Developers make Cinavia free Panasonic Blu-ray player firmwares

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#1

We’ve just posted the following news: Developers make Cinavia free Panasonic Blu-ray player firmwares[newsimage]http://static.myce.com//images_posts/2010/07/Panasonic-BDT100.jpg[/newsimage]

Developers have created firmwares for Panasonic Blu-ray players that make them Cinavia free.

            Read the full article here: [http://www.myce.com/news/developers-make-cinavia-free-panasonic-blu-ray-player-firmwares-73687/](http://www.myce.com/news/developers-make-cinavia-free-panasonic-blu-ray-player-firmwares-73687/)

            Please note that the reactions from the complete site will be synched below.
#2

An excellent tip indeed, thanks Alan!

This is a really interesting and promising development but I fear it will attract a lot of attention from the movie industry.

I have a Sony that isn’t capable of supporting Cinavia so will always remain Cinavia free but this might provide an alternative, if I ever need it, further on down the line.

[B]Wombler[/B]

#3

Thanks for sharing it, Alan!
It is a good news that there are models of two brands (Pioneer and Panasonic) on the market that can be made Cinavia free.

#4

I wouldn’t use this firmware if I were required to “participate” in the development. “Participating” probably requires sharing information that may lead to you being identified. When those pulling the government’s strings convince the government to issue subpoenas as to who is “involved” in writing this “access-control circumvention” (that is, this DRM crack) I wouldn’t want my name to come up.

Of course, that’s assuming the DMCA isn’t used just to do more than simply sensor this software from the internet.

#5

This seems cool (assuming the firmware is easy to get at). I’d love to have a region free player. The cinavia thing is just a bonus. Assuming the supported players aren’t crazy expensive could be a cheaper way to get region free. As for region free I still haven’t encountered one that’s purely region free. You have to switch the regions when you use discs with a different region. It’d be awesome if the developers could make it like old school region free dvd players where the device would automatically play the disc (no need to switch the region manually everytime you use a disc from a different region).

#6

although cinavia is an PITA these day’s, i woudnt be so quick to make ur player cinavia free!!

Let’s face it, the player may be an good indicator to know what movies in ur collection has cinavia for sure.

Dvdfab has released an list of protected movies, but is far from complete or updated anymore !!

For example , according to dvdfab the following movies were cinavia infected.

kick-ass 2 bluray, 47 Ronin (Bluray), Kick Ass 2 (DVD), Social Network (DVD) are supposed to be infected !!

Yet none of the above movies i posses show the infamous messages = not infected in my book …

And since, i posted that info in a thread over at dvdfab hq… i noticed they changed the list quite a bit lol…

#7

TSJnachos - you appear to live your life in fear :slight_smile:

#8

Just wanted to warn everyone about how difficult it is to deal with the operator of the firmwareinfo site / service. If you make the slightest mistake in submitting some very detailed information, you will be banned (no second chances.) If you don’t respond to the invitation e-mail before midnight in the time zone in which the site operates on the the day that you request your account, you will be banned. If you request firmware for more than one player, you will look suspicious, and you will be banned. If the firmware update fails and bricks your player, you go buy a new player, and you request a free firmware for the new player, you will be banned. Basically, if you do anything that causes the slightest inconvenience to the operator, you will be banned. If you’re familiar with The Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, you get the idea.

It’s also important to note that if a new firmware version comes out for your player, the factory update will overwrite your custom firmware and you will have to pay for a new custom version of the new firmware. So obviously, you want to disable automatic firmware updates in the settings menu.

Here are some quotes from forums discussing the issues dealing with firmwareinfo:
<blockquote>This guy is really unbelievable. After several attempts to apply for his firmware for donations of up to 100 Euros per device, he flat out refused to give me anything more than only one firmware. I donated 50 Euros to him for this, and offered 300 Euros for my three other players, all while agreeing to follow his instructions and template to the letter, and promising and assuring him that I will not contact him again for support or any other reason. He flat out turned this down.</blockquote>

<blockquote>For my 310 he wanted a 40 Euro donation and he stipulated it must be sent as a gift (guess so you couldn’t claim it back if there are any problems). Anyway I was going to take a chance when I got in from work but my account was cancelled by him 30 mins after he sent payment instructions (guess he didn’t like waiting).</blockquote>

<blockquote>Reading through this thread, I think i’ve been sufficiently put off by the idiosyncrasies of firmwareinfo to avoid trying to modify my player.</blockquote>

#9

Call me naïve, but there is something completely wrong with hacking a firmware, and then charging for it.
Where would this site be now, if the people who were hacking optical drive firmware had charged a fee for doing so, and treated people who used the firmware like ‘TechFarmer’ has stated.

The only thing we made clear here was. You flash your drive at your own risk, if you brick the drive you buy a new one.

