[Tutorial] Region free and RGB DVD Player for PS2

As you may know, while the PS2 system software is stored on hard ROM, it is designed to support updates from memory card or internal HDD (except for "non-softmoddable" SCPH-900xx's with ROM version 2.30; indeed, FreeMCBoot works by installing itself as an OSD update). Notably, the earliest Japanese consoles did not have builtin DVD player software, but rather came with an update installation CD!

Multiple DVD Player updates have since then been developed, with features such as:
  • IR remote support
  • New console support (Slims have a region setting in the write-protected part of the EEPROM; on previous models region-specific roms are used)
  • Time display
  • Progressive scan (only on SCPH-500xx and above, and only with component video)
  • Random/Program title order
  • A-B segment loop
and misfeatures:
  • Movie region lock bypass button combo removed
  • YUV/YPbPr mode forced instead of RGB (as RGB skips Macrovision copy protection)
These updates have been inconsistently released to the public as update CDs, although not in every region, and not the same versions for every region.


Luckily for us (all sixty people who watch movies on PS2), krHACKen of AssemblerGames has dumped the final version of DVD Player (Japanese 3.11) and developed a hacked version that is region free and outputs interlaced video as RGB!
It is also made in a variant runnable from USB, for the lazy people or the Memory Card (8MB) (for PlayStation 2) free-space challenged ;)

As most commercial software, it's not legal in most countries to redistribute it, however thanks to The Internet you may find it with the keyword "3.11J_PROGRESSIVE3_FINAL.7z".

Limitations (unconfirmed by me):
  • No progressive scan for PAL movies
  • No component support in 480i mode? May have been about an earlier version of the RGB-unlocking mod


Running from USB:
  1. Inside the archive, enter the "USB" folder.
  2. Enter the folder with the desired language for the DVD Player software itself.
  3. Copy all the files to the root of a PS2-compatible USB drive. No exceptions, subfolders are not supported (except for the actual .elf executables)
  4. After inserting a DVD Video disc, run the software in any applicable way (such as via a file manager, modchip, Swap Magic 3.6, FreeMCBoot menu or hotkeys, ...)
Note: JAP.ELF and US_EU.ELF differ in which button is OK and which one is Back.

Installing on MC as update:
Note that DVD Player updates, like all memory card applications, are locked to the individual memory card MagicGate ID and to the console's MagicGate region; additionally, DVD Player updates are locked to the console's DVD region, but the following steps will take care of everything :)
The card with the update can however be used on any other console meeting the same requirements.
  1. Boot your console with no memory card, internal HDD, or optical disc connected.
  2. On the main OSD menu, press triangle for "Version". Note the current DVD Player version; it will end with a letter, which represents the DVD Player region.
  3. Inside the archive, enter the "MC" folder.
  4. Enter the folder matching your console's DVD region. (Check out the table at the end of this post)
  5. Enter the folder with the desired language for the DVD Player software itself.
  6. Extract the B?EXEC-DVDPLAYER folder to your PC.
  7. You will now need to install FreeMCBoot to the same memory card as the one you wish to install this DVD Player to, if you don't already have.
    It can be removed afterwards, if that's what you prefer.
  8. Use any method, such as a file manager like wLaunchElf/uLaunchElf, to copy the main FreeMCBoot executable to your computer. (Copy mc?:/B?EXEC-SYSTEM/osdmain.elf to USB).
    (This file is encrypted with MagicGate, and we will use it to copy the key from)
  9. Download and extract KelfTwinSigner, made by SP193, on a system capable of running x86 Windows software.
  10. Fire up a command line and run KelfTwinSigner, with the path to your osdmain.elf as first argument, and the path to B?EXEC-DVDPLAYER/dvdplayer.elf (inside the folder we extracted earlier) as the second one.
  11. The program should display the keys, then "Kbit and Kc transferred successfully!".
  12. Copy the B?EXEC-DVDPLAYER folder, with all its contents, to the memory card.
  13. If you go back to the Version screen with the memory card inserted, the DVD Player version should show as "3.11J (RPC-1)". This proves the files have been detected by the console.
  14. After inserting a DVD Video disc, run the DVD via the console's Browser as usual.
  15. If instead after a black screen you get back to the browser, and you get a "DVD Player was not setup correctly" error, the issue is in the encryption.


$ony DVD Region list:
A: Asia (3?)
C: China (6)
E: Europe (2)
J: Japan (2)
M: Mexico (South America) (4)
O: Oceania (4)
R: Russia (5)
U: North America (1)

Source code of KELFTwinSigner 1.00.




There @Mariomaster2011, now you know!
 

BOBdotEXE

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Thanks For the heads up!
I've been waiting for this for a LONG time!
I have an action replay disc with 'DVD region X' but unfortunately that does not really work if your disc drive is set up for disc swapping.
 

Ryccardo

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Does this allow ps2 to also play games from other regions?
No, foreign game discs are blocked in hardware (as a side effect of the anti piracy), the only way to read them on a PS2 (for any purpose, even just seeing the files in WLaunchElf or ripping to HDD) requires a chip or the swap trick

(Of course you can use a computer to backup them, then use a backup loading solution to run them; but at that point the PS2 is never seeing the original disc, so it doesn't count :) )
 

Ryccardo

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set PS2 to output in RGB in the System Configuration menu for RGB over interlaced signal, or?
What did you even ask for?

