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Country code locked disc

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I have the region A release of Amagami SS+ from Sentai Filmworks, and wish to play it with power dvd14, but because it is set up for a Japanese system the disc will not play and a black screen is displayed saying the disc is intended for US/CA use only and will not play. Anydvd 7.5.8.3 says the disc is region free which means that it should play on my system but will go no further than the warning screen. After some digging into the disc with BDedit040 in the bdmv portion of the disc came across a command line that read ;PSR 19: COUNTRY CODE (B15-B0). Started doing some more digging and came across some uk blu-ray forums saying the company had started something called country code/geo locking of disc to prevent the disc from playback regardless of the fact that Japan and the US share a blu-ray region thus making the disc all but useless to me with my system. Funimation has started doing similar things with disc locking them into US only play or locking subs or audio to only play on systems originating within the US making them fully or partially blocked on systems out side of the US.
View attachment AnyDVD_7.5.8.3_Info_D_AMAGAMI SS+ BD1.ziplog code.jpg
 
I have the region A release of Amagami SS+ from Sentai Filmworks, and wish to play it with power dvd14, but because it is set up for a Japanese system the disc will not play and a black screen is displayed saying the disc is intended for US/CA use only and will not play. Anydvd 7.5.8.3 says the disc is region free which means that it should play on my system but will go no further than the warning screen. After some digging into the disc with BDedit040 in the bdmv portion of the disc came across a command line that read ;PSR 19: COUNTRY CODE (B15-B0). Started doing some more digging and came across some uk blu-ray forums saying the company had started something called country code/geo locking of disc to prevent the disc from playback regardless of the fact that Japan and the US share a blu-ray region thus making the disc all but useless to me with my system. Funimation has started doing similar things with disc locking them into US only play or locking subs or audio to only play on systems originating within the US making them fully or partially blocked on systems out side of the US.
View attachment 26295 View attachment 26296

They misuse the user's preferred settings, which is a shame.
I'm not using PowerDVD 14, but with PowerDVD 10 & TMT you can change the default language for disc menu / disc audio & subtitle. Every player should allow you to change this.
 
They misuse the user's preferred settings, which is a shame.
I'm not using PowerDVD 14, but with PowerDVD 10 & TMT you can change the default language for disc menu / disc audio & subtitle. Every player should allow you to change this.

PowerDVD 14 allows this too. Settings > Blu-ray Disc Settings > Blu-ray Country and Region.

This is separate to the UI language, so the OP should be fine to switch it from Japan to United States for this disc and then back again when finished (won't count as a region change since they share same region)

Never seen anything like this before, it's sad they choose to abuse this setting :(
 
True ddj, but as with the DVD region on a drive, pdvd only allows 5 changes on the software bd region. After that it's locked as a drive would be.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nexus 7 met Tapatalk
 
True ddj, but as with the DVD region on a drive, pdvd only allows 5 changes on the software bd region. After that it's locked as a drive would be.
But the U.S. & Japan are both in Region A so it's not a region change for BD. (It is for DVD, but that shouldn't be an issue for most AnyDVD HD users if properly configured, i.e., DVD hardware region is set.) The problem here, of course, is abuse of BD country customization; only region coding is supposed to be used to enforce national restrictions like this.
 
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But the U.S. & Japan are both in Region A so it's not a region change for BD. (It is for DVD, but that shouldn't be an issue for most AnyDVD HD users if properly configured, i.e., DVD hardware region is set.) The problem here, of course, is abuse of BD country customization; only region coding is supposed to be used to enforce national restrictions like this.
Not all players allow for settings to be changed, so if I take my disc to another country I may or may not be able to use the disc as Sentai is also starting to block out players from the UK when the disc should be region free, so no merely setting it up for one software player is only a work around to the problem and is in no way a solution and only a temporary band aid to a permanent problem. Was only using the software as an example, not everyone who makes backups has access to the same hardware or software. Japan is going to start making this mandatory soon for all US releases for series.
 
