Toshiba XE1 Region Free Firmware Still Available to Download

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iainmmm

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XE1 Region Free Firmware here. :thumbsup:
RCE Hack.
1) Turn on player
2) Open tray, put disc in tray but don´t close
3) Push T.search on remote
4) Push 1, 3, 9 and "Region number" (e.g. 1 for US discs)
5) Push T. search on remote.

You will see TEST on your player

6) Press PLAY on the remote

When player is turned off, this setting is cleared.
 
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That is not the region free one. It is the official release.
 
I found this link

http://mathey.vincent.free.fr/ex1/XE1_FW251_RCF.iso

via

http://www.homecinema-fr.com

The file is the same one linked in an earlier topic on this forum but no longer available.

I downloaded the file which is in iso format rather than a rar/zip file. It took about 30 minutes to download.

Then I burned it to a cd-r using Burncdcc a free utility available here

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html

I ticked the "finalise" box/option as I think not finalising the disc leads to the player refusing to play the disc and reporting "not dvd format" as reported by others on earlier posts who attempted the update.

Next I put the disc in XE1's tray. When given the choice to update I obviously said yes and the the player updated to stage 5/5. The disc ejected and the player shut down.

I removed the disc and turned the machine back on. Once powered up the drawer closed and the XE1's display showed "MSSG" I pressed ok and player displayed "VER UP" for a while, finished updating and shut itself down.

I now have a region free XE1.

I tried the disc in my E1 without success.
Anyone else updated using this download yet?
 
Will this work on a US XA1?
Please let me know :thumbsup:
 
[QUOTE

I tried the disc in my E1 without success.[/QUOTE]

Does this mean it doesn't work?
 
Hey all

Just followed the original instructions shown here and it works great!

Thanks for posting this!

I still have lip synch issues which i hope will be rectified in the future upgrades. And my RCE discs don't work, but otherwise this is great, can finally upscale most of my other region discs! :thumbsup:

I just wonder if when we upgrade in the future, will it wipe away the region free??:(

Thank again:clap:
 
Glad to here it works ok.What version number is your firmware showing now?

P.S. There may be an issue with this firmware connecting to an update server other than the European one.Probably best to do the next update from disc and keep your fingers crossed the region free is retained!
 
From what I can figure out, the region hack is just over-writing the region code stored in firmware (probably just a single byte) with a zero. This will allow about 75% of discs to play.

If you update the firmware again through an official download, it will wipe the region hack and you will need a new version of it again that correlates to the new firmware.

What concerns me more, is that to get the hacked firmware, the version numbers have been fiddled. So instead of 2.5, it is 2.51. Also, it originated in Australia.

THe reason I have not updated, is because I am concerned that I will no longer be able to update the firmware when new releases come out either because it won't recognise the fiddled version number or because it no longer recognises the player as a valid one to update in the European region.
 
THe reason I have not updated, is because I am concerned that I will no longer be able to update the firmware when new releases come out either because it won't recognise the fiddled version number or because it no longer recognises the player as a valid one to update in the European region.

Good point! :)
 
THe reason I have not updated, is because I am concerned that I will no longer be able to update the firmware when new releases come out either because it won't recognise the fiddled version number or because it no longer recognises the player as a valid one to update in the European region.

The firmware update either checks the region or it doesn't. If it does, then there may be trouble such as what you're suggesting. If it doesn't, future updates will be installed just fine, but the region code will come back.
 
Worked a treat for me . I cant see Toshiba doing anything special to reset the region . They dont know which players have been hacked and the version number still shows as 2.5 .

~M~
 
From what I can figure out, the region hack is just over-writing the region code stored in firmware (probably just a single byte) with a zero. This will allow about 75% of discs to play.

If you update the firmware again through an official download, it will wipe the region hack and you will need a new version of it again that correlates to the new firmware.

What concerns me more, is that to get the hacked firmware, the version numbers have been fiddled. So instead of 2.5, it is 2.51. Also, it originated in Australia.

THe reason I have not updated, is because I am concerned that I will no longer be able to update the firmware when new releases come out either because it won't recognise the fiddled version number or because it no longer recognises the player as a valid one to update in the European region.

im sure there will be nothing to worry about,lets not forget there is a HD war going on,so im sure toshiba will think this hack is a feather in there cap;) and wouldnt want to upset anyone already owning a HD-DVD player:smashin:
 
im sure there will be nothing to worry about,lets not forget there is a HD war going on,so im sure toshiba will think this hack is a feather in there cap;) and wouldnt want to upset anyone already owning a HD-DVD player:smashin:

There is also the possibilities that the hack was 'leaked' with Toshiba's blessings, as it has been done so many times for their SD DVD players!
 
Do you just download this and then put on a cd?
Not very good at downloading stuff as i always ba**s it up
 
Hmm..my feeling is if the hack was Toshiba released, it would be a much better one that would also play RCE discs by matching the players region dynamically to the disc.


I am not saying Toshiba would intentionally cripple the players so they wouldn't update. But because this firmware has a unique verison number 2.51 (the 0.01 cannot be seen in the player menus), and IF Toshiba use the region code to determine which firmware update to accept on the player, then it might just catch the system out.


Considering that Toshiba would like the DVD section to be multi-region to stimulate sales but are very nervous about upsetting film studios, I would suggest they may leak "where" the region code is stored in the firmware, but not actually give the solution...
 
Hmm..my feeling is if the hack was Toshiba released, it would be a much better one that would also play RCE discs by matching the players region dynamically to the disc.


I am not saying Toshiba would intentionally cripple the players so they wouldn't update. But because this firmware has a unique verison number 2.51 (the 0.01 cannot be seen in the player menus), and IF Toshiba use the region code to determine which firmware update to accept on the player, then it might just catch the system out.


Considering that Toshiba would like the DVD section to be multi-region to stimulate sales but are very nervous about upsetting film studios, I would suggest they may leak "where" the region code is stored in the firmware, but not actually give the solution...

Even if Toshiba had nothing to do with the current hack, I feel it does legitimize them providing necessary info for a proper hack in future. In the sense that they will have more robust 'deniability' as someone else has already done it.
 
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