NORCENT DP-300
The Norcent DP-300 is an amazing little DVD player. It's sold at Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. and Canada at an incredibly low price. Out of the box, besides playing DVDs (of course), it supports VCD, S-VCD, Audio CD, MP3, and JPEG (including Kodak Picture CD), on both CD-R and CD-RW discs.
A review of the DP-300 can be found here. The remainder of this page deals with how to make the DP-300 region-free and VCR-friendly.
There are many different versions of the DP-300. Unfortunately, only some of them can be made region-free and VCR-friendly.
The first step is to push the following buttons on the remote control:
Open/Close (open the disc
tray)
8-8-8-8
SETUP
NEXT
You should now see a new screen titled "FACTORY CONTROL PAGE". (If you DON'T see a screen titled "FACTORY CONTROL PAGE" at this point, click here to jump to the section of this page titled "OTHER VERSIONS".)
You should see at least a menu labeled REGION ID. If all you need to do is change the region setting, then there is no need to do anything further.
You may also see a menu labeled MACROVISION. The default setting will likely be the "OFF" option -- players on which the MACROVISION menu exists use a video encoder that "blacks out" on Macrovision-encoded DVD's if the "AUTO" option is selected. On these players, the only way to get DVD's to play properly to select the "OFF" option. There is no need to do anything further.
If you don't see a MACROVISION menu, chances are that Macrovision is enabled. If you would like to disable Macrovision (so that you can hook up your player through a VCR or projector and not have to worry about the picture fading in and out), you will need to load modified firmware on your player. Continue reading.
What you MUST do next is open the player. Once the cover is removed, look at the green-colored circuit board. You should see a rectangular chip in a socket. Look at the following picture:
The firmware chip is the one outlined by the red box.
You might see a sticker that
says "DP-300-CAN" or "DP-300-USA", or
something similar, on the chip. Remove this sticker. You should
then see some writing printed directly onto the chip. Included
among this writing should be a series of numbers and letters that
says either "29F040" OR "39SF040". (The chip
in the picture above says "29F040".)
It will be one or the other - make a note of which one. THIS IS A
VERY IMPORTANT STEP! THE FIRMWARE YOU DOWNLOAD MUST MATCH WHAT IS
WRITTEN ON YOUR PLAYER'S CHIP!
If your chip says "29F040":
You have two choices of
firmware that lets you disable Macrovision The only major
difference is that one has options for English and French on-screen
displays (this firmware originally came from a DP-300 designed
for sale in Canada), and the other has options for English and
Spanish on-screen displays (this firmware originally came from a
DP-300 designed for sale in the United States.) You don't have to
download the firmware that matches the country from which you
bought your player; the Canadian firmware will work fine on a USA
player, and vice-versa...
as long as you have the 29F040 chip.
(Note: These firmwares also
have UOP's disabled. This means that, for example, you
can turn off subtitles on movies that would normally force you to
see subtitles!)
Click HERE to download the English/French (Canadian) version
Click HERE to download the
English/Spanish (USA) version
Now scroll down to the next section, titled "PERFORMING THE FIRMWARE UPGRADE".
If your chip says "39SF040":
There is one choice of firmware that lets you disabled Macrovision. It has options for English and Spanish on-screen displays (the firmware originally came from a DP-300 that was sold in the United States.) It doesn't matter if you bought your player from the United States or Canada...the firmware will work, as long as you have the 39SF040 chip.
(Note: This firmwares also
has UOP's disabled. This means that, for example, you
can turn off subtitles on movies that would normally force you to
see subtitles!)
Click HERE to download the English/Spanish (USA) version
Now scroll down to the next section, titled "PERFORMING THE FIRMWARE UPGRADE".
PERFORMING THE FIRMWARE UPGRADE
1.
The .zip file you downloaded in the section above contains a file
named BANK35.WTC -- unzip that file.
2 Open
your CD burning program. Perform the steps necessary to set up
the process of creating a new data CD.
3. Burn
BANK35.WTC to a blank CD-R/CD-RW.
Be sure to apply these specifications before
burning the disc:
Data CD, ISO9660, Mode 1, "Close"/"Finalize"
disc session.
Note: you may wish to place the ROM file inside of a subfolder on the disc. This prevents the upgrade from starting automatically.
(If you need help with
burning the disc, you might want to check out this excellent article
put together by the guys at Area 450. The article references
Sampo firmware, but the burning specifications are basically the
same. Note that the article does NOT make any mention about
creating a subfolder, or closing/finalizing the disc, so you will
need to figure
out those steps on your own.)
