..
first things first:
Tap! is possibly the funniest film ever made.
Up there for me with …Wanda, Annie…, and Doc. S’love…, simply in terms of laughs. Brilliant. [Also watch A Mighty Wind .. not quite the cultspawning behemoth, but entertaining].. I do hope you’ve bought the two disc special edition – one of my most treasured dvds.
the other two are superb choices, and I warmly shake your hand for turning me on [to this fine site]. Most obliged.
p.s. – Yes, Jotayu really does rule all, does he not? :)
I got the 2-disc edition for myself, yes, and thanks for the kind words. All the best with CD-WOW. I watched the second DVD with some of the extra features, and my mom and I laughed our heads off. Well, almost.
Jatayu-sir, Pradosh-sir and Topshe – I thank my lucky stars that I know Bangla, so it becomes so easy to relate to the three gentlemen. Love ALL the stories, nearly finished the first volume ( of the Complete series – 2 volume set).
Unt ra ki kaanta beche khaye?
Edit: Untra ki kaanta bechhe khaye?
Na na. O ra jore jore “Kaanta Laga” gaaye. ;-)
Ha Ha Ha!! Nice to know you’re enjoying my namesake’s adventures. One of Satyajit Ray’s best creations. And the next time I’m in Hyderabad, I’m dragging you to these bookstalls, come what may. Can’t find a single Bengali book in Bangalore. And don’t know if you already have, but you should really try Shorodindu’s Byomkesh. Wonderful read.
Since all possible answers are illegal, I refrain from answering.
isnt that censorship? and, hence, immoral?
which is the bigger ravine to fall into?
No, a simple Gandhian Principle.
Steal, but don’t get caught.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Actually, the solution, the simplest one is to decrypt.
Actually not even that. The solution is to get a new drive.
If for example I were to suggest either, it would be perfectly proper.
But if on the other hand a suggestion was made, that the only reasonable way to get a new drive was to get it without preferably payin….
That was not it.
Todd McFarlane and Ray Bradbury are both totally and hugely pro-author control/copyright. And Stallman is not exactly‘s greatest guru (as evidenced by his strong ~reluctance~ to use GNU/Linux).
So all solutions are morally wrong.
his strong ~reluctance~ to use GNU/Linux
you read between the lines too much, my friend.
WHY I don’t prefer Linux? Basically I am lazy. Obviously there are options to finetune every parameter and app – but then, who can beat the luxury of putting a cd inside a drive and waiting for setup.exe to kick in? eh?
There is an answere my father,
The answer is a fast connection to Debian and
apt-get.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Or if a person has money, the answer might also be OS X.
::doffs hat::
*grin* which Gandhi, though?
My solution actually makes the most sense:
with player prices crahing everyday, pick up a Philips.
And then get them to spend 30 seconds unlocking
bliss
*brass knuckles in my head*
I was using a device I once used in my school essays. It something feels like something, someone might have said, use it.
And I did. But I am sure I can dig up something like that from somewhere and attribute it to someone.
Looks like I got caught. :P
And since when did morality start bothering you?
Oh, I get it. You are baiting me. I refuse to bite.
I don’t fish.
hate fish, hate fish, hate fish.
fishes are smelies, not friends
Go Fish.
No wonder!
Oh jeez! You stupid, stupid man! Ok, sorry, I know you’re already kicking yourself. But seriously, didn’t you know that the hardware counter in the drive was permananent?
All firmware updates to remove the region locking is unofficial/hacked code, so no guarantees. The only thing you can do is download the official and unhacked firmware too. So when you try to flash with the hacked version and things go wrong, you could try flashing the original one back in hopes of fixing things.
If all goes wrong, buy a new DVD drive.
You live and learn.
If it goes wrong, you’re screwed. The code that handles flashing is also in flash.
I get it, I get it. No flashing firmware for me. Am taking‘s advice and using DVD-region-free+CSS.
I don’t have to buy a new DVD drive. The warranty period for the comp ( and ergo, all the components) is still on. So what I need to do is get it busted, and demand a new DVD drive.
uhoh!
Keep me posted is all I can say…and offer my sympathies.
DVD players generally have some combination of keys that can be punched into the remote to change it (although post a counter reduced to 0 attempt, I don’t know…)
Yes, my boss told me about the remote trick. Apparently an LG service-agent came over to his place to fix his drive and did the thing, and refused to say what he did. Shucks!
But I am trying out some crack-software. Lemme check it out.
Zatoichi
Zatoichi DVD is not yet available in US (atleast not legally). Ahhh…The power house of Chineese DVD market.
Re: Zatoichi
Yes, I know. :)
This was indeed a Chinese version, and extremely well-packaged. Comes with a bonus disc that has making-of and interview sections.
Tha catch? Bonus disc comes without English subtitles. :)
if you have US$106 laying around, you can buy a region free DVD player.
(4,864.34 rupees, as of july 8, 2004)
I think I will save the money to buy this instead, and opt for some region-killing software. :-)
*sigh* moi to the rescue.
Do NOT mess with the firmware. No guarantees what that does. So either download a software called DVD X-player. Region free player, not free, so… you know what to do.
OR gimme a holler I’ll send you some magic… (no really, I have a software that lets you play region encoded DVDs.)
Now YOU help ME out… is that CD-WOW place genuine? I mean, are the DVDs the real thing? and is the shipping really free? and more importantly, do they eat up your money or are they nice people, the kinds mom lets us play with?
Along with‘s mail-attached goodies, I downloaded this today, too. Will try out. Wish me luck.
CD-WOW is 100% genuine, my friend. Not only do they deliver free of cost, they also deliver within 5-7 days. The site is good for DVDs, the cds cost a little more than the Indian versions. Check out their bargain basement section. I remember seeing the original Japanese version of Kill Bill vol 1 on sale there, though the price was quite steep. :-)
You mean… you don’t use this?
*nonplussed*
the very thing I promised I’d send… of course it’s *ahem* cracked.
:-)
Btw, Wired has almost killed Spider-man 2 in its review. While it refers to the PS2 version, I don’t think the PC version wouild be any better. Too bad, I though the game held a lot of promise…
Have you played any other PC-based spiderman games? Would you recommend them?
I played the first Spider-Man movie video game… pretty nice.
BUT don’t play it if you don’t have a gamepad on your PC. The controld on the KB/Mouse will make you want to kill yourself. :)
No sir. Until two days ago, I was under the impression that my DVD drive is region-free. :)
Ah this portrait’s so much prettier! Hope your DVD problems are behind you.
P.S.: Please do not stand facing the DVD drive.
How come no-one picked up on your Satyajit Ray reference? I am bewildered. I absolutely adoreadoreadore the Feluda stories. And my fav cousin is uncannily like Feluda and happened to give me a big, hardbound collection of all the Feluda stories… Could one ask for more?
Well, I finished the First volume of The Complete Feluda Stories yesternight. Awesome, it was, all of it. I don’t know who I love more – Satyajit Ray or the characters he has created. Truly brilliant.
P.S I haven’t seen too many Ray movies, though. Except for Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne I don’t even remember the ones I have seen.
VLC
Did you try VLC player?
http://www.videolan.org/
Refer to:<http://www.videolan.org/doc/faq/en/index.html#id2787196>
Re: VLC
Thanks for the link. I tried Slysoft AnyDVD which seems to work very well.