That option selects whether, in the standard TV resolution interlaced video mode (the default for the boot menu and all games), the 3-component video output pins will output RGB (like a PS1) or YPbPr

PS2 (and DS, Wii, ...) settings are more like guidelines, commercial software is supposed to respect and implement them, but there are exceptions (like the official unmodified DVD Player itself, which only supports YPbPr)
 

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set PS2 to output in RGB in the System Configuration menu for RGB over interlaced signal, or?

PS2 can output RGB in interlaced or progressive. 240p and 480i, or their PAL equivalents, are typically used for RGB SCART.

480p RGB from PS2 (like the Linux Kit VGA cable) doesn't natively work on most TVs.
It's meant for monitors that accept sync on green.
 
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Retinal_FAILURE

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What did you even ask for?

That option selects whether, in the standard TV resolution interlaced video mode (the default for the boot menu and all games), the 3-component video output pins will output RGB (like a PS1) or YPbPr

PS2 (and DS, Wii, ...) settings are more like guidelines, commercial software is supposed to respect and implement them, but there are exceptions (like the official unmodified DVD Player itself, which only supports YPbPr)
I was tired, and you happen to have answered my question I think, but what I was asking was to receive RGB over an interlaced signal with the modded DVD player software install is that OP refers to should I set my PS2 in this configuration menu to RGB? I was able to install this 3.11J_PROGRESSIVE3_FINAL only on my 5000X model of PS2, and I believe this version of the software did produce better video through RGB than YPbPr after I did change the output settings in that configuration settings for video. I believe that the component cables do produce a lot of artifacts for video in DVD video at least for an interlaced signal. I didn't try any progressive scan as my CRT TV doesn't support 480p for any signal, but for RGB over 480i it looked great. Does this patched DVD player firmware not support PS2s that are below 5000X? I have a 3000X and two 3000X R models that didn't like the USB method i attempted with the 5000X. I know the 5000X supports progressive scan, but I don't think that should break the compatibility alone. I guess if I get no response I'll try the MC method though.
 

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The configuration menu switches between RGB or YPbPr (except for the issue with DVD playback this topic is all about).
It should have no effect on composite and s-video.

If I understand correctly, patching the DVD player won't enable progressive scan on a PS2 below 5000X.
 

Retinal_FAILURE

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The configuration menu switches between RGB or YPbPr (except for the issue with DVD playback this topic is all about).
It should have no effect on composite and s-video.

If I understand correctly, patching the DVD player won't enable progressive scan on a PS2 below 5000X.
I'm using component cables, but at least with the below 5000X models the patch isn't accepted through USB method at all. MC method might suffice, however. I just need to get around to trying it.
 

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I actually never tried the USB version (but I know it must be in the root)

Yes, as far as I've read, it doesn't enable progressive scan mode on unsupported consoles (it checks the GPU model, then just to be sure the console model, since the 390xx also has the right one)

YPbPr should on paper be superior to RGB for movies (which are encoded as YUV since you can pull off a lot more good-looking lossy compression in a color-and-intensity model), of course the PS2 always internally converts to RGB so it doesn't really matter - and many video processor chips convert RGB to YUV to RGB, so that tint and saturation settings can be applied!

Cable quality matters more, pretty much everything on the market is unshielded crap, scalped original cables, or expensive but serious 3rd party ones (I think it would be cheaper to buy the shittiest one and replace the wires yourself with 5 quality RCA cables)

If you DO have a console with official progressive scan DVD support, then this version goes a little funky - if the console is configured for RGB, interlaced mode is RGB and progressive YPbPr; if set to YPbPr, hilarity should ensue in progressive mode...
 
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KyleWest

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Is this incompatible with Browser v2.00? I get a black screen while trying to open the PS2 browser to access my memory cards however on the version screen it shows that I have the new dvd player firmware (3.11) and I can run dvds just fine yet the help menu is in English where instead I think it should be Russian.

When I unplug my memory cards the dvd player reverts to 2.12u (I'm using a 3900x console) but I still black screen opening to browser, unplugging both the hard drive while keeping the memory cards plugged in let's me access the browser as usual but I have to revert back to browser v1.20
 
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Ryccardo

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Is this incompatible with Browser v2.00?
There are three versions of the HDDOSD (1.00 and another from Japan, 1.10 from the USA), countless cracks/mods of them, and unfortunately all three display as 2.00; for whatever I know, they should not influence memory card update loading at all (and indeed I use successfully the HDDOSD 1.10U + ATAD 3rd party disk patch, with RGB DVD player, memory card/X-confirm/English version)

What happens if you go to the browser first then insert the cards?

Could be a corrupted card, you might want to try to copy them to USB, reformat (MC-Annihilator or FMCB installer), and copy stuff back (remember to copy Magicgate signed stuff, like the DVD player, back to the same card)
 

LoganJones

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What exactly is the advantage of using RGB? DVD is digitally encoded at limited RGB YCbCr Component video color space 4:2:0. I doubt an RGB cable will make the picture look more vibrant.
 

barronwaffles

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There's some talk about issues with certain PS2 revisions and their component video encoding stage - no idea if there's any veracity to the claims though.

Personally for me it's a convenience thing - I've got it setup on a PVM via RGB and this means I don't need to change over to YPbPr + hit the toggle button on the PVM.
 

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What exactly is the advantage of using RGB?
Not having to build your YPbPr to RGB converter - since many European TVs support the latter but not the former, unlike American ones :)

There wouldn't be an intrinsic quality advantage in either case as the conversion, regardless of how you do it, would theoretically be lossless (well, as lossless as analog addition and division can be)
 

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