DVD Region Counter

Hi guys, i recently got a tray pioneer 16x dvd player. I wacked in a DVD movie to watch and up came a region counter saying i had 5 more viewings of different regions left.

1. Now is this thing related to my DVD drive, or my DVD software (Power DVD 3) ??

2. I found a site with a firmware upgrade <A HREF="http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/firmware.html" target="_new">http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/firmware.html</A> but i'm a bit wary of applying the patch just incase it renders my drive inoperable. Does anyone know if the above site is reputable? If not, where can i find a reliable firmware upgrade?

Cheers all!

Ok firstly the region counter is purely software.

The firmware is to remove the lock that is applied to cetain drives to prevent any other region than the one in which the drive was sold from being played. If your drive can play multi regions, ie: any disc from anywhere, you do not need to add the firmware. As it will not remove the region counter. If however it will not play any other regions even though it should the firmware is the only option. The locking of drives was an agreement by a number of manufacturers to cut back on people buying in cheaper DVDs from other countries.

The best free software to skip the counter and give you infinate region changes is <A HREF="http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/dvdgenie.html" target="_new">DVD Genie</A> Linked from the site you directed me too.

As for the note about reliable firmware not really easy to say. If you do not need to do it DON'T ! If you want to play other regions and you are unable to go ahead, the risk is pretty small (but its there and an unsucessful flash could ruin your drive)

Tim

I am Homer of Borg ! Prepare to be... MMMhhhhh Doughnuts

Yeah, i needed to use the firmware revision for the actual drive. And then i used dvd genie. Everything is working fine now.