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**Official Region Free firmware support thread for all models of HD DVD players**

post #1 of 195
2/28/08 at 11:34pm
Thread Starter 
Hey guys. We need to have a thread that is just about the region free firmware for the second generation and I hope soon to be First and third generation players. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on the last two.

Another thing I'd like to say is not everyone is a hex editing guru. And it's hard for most people (including myself) to hex edit their firmware. And I'm afraid that there will be a lot of poor souls that brick their players.

One way of helping folks is making PPF patch files with PPF Studio so that the non hex editing guru's can use PPF-O-Matic to patch their firmware. For example, someone can change the XE1 firmware from HDXE1KTY to HDXA2KTN and back again using a ppf file and PPF-O-Matic. This should also work with patching firmware so it can go back to a older version. Like going back to 2.7 from 2.8. There are lots of folks wanting to go back from 2.8 on the second generation and 2.0 on the third generation.

Here is an example. Hex edit the Australian XE1 2.5 (09C6 = 2502) firmware from XE1 to XA2.




Load the images in PPF Studio and created a PPF patch.




Now the PPF file can be used by someone using PPF-O-Matic to change the Australian 2.5 firmware from XE1 to XA2.



Anyone willing to give this a try and help out their fellow man?
http://rapidshare.com/files/95817421/PPF_Tools.zip.html


You can get the Australian firmware here.

HD-XE1 FW Ver2.5

HD-E1 FW Ver2.5

HD-EP10 FW Ver2.5

You can get other firmware in "HD-DVD Firmware links for all models"


And here is some hex info just to get a idea of things.

45314B5459 = E1KTY
41324B5455 = A2KTU

5845314B5459 = XE1KTY
5841324B544E = XA2KTN

455031304B5459 = EP10KTY
4132304B544E00 = A20KTN

03E8 = 1000
044C = 1100
04B0 = 1200
0514 = 1300
07D1 = 2001
07D2 = 2002
09C5 = 2501
09C6 = 2502
0A8D = 2701
0AF1 = 2801
0AF2 = 2802

If anyone would like to contribute to this thread and help others. Please do. If someone who doesn't know how to hex edit ask for help. Give them a hand by telling them how or just make them a PPF. I'm sure their are lots of folks who don't know how to hex edit and want to rollback their 2.0 and 2.8 firmware because of the jaggies or play the DVDs that they bought or will buy from overseas.
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post #2 of 195
2/29/08 at 1:49am
Anyone who comes up with a region free firm ware hack for the A35 is my hero!
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post #3 of 195
2/29/08 at 2:29am
Thread Starter 
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=208

Quote:
Originally Posted by hdxa1user View Post

here is the hd-e1 playing 1080p/24 converted to a hd-ep10... shrek the third
VTS_01_1.VOB 76.93 MB http://uploaded.to/?id=i7xse0
ill upload a video to show you tha hda35 region free as soon......
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post #4 of 195
2/29/08 at 5:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertR1 View Post

Anyone who comes up with a region free firm ware hack for the A35 is my hero!

And mine!

Keith
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post #5 of 195
2/29/08 at 10:26am
hdxa1user, concerning the 1080p firmware for the hd-e1, iirc you said that in some cases you have to use component output and cannot use HDMI. Is this still the case? If so, in what cases do you have to use component out?
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post #6 of 195
2/29/08 at 11:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertR1 View Post

I'm in the US so you can just PM is to me. I won't leak it

I don't have a single friend, so you can post it to me and be certain I will never leak it anyone in the entire world

Keith
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post #7 of 195
2/29/08 at 12:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doitsujin View Post

hdxa1user, concerning the 1080p firmware for the hd-e1, iirc you said that in some cases you have to use component output and cannot use HDMI. Is this still the case? If so, in what cases do you have to use component out?

what are you asking is the a35 hack limit the player , no it doesnt normal hack , changing the e1 to do 1080p is simple , hdmi will only run 1080p/24 and component plays back the sd movies...only way i could get it to work
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post #8 of 195
3/2/08 at 9:17pm
Well, I don't have anything to compare it to yet to verify accuracy, but the HDXE1 2.51 firmware I found has the following MD5 output before and after modding

Before - D57CFF0CF958E5FA678240E7C904F68A

After - 472EA606B10E381CCEA550890AC353E4

Can anyone confirm? This is for the HDE1, not the XE1 remember.
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post #9 of 195
3/2/08 at 10:14pm
HD-DVD players are region free on HD discs , so why fix it if it's not broken.
I have several imports and they all play perfect on my player.
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post #10 of 195
3/3/08 at 2:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by louthewiz View Post

HD-DVD players are region free on HD discs , so why fix it if it's not broken.

