Frequently Asked Questions

1. I applied the guide and my player is now multi-region. Can I go back to a fixed region setting ?

Probably not. Authorized Sony support personnel can no doubt reprogram the player to its original state, but this may be an expensive procedure.

Besides, the service menu of the player will continue to show its original region setting, even after the hack has been applied. There should be no need to return to true factory settings.

2. Will RCE discs remain playable ?

Yes, they should. So far, I have not experienced nor heard of any problems.

3. Will this hack disable Macrovision protection ?

No, that will most likely require hardware modifications.

4. I modified my player but all Region 1 -discs play in black and white. What went wrong ?

Probably nothing. If you're using S-video, please make sure your television set supports NTSC playback. Especially older European PAL TVs may not have this feature.

The best solution is using component RGB via SCART, which should be available on most modern TV sets.

5. My IRDA port is connected via USB or another external port. Will the procedure still work ?

As far as I know, winsamp can't use a USB connected IRDA port in DOS. You can, however, try running winsamp from within Windows 9x or ME. Please let me know if it does work.

External serial IRDA-adapters should basically work. However, some users have reported problems with such devices, too.

Motherboards with on-board IRDA are usually a safe bet (especially laptops).

6. How can I make my DVD player multi-region with my Palm/One-For-All/Pronto/XYZ remote control ?

I really don't know. I never had one of those, that's why I had to come up with another method.

7. My DVD player is not listed on your page. How can I make it multi-region ?

If it's one from the Sony DVP-NS series, chances are my method will work. Otherwise, your best option might be to try to find help at videohelp.com. The only player I have first-hand experience of is the Sony DVP-NS705.

8. My player powers up/down when I press the 5th button in winsamp but otherwise nothing happens. What's wrong ?

First of all, make sure your IRDA port is within working range of your player for all five codes, you may need to experiment with different positions and angles. Also, keep sending each code for at least a few tenths of a second and pause in between.

If you still have no success, it most likely means that the hack simply doesn't work on your particular player or model. Especially non-PAL players (for example in USA and Canada) seem to be less cooperative.

9. I'm having other strange problems. Can you help?

Probably not. Some things to consider, though:

Hannu pointed out to me that his player (an RDR-GX3) required setting the command mode switch to 1. On the default setting (3) his player would just beep when attempting the hack.

Harald Bruckner has informed me that his player (an RDR-HX780) had to be turned on using winsamp button 5 before attempting the hack (i.e. before running the winsamp 1-2-3-4-5 sequence). Apparently powering on the player using the standard remote or the player's power button did not work.

Also, the winsamp software is designed to be used with a standard IrDA port (SIR, Serial IrDA). Newer computers often offer a faster operation mode, usually referred to as FIR (Fast Serial IrDA), which may not work correctly with winsamp. You may need to change the operation mode of your IrDA port in your computer's system BIOS setup. Please note that your BIOS may use other names for the operation modes, for example simply slow or fast IrDA.

10. When I try loading up the REMOTE.TXT file in winsamp I just get an error message.

Make sure you have downloaded the file correctly, don't just copy/paste the content. In Internet Explorer you can right-click the link and choose "Save Target As...".

11. I'm running winsamp in Windows but nothing happens.

Winsamp requires a DOS-based operating system (clean DOS or Windows 9x/ME). It simply won't work on Windows NT/2000/XP even if the program seems to start normally.

12. I have infrared codes for hacking my XYZ player but they are not in winsamp format. Can you help ?

If your codes are in Philips Pronto CCF format you can try my conversion tool which is available here.

13. Can you send me your IR codes in another format?

No. However, at least the Pronto CCF version of the codes can be found on videohelp.com. Just check out the "DVD hacks" section for the DVP-NS405.

14. My computer doesn't have an IRDA port. What should I do?

For my procedure, you need the IRDA port. However, you may be able to build a transmitter quite easily. Check out >NIL:'s page on the subject.

15. My DVD player doesn't play VCDs/SVCDs/DVD-Rs/DVD+Rs/DivX etc. Can you help?

No. I have no further knowledge of DVD players in general.

16. Do you have a software version of winsamp for my operating system?

Winsamp is only available as an MS-DOS executable and will require a compatible operating system (DOS or Windows 9x/ME).