Page 1 of Recent Samsung 511 Hack & question re: strange patterns during R1 dvd`s

Looking at the archives, this player has had a lot of discussion. I`ve just (2 hours ago) bought mine from Makro (£139+VAT) and couldn`t get any hack to work until I tried the old one (pressed `Region` on remote, then `38767` then `9` then `open/close` then `standby`). What has surprised me, however, is that it appears to be permanent. I put in R1 Disney Hercules, which played fine, then R2 `Bug`s Life` which also played fine. Powered off, powered on, put Hercules back in and it worked fine.

If someone tells me how to find out, I`ll happily report what firmware is in it.

Also, I`ve noticed with both this player and the Proline 2000 I just got a refund from Comet for (just marched in and demanded it, no problem) that on R1 discs I get strange interference lines when the picture is moving considerably. During still-ish sequences, no problem, but when the background starts to move, I get all these strange pale regions on the screen wherever a pale object is next to a dark one. R2 discs do not display this behaviour at all. I also don`t get the patterns when I switch the video output to `video` rather than `RGB` but obviously the picture is nowhere near as good. (Why is it that women say `looks alright to me` when it`s obviously a crap picture!!!). The TV can run at 60Hz (I know this because my Dreamcast works fine at 60Hz) so has anyone any idea what is occurring here?

You need to remove the lid of the player, then look at the label on the ROM (or EPROM) chip at the back right corner of the machine. This should tell you the firmware version, which will be 4.xx - e.g. 4.04, 4.05, 4.05B etc.

As for the "strange pale regions"... I have no idea. I don`t know if it`s some sort of crosstalk or ghosting effect, but that would (I think) affect PAL playback too. You could try cutting the wire going to pin 19 of the SCART plug at the TV end of the cable, and see if that makes any difference.

Firmware is s4.05e according to the chip.

Cutting Pin 19`s wire cured the problem - it turned everything black! No signal gets through at all. So what is pin 19?

Interesting. 4.05 for Sammy 511 is hackable, but the same for Hitachi 305 is not...

Hi Carl. I have the Samsung 611, but don`t have a `region` button on the remote (you say yo upressed `Regon` on the remote, followed by the relevant number).

Can you please confirm that this remote does in fact have a `region` button, or did you mean it is the `Repeat` button? (Yes....you`ve guessed it . . I can`t get it working either!)

Thanks, Mick.

>>"Cutting Pin 19`s wire cured the problem - it turned everything black! No signal gets through at all. So what is pin 19? "

Erm..if I remember correctly, pin 19 is actually "Video" input to the TV!!
Didn`t you mean pin 20 Mick?

(I always mix the two up..cut the wrong one and have to resolder it to cut the other!! lol)

AIWA 370 (officially) ROCKS!!!!!!

Pin 19 is actually video *output*. Are you sure you haven`t (a) cut it at the DVD end (in which case turn it around!) or (b) cut pin 20 by mistake?