Not all players allow for settings to be changed, so if I take my disc to another country I may or may not be able to use the disc as Sentai is also starting to block out players from the UK when the disc should be region free, so no merely setting it up for one software player is only a work around to the problem and is in no way a solution and only a temporary band aid to a permanent problem. Was only using the software as an example, not everyone who makes backups has access to the same hardware or software. Japan is going to start making this mandatory soon for all US releases for series.
I think we all agree that restricting playback based on country settings, as opposed to region settings, is a misuse of BD standards; indeed, I believe it would be illegal in the EU due to its "common market" rules (i.e., goods lawfully sold in one EU country generally must be usable in every EU country). Elsewhere it's strictly up to BDA rules, but I seriously doubt any country can make misuse of BD standards "mandatory".

Except for James, all the responses here so far are from fellow users; all we can suggest are workarounds. Only SlySoft can decide whether or not country code removal should be added to AnyDVD HD itself.
 
PowerDVD 14 allows this too. Settings > Blu-ray Disc Settings > Blu-ray Country and Region.
That's the region code. Not the user's preferred playback setting. Completely different beasts.

After some searching, I can't find this setting in PowerDVD 14. So, it is even more pathetic than I thought. (Resume a BD disc is still broken, since PowerDVD 13).

I wonder, how a PowerDVD 14 determines the preferred language. Do they always use the UI language? This would be my guess.
 
That's the region code. Not the user's preferred playback setting. Completely different beasts.

After some searching, I can't find this setting in PowerDVD 14. So, it is even more pathetic than I thought. (Resume a BD disc is still broken, since PowerDVD 13).

I wonder, how a PowerDVD 14 determines the preferred language. Do they always use the UI language? This would be my guess.

You're right, thanks for the correction :)

I think I may have found the setting now in PowerDVD 14:

Settings > General > Use the Scroll bar to scroll down > More Settings > Movie Language > You can then select the Menu/Audio/Subtitle language.

In theory could AnyDVD HD force this like the region code? (if possible?). Perhaps a "force USA country code option" could be added (since it only seems to be US releases that are abusing this)
Though since most players do allow unlimited preferred language changes, adding any option like this may not be needed/worth it.
 
You're right, thanks for the correction :)

I think I may have found the setting now in PowerDVD 14:

Settings > General > Use the Scroll bar to scroll down > More Settings > Movie Language > You can then select the Menu/Audio/Subtitle language.
Yes! That's it! I really wasn't able to find it!

In theory could AnyDVD HD force this like the region code? (if possible?). Perhaps a "force USA country code option" could be added (since it only seems to be US releases that are abusing this)
Which one? Menu? Subtitle? Language?
This isn't really new. I know of one BD disc (A-Team region B?) , which checks the menu language and doesn't offer some audio languages, e.g. if you select menu language English, you don't get audio language German offered in the menu. Probably to scare off Germans from ordering discs in the UK?
Funny thing, a lot of people complained and returned the disc, because the disc bought in Germany doesn't contain German audio - they had the menu language of their player set to English (probably the factory default). Didn't work out well for the studio (Fox, IIRC).

Though since most players do allow unlimited preferred language changes, adding any option like this may not be needed/worth it.

It actually should be every player. Think about it. A player sold in the US should at least offer English, French, Spanish. Canada? Or Switzerland... German, French, Italian. Americans living there? People from Japan or China living in the US or Europe? And so on...
BTW, SD DVDs have the same settings since the very beginning. CloneDVD relies on this setting for default subtitle & audio language, if you copy without menus.
 
It actually should be every player. Think about it. A player sold in the US should at least offer English, French, Spanish. Canada? Or Switzerland... German, French, Italian. Americans living there? People from Japan or China living in the US or Europe? And so on...

I see your point. All the PC software players that I checked have these options - TMT5/6, PowerDVD 13/14. Nero shows these options in the user manual and I assume WinDVD is the same (I couldn't find any literature on WinDVD to confirm)

My Panasonic, Pioneer and Sony standalone players all have those 3 default language options too.

Which one? Menu? Subtitle? Language?

If AnyDVD could/did force it (though seems pointless if all players have the option), I'd say all of them. I would think people importing US discs would be able to read English to navigate menus etc. They of course would only enable the option if they get the country warning/error message during playback.
 
