DVD-Rom with SCSI interface

Dear Mr. Slacker, thanks for your reply:
I read what you are saying; however, my drive has not been set to RPC-2
(the jumper has not been removed at all yet), and I still find that (using
the ATI DVD-player software appropriate to my graphics card), if I put in a
region 2 disc, the system (computer/software/dvddrive) rejects it as wrong
region. The Pioneer instruction manual accompanying the drive implies that
the RPC factory setting is "phase 1" (i.e. region 1), NOT 'region-free'.
How is it that the Newsgroup has the impression that the rpc-1 setting is
region-free? Has anyone out there got personal experience with this drive?
Would I need some other software player to be able to access both region 1 &
2 discs? (which obviously I would like to do!)

...

RPC-1 = region-free
RPC-2 = region-locked

I think once the drive is set to rpc-2 the only way to get it back to
region-free will be a bios upgrade.


to email change dawn to ded in my email address

Leaving the jumper at mode 1 gives you region free operation *OF THE DRIVE*,
but the associated software or hardware decoder should then be doing the
region check, so if the ATI S/W is set for region 1 then (under normal
circumstances) it will refuse to play a region 2 disk.

Switching the jumper to mode 2 means that the *DRIVE* will do region
checking, and any associated software or hardware decoder is required to
follow the drive. However, having a region free drive means it is much
easier to take advantage of the various utilities that allow the associated
software or hardware decoder to also be region free, and once you change the
jumper to mode 2 there is no going back, it has permanently - and I mean
*PERMANENTLY* - changed the drive to mode 1. Further fiddling will *NOT*
return the drive to mode 1.

John Howells, Wigan, UK

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I just bought a Pioneer DVD-U03S SCSI DVD rom drive. The RPC jumper is set
at 1 from the factory, which according to the manual is for region 1.
Perplexingly the manual also says 'never return to phase 1 mode (ie region
1) after phase 2 mode is started' (which you do by removing the jumper),
implying that you cannot swap back and forth between regions using the
jumper.
However, you say in your post that leaving the jumper at 1 gives you
region-free operation; this is not my experience however, as the ATI dvd
software returns an error message when you try to play a region 2 disc,
stopping you from doing just that.
I would be very interested to hear what you (or any other owners of this
drive) have to say about getting around this feature.
Greg Morss

...

Pioneer 303s (OEM) U03s (Retail) - same drive though - excellent UltraScsi
drive - 6xDVD - 32xCD

As you will see from reading this group, Pioneer drives are considered to be
the best allround drives.

Pioneer have just releases a 10xDVD - 40xCD - looks good - only tray loader
though I think - I prefer the slot type on the 6x.

If you get one - DO NOT REMOVE THE RPC JUMPER - leave it one and the drive
is region free.

Vapor

...

Toshiba & Pioneer make them...

Hitachi, and Panasonic make SCSI DVD-RAM drives too (a bit off topic)
AFAIK there are no IDE DVD-RAM drives

-Tim