HyperHacker
7th November 2006, 04:37
I just received a Digitec Progressive Scan DVD player (model ALDV330) and went online looking for region-free and anti-Macrovision hacks. I had absolutely zero luck - no results for even part of the model number, tons of companies named Digitec that don't have anything to do with DVDs (one sells them, but not this model, and has only pictures of the product), the website listed in the manual doesn't even mention DVD players. Having not found anything online I decided to open it up in the hopes there'd be region selection jumpers like some players supposedly have.
While I didn't find any convenient and simple hacks, I found some valuable information that lead me to find a region-free remote control hack. The player uses an MT1389QE chip and A29040BL 512K flash ROM. At some point I might try to read the firmware off that flash ROM and hack it, but for now I decided to just Google the chips themselves.
I found a datasheet for the flash ROM (email me if you want it as I forget where, or just Google "A29040BL" and maybe you'll find it), and for the MT1389 series (though I notice nobody mentions a QE; again, email me if you want the document). Not much help, but I did see a pattern: a lot of MT1389-based players had the same region-free hack that you can enter via remote:
1) Turn on the player
2) Open the disc tray
3) Press Setup to view the menu
4) Enter 1389 on the remote to open a firmware info and region code selection screen
5) Use the Up and Down buttons to select region zero.
(Notice the button sequence is 1389, and the chip is MT1389...)
Having no other options (not about to try soldering anything right now), I reassembled it and gave that a shot. It worked! :D The Setup-1389 hack works on the Digitec ALDV330.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it can be set to regions 8 or 9, so I suspect RCE will still take effect. Again, changing regions to match the disc might help with this, but if anyone knows a better way short of copying the disc and stripping region info entirely, I'd like to hear it.
Interestingly mine was already set to region zero. I don't yet have any non-region-1 discs to try (plan to buy some soon) but all the R1 discs I do have play with it set to zero. It doesn't look like there's any limit to the number of times you can change the region, so you could bypass RCE by just switching regions.
As for Macrovision, unfortunately I haven't found a way to disable it and Google is no help. Does anyone know any methods that work with other MT1389 players? Given it has the same button sequence I wonder if other players' firmware would work. I certainly can't find firmware updates for this, the website doesn't even seem to exist. I'd be willing to try removing the flash ROM, reading the firmware, hacking it and writing it back, but there must be an easier way. If I did do that what would I look for? I hear discs can set a "disable Macrovision" flag; if that's true then I could just exploit that, but I don't know if it is.
Anyway enjoy the region hack and thanks for any help with the Macrovision issue. :)
While I didn't find any convenient and simple hacks, I found some valuable information that lead me to find a region-free remote control hack. The player uses an MT1389QE chip and A29040BL 512K flash ROM. At some point I might try to read the firmware off that flash ROM and hack it, but for now I decided to just Google the chips themselves.
I found a datasheet for the flash ROM (email me if you want it as I forget where, or just Google "A29040BL" and maybe you'll find it), and for the MT1389 series (though I notice nobody mentions a QE; again, email me if you want the document). Not much help, but I did see a pattern: a lot of MT1389-based players had the same region-free hack that you can enter via remote:
1) Turn on the player
2) Open the disc tray
3) Press Setup to view the menu
4) Enter 1389 on the remote to open a firmware info and region code selection screen
5) Use the Up and Down buttons to select region zero.
(Notice the button sequence is 1389, and the chip is MT1389...)
Having no other options (not about to try soldering anything right now), I reassembled it and gave that a shot. It worked! :D The Setup-1389 hack works on the Digitec ALDV330.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it can be set to regions 8 or 9, so I suspect RCE will still take effect. Again, changing regions to match the disc might help with this, but if anyone knows a better way short of copying the disc and stripping region info entirely, I'd like to hear it.
Interestingly mine was already set to region zero. I don't yet have any non-region-1 discs to try (plan to buy some soon) but all the R1 discs I do have play with it set to zero. It doesn't look like there's any limit to the number of times you can change the region, so you could bypass RCE by just switching regions.
As for Macrovision, unfortunately I haven't found a way to disable it and Google is no help. Does anyone know any methods that work with other MT1389 players? Given it has the same button sequence I wonder if other players' firmware would work. I certainly can't find firmware updates for this, the website doesn't even seem to exist. I'd be willing to try removing the flash ROM, reading the firmware, hacking it and writing it back, but there must be an easier way. If I did do that what would I look for? I hear discs can set a "disable Macrovision" flag; if that's true then I could just exploit that, but I don't know if it is.
Anyway enjoy the region hack and thanks for any help with the Macrovision issue. :)