4.
After the disc is burned, view the contents of the disc in
Windows Explorer/My Computer/whatever. Right-click on the .WTC file that is
burned on the disc and select "Properties" (or do
whatever is necessary to view the Properties.)
Make sure that the file size is
EXACTLY 524,288 bytes.
If the file size is NOT 524,288
bytes, DO NOT CONTINUE!
5. Read the disclaimer:
DISCLAIMER:
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. I DO NOT OWN THIS PLAYER SO I CANNOT TRY
THIS CDR UPGRADE MYSELF. I WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE
THAT MAY RESULT TO YOUR PLAYER. PERFORMING
THE PROCEDURE DESCRIBED HERE
WILL SURELY
VOID THE WARRANTY OF YOUR
PLAYER!
6. Eject the disc tray on the DVD player.
7. Push SETUP. Enter the PREFERENCES menu. Scroll down to the DEFAULTS option. Select the RESET option and push PLAY (ENTER).
After doing
this, find the SMART NAV option,
and make sure that "WITH MENU" is selected.
Then push SETUP to exit the menu.
8. Put the CD-R/CD-RW, data side down, on the tray.
9. Close the disc tray.
10. The upgrade process will now begin.
(Note: If you placed the .WTC file inside a subfolder,
the file browser menu will appear -
use the arrow keys on the remote to select the folder and then
push ENTER or PLAY.)
DO NOTHING AT THIS POINT. LET THE UPGRADE PROCEED.
"BANK35.WTC"
will appear on the upper left corner of the screen,
following by WRITING and then DONE.
Shortly after "DONE"
appears, your screen should go blank
(it may go blue if your player is hooked up through a VCR.)
11. Wait at least 30 seconds. Then,
turn OFF the POWER on the front of the player (NOT the remote
control). Wait another 30 seconds, and then turn ON the power on
the front of the player (NOT the remote control). AS SOON AS YOU
SEE A PICTURE, PUSH OPEN/CLOSE TO OPEN THE DISC TRAY, AND THEN
REMOVE THE DISC!
(If you wait too long, and the player starts re-reading the disc,
DON'T DO ANYTHING! Let the player re-upgrade itself. Start again
from Step #10.)
After the disc is removed, close the disc tray.
12. Push SETUP. Enter the PREFERENCES menu. Scroll down to the DEFAULTS option. Select the RESET option and push PLAY (ENTER). Then push SETUP to exit the menu.
13. Now go into the GENERAL SETUP menu. You will see options for REGION ID and MACROVISION at the top of the menu. Change the settings as needed.
RETURNING TO THE ORIGINAL (FACTORY) FIRMWARE
If your chip says "29F040":
Click HERE to download the English/French (Canadian) original (factory,
unmodified) version
Click HERE to download the English/Spanish (USA) original (factory,
unmodified) version
If your chip says "39SF040":
Click HERE to download the English/Spanish (USA) original (factory, unmodified) version
Then, repeat steps 1 through 12 above.
If your Norcent DP-300 does
NOT respond to the following trick
for revealing the FACTORY CONTROL PAGE:
Open/Close (open the disc
tray)
8-8-8-8
SETUP
NEXT
...then it is likely a different version of the player than what is described above. Specifically, the hardware, and corresponding firmware (software) are different.
On these players, there are a
couple of other possibilities for making your player region-free
(there is no known way to disable Macrovision, however).
You may wish to try both of the following to see if anything
happens:
1.
Open/Close (open the disc
tray)
SETUP
8-8-8-8
NEXT
(Yes, this IS different from the
other "8-8-8-8" hack...look closely!)
2.
Open/Close (open the disc
tray)
SETUP
1-3-6-9
Left Arrow (*NOT*
|<< or <<) 3 times
Right Arrow (*NOT*
|>> or >>)1 time
If you get anything new -- even if it's not a Region menu -- after trying one or both of the above, PLEASE report your findings on the Norcent forum.
LOST YOUR USER MANUAL??
You can
download the Norcent DP-300 user's manual HERE
(zipped up PDF file, 994 KB
download)
WHERE TO GET HELP
Please Note! I do not own a Norcent DP-300 player. All care taken in accurately providing this information which is kindly provided by others who do own these models. Please visit the sites linked above if you require any assistance.
ALSO NOTE I
AM NOT A FIRMWARE PROGRAMMER!!!
So please don't ask me when
other features will be available...
