Page 1 of ROWA 280 DVD HACK EXISTS... BUT HOW DO YOU DO IT?

I found this Rowa hack. The only problem is THERE IS NO "ZOOM" BUTTON ON THE REMOTE CONTROL!!!! Can ANYONE out there help me find a way around this? How the hell can you key in this sequence when the first button you are asked to press does NOT exist. Anyone else got a ROWA or one it is apparently cloned on that can HELP??!!!!!

TYPE B ( Minato / Wharfedale 750S Type Player)

If your player has no Service Connector or PAL/AUTO/NTSC switch at the rear then you have the newer type Rowa 280 player which has the advantage of being able to be hacked from the Remote Control for Multiregion and also plays MP3`s , unfortunately Macro cannot be disabled (by us at least) on this version.
The Multiregion Hack is as follows. All to be done on the remote.

PRESS THE OPEN CLOSE BUTTON TO OPEN THE TRAY.
PRESS THE ZOOM BUTTON
PRESS THE A-B BUTTON
PRESS THE UP BUTTON
PRESS THE LEFT BUTTON
PRESS THE DOWN BUTTON
PRESS THE RIGHT BUTTON

The Player is now Multiregion.

rowa 280
1. There are at least two versions of this player.
2. If you have a service port, which is similar to a PS2 mouse port next to your S-Video port at the back of the player and also have a PAL/AUTO/NTSC switch and if the player says PLEASE INSERT DISC on the display then you have the Pioneer clone version, which unfortunately cannot be hacked by remote and YOU WILL have to get it chipped, or reprogrammed via the service port.
3. If your player has no service port, no PAL/AUTO/NTSC switch at the back and the display says NO DISC, then you have another as yet unconfirmed player. The following hack may work for you.
4. Press OPEN/CLOSE, ZOOM, A-B, UP, LEFT, DOWN, RIGHT on the remote control.
5. The words REGION FREE should briefly appear on the screen to confirm success.
6. If the words do not appear, press OPEN/CLOSE, 1, 1, 1, 1. The message should then appear.

There is NO zoom button. Thats my hole point. Does that mean i have the other version?

So does anyone with this player actually have a ZOOM button? Or is there an alternative button I can use? HELP!!!!!!!!!!

i have the one with the zoom button and it works my brother had the one without and i couldnt hack his even with my remote so he took it back to asda and got a refund .if you havent got the zoom then the hack will never work so try getting your money back or swapping it for a player that can be ,as asda no longer seem to sell this machine any more sorry.

Read my Rowa 280 page

http://www.shoyle.f9.co.uk/dvdchipsuk/rowainfo.htm

Steve - DVD Chips
www.*********.co.uk

Try using the `setup` key instead of the non-existent zoom key. I did and I got a `factory ...` message that flashed up very briefly at the end of the sequence. It hasn`t affected the ability to play region 2 and I will try out a region 1 tomorrow as soon as I can borrow one! Plays mp3s fabulously even off a CDRW. Best of all mine was given to me!!

Update - using the `setup` key instead of the `zoom` does work!! There are actually 2 alternative remote controls supplied for the `remote hackable` version - bizarrely I had 2 sets of instruction for mine, one of which shows the remote without the `zoom` button and the other of which is the one with a full set of keys.

I have the one without the zoom (it`s marked as the `setup` button on mine) but if you take the top of the remote, all the missing connections are there, and can be operated by pressing the rubber pad at the right point beneath. I`m either going to drill a few holes in the lid, or I`ll teach the `missing` commands to a learning remote as an alternative.

So the one without the `zoom` is hackable!!

This item was edited on Thursday, 21st February 2002, 11:00