We are talking about region free playback for DVD. The only known method for 2nd gen players is to use the special 2.5.1 firmware. This one seems to have an additional installer that runs the 1st time you startup the player after installing the firmware. Obviously that is the part that makes the player regionfree.
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post #11 of 195
3/3/08 at 5:32am
Multi-region SD hack for the A1 would be very much appreciated if anyone can crack it!!?
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post #12 of 195
3/3/08 at 5:50am
@hdxa1user,
I assume you changed the header of the firmware file to load the ep-10 firmware into the e-1?
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post #13 of 195
3/3/08 at 1:53pm
Bricking my HD-A2 isn't an option now that they aren't making them anymore, but I'd really like to use my PAL DVDs on this player too.

If there's ever simple-to-apply firmware like I used on my Sampo, let me know...
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post #14 of 195
3/3/08 at 2:23pm
So what's the deal? To maintain PAL support do you have to stick to the E1 firmware? ...or can you go back to A2 2.7 after applying the 2.51 hack and still retain the PAL playback?
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post #15 of 195
3/3/08 at 3:21pm
I'm not too concerned about PAL (I have almost nothing that is PAL) but being able to watch my region 2 NTSC discs would be awesome. I have an A2 currently which I have read about how to change, but I've got an A35 on the way that I wish I could do this to.

So, +1 for A35 ? First of all, is the euro equivalent (EP35?) region free the same way that the E1/XE1 were ? If so, then do any existing EP35 firmwares "re" enable region free during update, so we could use them to make an A35 region free?
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post #16 of 195
3/3/08 at 6:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BioSehnsucht View Post

I'm not too concerned about PAL (I have almost nothing that is PAL) but being able to watch my region 2 NTSC discs would be awesome. I have an A2 currently which I have read about how to change, but I've got an A35 on the way that I wish I could do this to.

So, +1 for A35 ? First of all, is the euro equivalent (EP35?) region free the same way that the E1/XE1 were ? If so, then do any existing EP35 firmwares "re" enable region free during update, so we could use them to make an A35 region free?

you dont have to convert you player to pal to make region free to just play ntsc disc , it can be done and kept only as a ntsc player , just means you will be able to put and ntsc disc in it( no matter what region) ... but no pal
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post #17 of 195
3/5/08 at 4:58am
My player is hd-ep10, firmware is 2.7, please advise how to convert it into region free, thank a lots!
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post #18 of 195
3/5/08 at 10:38am
A consolidated thread for this is a good idea.

I think the first post should contain important notes. I.E. the problem with RCE disks after the hacks.

I got my XA2 hacked thanks to a great step-by-step guide by xradman? but I had to dig like crazy for firmware 2.7, and I had to get 2.5.0.1 from a torrent.

I could still use to hack my backup player (my old A2) but I was having trouble finding all the info needed.
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post #19 of 195
3/5/08 at 12:19pm
If you have made your player region free, the below procedure works (verified on hd-ep10):

1) Turn on player
2) Open tray, put disc in tray but don´t close
3) Push T.search on remote
4) Push 1, 3, 9 and "Region number" (e.g. 1 for US discs)
5) Push T. search on remote.

You will see TEST on your player

6) Press PLAY on the remote

If your player is not region free, you will not see TEST after step 5.
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post #20 of 195
3/5/08 at 8:57pm
Is there someone who'd be willing to PM me the XE1 (XA2) 2.51 region-free firmware, seeing how pretty much all the download links are no longer valid (I'd prefer not to d/l via torrents)?

