LG BH-200 SD-DVD region hack - Page 4

Thanks Alfa. That's great. I had a feeling it would work fine.

It's a pity the Euro model is BD Region B locked. If I could play Region A discs on it I'd definitely prefer a UK model but alas you cannot so I'll still be importing a USA model. A Euro model would mean I don't need to use a Voltage Converter and invalidate the warranty.

Without PAL support this hack is rather limited, it's still worth it though for Non-R1 NTSC DVDs (namely from South America or Asia).

Unfortunately yes. It would really be nice to have one player for HD DVD, SD DVD and BD (even with BD region locked)
With PAL playback I would seriously consider importing a BH200

Buying the European version of the BH200 doesnt really make sense - its selling at 1200 SFr, which is about twice the US price.

For that price you can buy a Toshiba XE1 and a decent BD player

Yeah we really get stiffed in Europe

Personally I always planned to import one, as it will be Region A which for me is crucial. I have and plan to keep my Upscaling DVD Recorder so the lack of PAL support is no big loss.

I don't compare a Combo against two separate players, as technically speaking two players will always beat any Combo but a Combo being all-in-one has so much benefit for me it far outweighs this.

Hmm, this is GREAT news - I couldn't care less about utterly sh**ty American region-coded FOX etc crap.
I think I'll have to call my buddy in Germany next week...

Over in the BH100 thread, a few guys have managed to work out how to get a USA BH100 SD DVD Multiregion and support PAL. Here's the start of the discussion:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...9#post13714189

And here is confirmation of PAL support in a the USA BH100:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...3#post13740323

Can someone with a BH200 try the remote hack discussed in the first link and report if:

A: Anything happens?
B: Do you get the same/similar screen?
C: Can you post a screen capture

You don't need to change anything, just see if it works.

Worked for my US BH200 with one small modification: disc tray has to be open, then pause, 1, 4, 7, 2 brings up the exact same screen with the same hex values as the US BH100 (55 53 00 00 00 05 00 40). Interesting!

OK. The BH200 seems to be slightly different from the BH100 in that changing Byte 4 to 02 does not allow the playback of R2 DVDs.

However, changing Byte 4 to either of the codes from the PAL regions (82 for R2, 8D for R4) allows the BH200 to play PAL DVDs from the relevant region.

Applying the Region Management Test Mode hack (with the CD) over the top of that allows the BH200 to play DVDs from any region whether PAL or NTSC (R1 NTSC, R2 PAL and R4 PAL tested). It doesn't change any of the EEPROM settings revealed by Pause-1472, so is clearly operating somewhere else in the permanent memory.

Also unlike the BH100, changing Byte 4 doesn't give a new menu option allowing 576i/p playback. However, the BH200 properly outputs 1080i50 or 1080i60 for PAL and NTSC respectively and the QDEO video processing seems to work just as well for both.

Blu-Ray playback is unfortunately, but predictably, unaffected.

But this is still pretty handy.

Yep, a USA player. Tested with "Extras Series 1" (PAL, UK, R2 -- many DVDs are R2+4 but not this one, it won't play in my Australian PS3), "Red Road" (PAL, Australia, R4) and "The Simpsons Movie" (PAL, Australia, R4). Also retested the SD-DVD side of "The Bourne Ultimatum" combo (NTSC, US, R1) to make sure the R1/NTSC side of things was still working.

The steps you set out are the ones I used. For people who have already installed the Region Management Test Mode hack I don't think they'd have to do it again and could skip steps 6-9.

Yeah, Gervais is always saying that his model is Fawlty Towers: only 12 episodes, no chance to lose the plot. It is kind of a shame there aren't any more, but there's always the US version -- it's not really the same but it gives an idea of what might have happened next.

Is it just me...or did the LG just become THE player to have. We pretty much have the best of everything now, no? I'm pretty damn glad I got this over the Sammy, let me tell ya. Great work, all. And thanks!

...the best little machine that definitely could...
This is a tremendous bit of news - so let me press harder - does the multiregion hack and PAL hack allow it to play region 5 PAL (there is a lot of R5 discs on Exploitedcinema.com)????