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I think we all agree that restricting playback based on country settings, as opposed to region settings, is a misuse of BD standards; indeed, I believe it would be illegal in the EU due to its "common market" rules (i.e., goods lawfully sold in one EU country generally must be usable in every EU country). Elsewhere it's strictly up to BDA rules, but I seriously doubt any country can make misuse of BD standards "mandatory".

Except for James, all the responses here so far are from fellow users; all we can suggest are workarounds. Only SlySoft can decide whether or not country code removal should be added to AnyDVD HD itself.
Japan already plans on making it mandatory for Anime blu-rays sold in the US, its not a matter of if but when. As the content holders for series they can add the restriction permanently as part of the licensing agreement if they so chose. But it doesnt just effect US buyers, they are also starting to lock out region free blurays from other countries other than US and Canada from using disc too for some titles.
 
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You're right, thanks for the correction :)

I think I may have found the setting now in PowerDVD 14:

Settings > General > Use the Scroll bar to scroll down > More Settings > Movie Language > You can then select the Menu/Audio/Subtitle language.

In theory could AnyDVD HD force this like the region code? (if possible?). Perhaps a "force USA country code option" could be added (since it only seems to be US releases that are abusing this)
Though since most players do allow unlimited preferred language changes, adding any option like this may not be needed/worth it.
You dont seem to get it, it has nothing to do with language changes.
 
You dont seem to get it, it has nothing to do with language changes.

I don't. Or maybe you don't? So, please elaborate. Which exact value do the discs in question check?
 
I live in Singapore (BD Region A, same as US), and I have the same release purchased. AnyDVD rip does not enable my players to play the discs.

My system locale is set to US, language settings changed to US (for both the computer itself and my media players TMT/PowerDVD), and every other easily configurable setting which may set the location of the computer to the US, but the disc still doesn't play.

Instead, I get an error that the disc is only licensed to work in players located in the US/Canada - the error persists for both the actual disc and the backup copy created by AnyDVD (or doesn't even show the error, just refuses to play).
 
Hi there slysoft, I'm just dropping by with some examples of the code needing to altered by Anydvd hd when ripping these Blu-rays that is and has been left behind when doing so.
these country codes are janking stuff up for people outside of the US/Canada when mounting said Blu-ray to their players.

Most Blu-ray titles of this category have been affected by this since 2011 till now changing player settings is not a fix but attachments are.

Originals are code left by Anydvd hd as is, FIXED are the ones that have been altered manually to remove this problem.
 

Attachments

  • AM SS BD FIXED.zip
    623.5 KB · Views: 8
  • AM SS BD ORIGINAL.rar
    450.3 KB · Views: 8
  • Q BD FIXED.rar
    712.9 KB · Views: 7
  • Q BD ORIGINAL.rar
    713.1 KB · Views: 6
I can see how the disc is checking the country code but what I don't get is where the disc is getting the country code from?
Surely it must get that information from the player somehow?
 
Surely it must get that information from the player somehow?

After looking it is definitely different to the language preferences and region codes, as the country code is a completely separate PSR.
What setting this relates to in a software/standalone player and whether it can be changed by the user, I don't know.

Could this be hard locked into the player, depending on what country it is sold in (usually slightly different player model for each country)
As for PC software, could it be locked depending on Windows PC language/location during installation?

Just throwing out things, shoot me down if I'm talking nonsense :)

Edit: After quickly looking on Google and people discussing this issue, one user said that changing the Country Code/Location to United States within the Parental Code section on his standalone successfully bypassed the issue.
My Sony/Pioneer players have this option/section , but I couldn't see this in my Panasonic or PC software players.
 
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Sorry, back again :p I've been doing a little digging. In the TMT5/6 "PlayDVD.ini" file (where TMT stores region/language data etc) there is the following:

BDCountryCode=21843

I have tried every setting in TMT and I can not get this to change. I assume this is the USA country code.

If that is the USA country code, could AnyDVD replace PSR 19 with a Imm value of 21843? (kind of like it replaces PSR 20 with 1,2,4 for standard region lock removal)
Then all country code checks should pass (On these US discs at least)

Anybody able to test this with the original disc (CrypticEntity)? Change all PSR 19 to Imm 21843.
 
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