Thanks!
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post #21 of 195
3/6/08 at 12:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hdxa1user View Post

you dont have to convert you player to pal to make region free to just play ntsc disc , it can be done and kept only as a ntsc player , just means you will be able to put and ntsc disc in it( no matter what region) ... but no pal

But how on A3/A30/A35 series ?

For the long run I wouldn't mind having PAL support enabled anyways, except that it sounds like it defaults to PAL rates for setup menu etc, and my current setup wouldn't like that much...
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post #22 of 195
3/6/08 at 2:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BioSehnsucht View Post

But how on A3/A30/A35 series ?

For the long run I wouldn't mind having PAL support enabled anyways, except that it sounds like it defaults to PAL rates for setup menu etc, and my current setup wouldn't like that much...

wont happen ..... the firmware wont be released im sure of that
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post #23 of 195
3/6/08 at 7:00am
Excellent thread!
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post #24 of 195
3/6/08 at 7:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hdxa1user View Post

wont happen ..... the firmware wont be released im sure of that

What makes you think that? Now that these are out of mfr'ing I'm pretty sure it' only a matter of time before all HD DVD player will be 'fixxed' (for good, mind you, whole region and other Hollywood limitations are illegaly restricting your rights as a customer.)
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post #25 of 195
3/6/08 at 11:53am
Thread Starter 
I started this thread so people can get help with the region free firmware. I wanted to post hash info and instructions on how to hex edit it so it can be put on USA models. But a certain somebody claimed it was his firmware and didn't want it talked about. And that I was to remove any links to his firmware from this site. I never posted links to his firmware. All I posted in the firmware thread was links to firmware downloads from Toshiba.

After looking at the 251 hacked firmware in a hex editor, discovered something funny. It is the same 2.5 (09C6 = 2502) firmware that you can download from Toshiba Australia. It's the same firmware but with 2048 bytes of padding removed. For example, if you remove 2048 bytes of zeros from the end of HD-XE1 FW Ver2.5.iso. The hash will be the same as XE1_FW251_RCF.iso. The same thing goes for the other so called hacked firmware being passed around.

I'm surprised that nobody else here found this out. Unless someone did and I missed it. It is was also confirmed in this post.




The KTY player specs on the Toshiba Australia site say that they support both NTSC and PAL. Where the Euro KTE models only support PAL, the USA and Jap models only support NTSC.

So for now on, don't bother going through the middleman and risk getting junk firmware when you can just download the region free firmware direct from Toshiba Australia.

As for those links I was told not to post. Well here they are. And if Toshiba doesn't want the links posted. Then they shouldn't have posted the links on their website.



HD-XE1 FW Ver2.5

HD-E1 FW Ver2.5

HD-EP10 FW Ver2.5
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post #26 of 195
3/6/08 at 12:42pm
N8YWF--I'm the one who posted the question about whether the Australian f/w could be a viable substitute (you posted a link about its confirmation); in any case, props to you for pretty much verifying that the Aussie f/w should work...so now I'm all set, as far as required firmware files go...all I'm waiting on now is for my XA2 to arrive!
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post #27 of 195
3/6/08 at 1:32pm
The firmwares from the EU site do not have any padding bytes at the end of the file, so the length indicated in the header (@ offset 0x2c) match the real size of the file. Would this also be the reason the Autralian firmware gave an error message when I tried to upgrade my EP-10 (from V1.0)?
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post #28 of 195
3/6/08 at 1:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by evdberg View Post

The firmwares from the EU site do not have any padding bytes at the end of the file, so the length indicated in the header (@ offset 0x2c) match the real size of the file. Would this also be the reason the Autralian firmware gave an error message when I tried to upgrade my EP-10 (from V1.0)?

Maybe you have to edit the firmware from HDEP10KTY to HDEP10KTE to load the Aus firmware on a Eur EP10? But I haven't read anything that the guys with KTY players having to edit their firmware.
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post #29 of 195
3/6/08 at 1:55pm
I still can't figure out if there is a way to make the A35 (US) region free or not?
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post #30 of 195
3/6/08 at 5:29pm
I just noticed that the files I downloaded from the other thread, both the EU and NA versions for EP35/A35 were identical once extracted...

This begs the question : how does it know whether it is PAL or NTSC or both (assuming an eventual Australian release planned), and regions?
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