I don't see any reason why not. The Multiregion Hack makes it Region Free and PAL is PAL no matter what country it's from. The MR Hack doesn't work with RCE discs, not that it really matters there aren't "that" many and you can always just set it to Region 1 while watching the movie anyway (then put it back again):

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...4&postcount=27

The PAL hack is really for models from The Americas, everywhere likely has PAL (& NTSC) enabled anyway. I don't know this for sure but I reckon it's likely: The TV will also need to support PAL as the BH200 outputs PAL from PAL discs and cannot be configured (like some Players) to convert it to NTSC first.

Thanks for this update. I just checked out this new modification. It really works. I tried my Schöni Uussichte Swiss TV Sitcom Series R0 PAL DVD. It works perfectly. Region 0 and PAL .

Great job everyone. This is the player to own.

So how does this hack work? It outputs PAL to NTSC on U.S. players? Sorry just a bit confused ....

It outputs PAL (or NTSC), which most plasmas and the like should be able to handle (either). Make sure your set supports PAL frequencies before trying it, of course.

OUTSTANDING WORK GUYS. Installed the BH 200 Firmware following your instructions after downloading the 314B file from MegaUpload and unzipping. Using an ONKYO 805 with HDMI input set for "Primary Passthrough" produces a decoded [u]DTS HD MASTER 7.1 Channels that sound SUPERB. All of the problems such as green line and audio dropouts seem gone [up to now]. I was ready to sell the almost new BH200 and look for something else to take care of 50 HD-DVDs and 25 Blu-Rays. Thanks to all.

The steps you set out are the ones I used. For people who have already installed the Region Management Test Mode hack I don't think they'd have to do it again and could skip steps 6-9.[/quote]

After using 82 in the hex edit, my BH200 plays my region 2 PAL disks just fine. Tested with Control (2007) Pal Reg 2 / Spaced Series 1 Pal Reg 2 / and Cromwell (1967) Pal reg 2. All features are working fine.

THANKS FOR THE HACK, Bradavon! This makes this unit worth EVERY penny!

Does this hack work with R1 RCE disks?

Yes and No. No when in Region Free mode:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...4&postcount=27

But I imagine you can just set it to R1 and it will work fine. The Region Management Test Mode hack CD created by Julio in the first post lets you choose 0 for Region Free or specifiically Regions 1 to 6.

So in short Yes but No if you choose Region Free. I don't consider that a big deal as most R1 discs aren't RCE and setting it to R1, watch the movie then put it back again isn't a big deal.

I don't think I have any R1 RCE discs.

I have Pioneer PDP-5070HD, I don't think it handles PAL.

Hi Everybody,

Thanks to Julio I can see all my DVD's bought since 1997 ....

Bought this player (LG BH200) at a Belgium webshop :

iishop in Belgium

Used Julio's hack and it worked wunderfull ...

Now my question ... this player only plays Blue Ray Region B ... is there a hack which makes it multi region blue ray (A+B+C).

Thanks for your help ...

Tim

Netherlands

Yes it's possible to switch the Blu-ray Region Code. Check out the official owners thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1009104

No, but it is possible to switch between regions A, B or C (using the remote), instead of Region Free. See the link Thaek posted above.

Hi,
I purchased my LG BH200 from USA but can't seem to make it region free. I have accessed the eeprom settings and changed the 4th hex to various codes and this doesn't work. I have downloaded the disc to access the region management test mode twice, when I put it in my player it sees the disc but then just goes to the home screen. Can anyone help please.
Sue.

Have you loaded the latest firmware... I believe the hack only works from November firmware onwards.
John H

January firmware onwards. November was the first firmware.

I defer to the guru

He he. I wouldn't go that far, okay why not .

p.s - Seriously, your advice is sound.

Guys, I need some help on this.

Today I got my LG BH200 from America (I'm in the UK), but having trouble with the region hack dvd.

I've done everything it says I should do, but nothing.

I've downloaded the file to my desktop and unzipped it. I have then burned that unzipped file and all of it's contents to a CD-R. I insert that CD-R into my BH200. After a short while I get a message coming up saying "Data". I then get the Home Menu coming up - nothing about Region Task Managment.

Where am I going wrong?

What firmware are you running? You need the January firmware or later but the June firmware is recommended. How did you burn it? Try these instructions:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...9&postcount=84

If you're unsure what firmware you're running, instructions are in the Mini-FAQ:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1009104