#10

[QUOTE=TechFarmer;2742482]Just wanted to warn everyone about how difficult it is to deal with the operator of the firmwareinfo site / service. If you make the slightest mistake in submitting some very detailed information, you will be banned (no second chances.) If you don’t respond to the invitation e-mail before midnight in the time zone in which the site operates on the the day that you request your account, you will be banned. If you request firmware for more than one player, you will look suspicious, and you will be banned. If the firmware update fails and bricks your player, you go buy a new player, and you request a free firmware for the new player, you will be banned. Basically, if you do anything that causes the slightest inconvenience to the operator, you will be banned. If you’re familiar with The Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, you get the idea.

It’s also important to note that if a new firmware version comes out for your player, the factory update will overwrite your custom firmware and you will have to pay for a new custom version of the new firmware. So obviously, you want to disable automatic firmware updates in the settings menu.

Here are some quotes from forums discussing the issues dealing with firmwareinfo:
<blockquote>This guy is really unbelievable. After several attempts to apply for his firmware for donations of up to 100 Euros per device, he flat out refused to give me anything more than only one firmware. I donated 50 Euros to him for this, and offered 300 Euros for my three other players, all while agreeing to follow his instructions and template to the letter, and promising and assuring him that I will not contact him again for support or any other reason. He flat out turned this down.</blockquote>

<blockquote>For my 310 he wanted a 40 Euro donation and he stipulated it must be sent as a gift (guess so you couldn’t claim it back if there are any problems). Anyway I was going to take a chance when I got in from work but my account was cancelled by him 30 mins after he sent payment instructions (guess he didn’t like waiting).</blockquote>

<blockquote>Reading through this thread, I think i’ve been sufficiently put off by the idiosyncrasies of firmwareinfo to avoid trying to modify my player.</blockquote>[/QUOTE]

@TechFarmer: In doing my due diligence before discussing this with our News Team, I have found everything you have stated to be true. But the fact remains that the firmware works. If you can jump through the hoops necessary to obtain it.:cool:

#11

Well, I am not really surprised.
The special custom firmware (Chinese) for the Pioneer devices also costs money. Though it was hacked (by Russians) and distributed for free. At least one of the versions. :clap:

#12

I have the first Panasonic Blu-Ray player made, it’s a beautiful machine with a ton of options from back when they charged a lot but wanted to give you something impressive for your money. Last firmware update was 2008 so it doesn’t support cinivia and probably never will.
Some movies now take forever to load but it has played everything I feed it and picture looks great.
I of course didn’t pay retail as I bought it as a demo from Circuit City a few years before they folded when I realized my cheap HD-DVD player was soon going to be useless for new HD movies.

#13

There has been a Chinese firmware hack available for Oppo players that is similar, also for sale - on eBay. I’m not sure it addresses Cinavia though, but it doesn’t really need to since Oppos ignore Cinavia in media files.

#14

There has never been a modification like that for Oppo players because everything except build quality on Oppo players sucks.

This modification is exclusive to Panasonic devices :sad:

Btw: This post is a bit misleading because that single firmware you mentioned is about two years old. If you look further on that site, you will find more than 40 different firmware releases for all types of Panasonic players, recorders, cinema systens, etc.

#15

[QUOTE=GodKnows;2742545]There has never been a modification like that for Oppo players because everything except build quality on Oppo players sucks.

This modification is exclusive to Panasonic devices :sad:

Btw: This post is a bit misleading because that single firmware you mentioned is about two years old. If you look further on that site, you will find more than 40 different firmware releases for all types of Panasonic players, recorders, cinema systens, etc.[/QUOTE]
Yes the post was meant to make users aware that these firmwares exist and lengths they have to go through to obtain them, the age of the firmware is not the story, although its very nice of you to point out that there are new ones for newer players. We are aware that the firmwares at the site mentioned are for Panasonic devices, do you know for a fact that there has never been a modification for an OPPO device? I will see if I can find the source of that post. Welcome to Myce.com, hope you can stay around and supply us with more pertinent information regarding these firmwares.:iagree:

#16

[QUOTE=GodKnows;2742545]There has never been a modification like that for Oppo players because everything except build quality on Oppo players sucks.
[/QUOTE]

Um, yes there is:

#17

The topic is about a modification for Panasonic devices which supports

  1. Region change capability for DVD
  2. Region change capability for Blu-ray
  3. UOP removal for DVD
  4. PUO removal for Blu-ray
  5. Cinavia removal

As far as I can see, the stuff you have listed for the Oppo crap only supports point 5 and 2 while the implementation of point 2 seems to be a really bad hack if it requires the system language to be changed…

#18

[QUOTE=alan1476;2742550]…Welcome to Myce.com, hope you can stay around and supply us with more pertinent information regarding these firmwares.:iagree:[/QUOTE]
I don’t think so. I made my point and I will leave this useless place now.

#19

[QUOTE=GodKnows;2742555]I don’t think so. I made my point and I will leave this useless place now.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for visiting us. Feel free to join us again , we always like it when our members are so friendly.:flower::bigsmile:

#20

Are anybody aware that firmwareinfo.com went down right after this article? Guess guy doesn’t like publicity. >:)