CONIA M-100 DVD Player
The Conia M-100 DVD player. Very simple to use and only 5 front panel buttons: Power, Open/Close, Play, Pause and Stop. There is no front panel display but instead a very comprehensive on-screen display.
The Conia M-100 is a neat looking little DVD player that is sold in Australia and will do just about everything you could ever want from a relatively cheap DVD player. It will play DVD, VCD, S-VCD, Audio CD and MP3 discs and handles Recordable and Re-Writeable media.
The Conia M-100 is Region Free, Macrovision disabled and RCE immune straight out of the box, therefore no keypress or "hidden factory menus" are needed to play all your DVD discs no matter where they have come from in the world, and hooking it up through your VCR is no problem.
The Conia M-100 looks very similar to the APEX AD-1000 and is 100% the same in features and performance but the inside electronics are slightly different. The Conia and APEX are made by the same Chinese manufacturer and the main logic board of a Conia M-100 is identical to an APEX AD-500W, but in a smaller case and no front display. There is however a very comprehensive on-screen menu system on the Conia M-100.
The Conia M-100 background screen on the left, and a shot of an MP3 disc menu on the right. Note that MP3 discs are limited to the first 11 characters of the filename only, but will play OK.
Inside the Conia M-100. Nice neat layout with Power Supply on the left, main logic board behind the DVD drive and A/V board on the right/rear. The DVD-ROM drive is a DSL-710A made by DVS in korea and discussed here.
Close up of the logic board. It uses an ESS processor model ES4318 large black square chip), a 29F040 flashrom (rectangle chip with white sticker) for the firmware, CS 4955 video processor (small square black chip) and a CS 4340 audio processor (hidden from view).
Rear view showing the range of connections. You get standard (left/right) analogue audio out, Coaxial Digital Audio out, S-Video out and 2 standard video outputs.
The RM-1300 remote control which comes with the Conia M-100.
THE FIRMWARE
This firmware has been taken from an Australian CONIA M-100 and is Region Free, Macrovision disabled and RCE immune. It is also possible to CDR upgrade with this firmware.
Click HERE for the Region Free, RCE immune and Macrovision Off firmware ready for CDR upgrading. This ZIP file contains TWO identical files called BANK30.ROM and CONIAM100.BIN
To make a CDR for upgrading firmware:
If your Conia M-100 has been sold to you either not Region Free (so you cannot play all your DVD discs) or still has the Macrovision enabled (so you cannot connect through a VCR) then you can use the instructions below to make a CDR which will correct these problems....
WARNING!!! ANY CONIA M-100 PURCHASED IN AUSTRALIA AFTER APRIL/MAY 2002 WILL ONLY ALLOW CDR UPGRADING ONCE ONLY. Further upgrades will not work. It will NOT damage the player to try, but it just won't work (you will get a "WRITE FAIL" message). If this is the case with your player and you need the firmware upgraded more than once, it IS possible but only by extracting the firmware chip and getting it manually re-programmed. I can do this for you if need be.
To CDR upgrade follow the instructions below:
| 1. | Download the firmware (from above) |
| 2. | Unzip and use BANK30.ROM file not CONIAM100.BIN |
| 3. | With your CDR burning software, create a standard file type CDR disc and add the BANK30.ROM file to the project. |
| 4. | Burn disc ISO9660, Mode 1, Track at once, closed CD. For example with Nero use ISO 1 MODE 1 and click DOS in the Character set.
If you don't have Nero then almost any CDR software will do. |
| 5. | Turn on player and insert CDR. Screen will go weird and AUTOMATIC UPDATE will appear on the screen then ERASE, WRITE and DONE. When finished (under 1 minute) the screen will blank and the tray will come out. The machine should also power off at this point. Pull the disc out and power back on. The new firmware will now be loaded.
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When the player is turned back on everything will look the same but your player should now be totally Region Free, Macrovision Off and RCE Immune.
What if you don't see the upgrade happening?
If you get a "write fail" message then most likely you need to add a 20MB to 40MB "dummy" file on the CDR. This is because sometimes the DVD-ROM cannot "spin up" fast enough to transfer the data. Just use something like WinZip to make a large file (your entire "windows" folder will make a rather large zip file!) and include that on the CDR and try again.
What if you do not like the new firmware?
CURRENTLY THERE IS NO ORIGINAL (Region Specific) M-100 FIRMWARE AVAILABLE. When it is available I will post it on this website.
CHANGING THE BACKGROUND IMAGE
If you want to change the background image your player shows when you turn it on you can! This is why the firmware zip file above contains the file CONIAM100.BIN
The procedure to modify the firmware CONIAM100.BIN file to add your picture is to use a program called ApexLogo which will allow you to change the background image. Click HERE for instructions on how to do that, and then return to this page and follow this procedure:
| 1. | Download the firmware (from above) |
| 2. | Unzip and use CONIAM100.BIN file not BANK30.ROM |
| 3. | Create your picture and save it in .bmp format (704x480 pixel size) |
| 4. | From DOS, use MKLOGO to compress the picture |
| 5. | From DOS, use C2BIN to make the picture a .bin format (check the filesize of the picture - must be no more than 19967 bytes) |
| 6. | Use ApexLogo to merge the new picture into the CONIAM100.BIN file you downloaded. Save the new firmware (for example name it MYIMAGE.BIN) |
| 7. | Rename the saved file from Apexlogo (MYIMAGE.BIN) to BANK30.ROM |
| 8. | With your CDR burning software, create a standard file type CDR disc and add your Background Picture Modified BANK30.ROM file to the project. |
| 9. | Burn disc ISO9660, Mode 1, Track at once, closed CD. For example with Nero use ISO 1 MODE 1 and click DOS in the Character set.
If you don't have Nero then almost any CDR software will do. |
| 10. | Turn on player and insert CDR. Screen will go weird and AUTOMATIC UPDATE will appear on the screen then ERASE, WRITE and DONE. When finished (under 1 minute) the screen will blank and the tray will come out. The machine should also power off at this point. Pull the disc out and power back on. The new background will appear.
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When the player is turned back on your player should now be totally Region Free, Macrovision Off and RCE Immune with your new background image!
You can download the Conia M-100 user's manual HERE
(PDF file, 1.4Meg)
Please Note! I AM NOT A FIRMWARE PROGRAMMER!!!
So please don't ask me when other features will be available... I am happy to answer any other questions you may have if you EMAIL ME.
