PowerDVD 11 region code locked to 'A'

excalibur

Newbie Joined: Oct 17, 2011 10:50 Messages: 27 Offline

Solved by

Oct 17, 2011 22:01

Hi,

some users of PowerDVD 11 have issues with the region code locked to 'A' and no changes left. In most cases, the reason for this strange behaviour is a former installation of PowerDVD 7 - 10. These former versions of PowerDVD control the region settings different from the actual version PowerDVD 11. The bad news is that simple deinstallation of the former versions won't help because the region control files neither are part of the deinstallation routine nor can they be deleted, and thus can come into conflict with the region setting of PowerDVD 11. The good news is that you don't need to reinstall your windows (Vista & Win 7) - you can deactivate the buggy region control by

Disabling Brs.exe from loading at Startup (control panel - administrative tools - system configuration - startup tab)

Look for cyberlink brs and clear its checkbox. Click Apply to save your changes and exit the dialog box.

Restart your system. The next time you boot up, brs.exe won’t be running. Now you can proceed directly to deleting the BRF.dat file located in C:\ProgramData\Cyberlink\BDNAV\.

(When Brs.exe is running, only PowerDVD can alter or remove BRF.dat which saves BD region settings. By default, brs.exe is located in C:\Program Files\CyberLink\Shared Files and cannot be deleted. It allows the user to change the region coding of their player up to a maximum of 5 times. The program also makes an entry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run that enables it to load at system startup.)

Open PowerDVD 11 - everything should be allright (e.g. Region B with 4 changes left) ! If you prefer a complete new installation of PowerDVD 11, you should at first manually delete all directories which have been set up by PowerDVD (c:\Program Files\CyberLink\ , c:\Program Files\PDVD, C:\ProgramData\Cyberlink\, C:\Users\XY\AppData\Local resp. Roaming\Cyberlink\ )

I hope this information can help.

excalibur

ToniP678

Newbie Joined: Jul 23, 2009 04:07 Messages: 13 Offline

Oct 18, 2011 07:24

PDVD 11 (2211)
Windows 7 x64

There is no BRF.DAT or BRS.EXE anywhere.
So, how can I reset the Regioncode-Counter?

CyberLink-Michael

Senior Contributor Location: Europe Joined: Apr 18, 2007 04:05 Messages: 7418 Offline

Oct 18, 2011 08:38

Hi ToniP678,

please contact the customer support about your issue.

Br
Michael Technical Support

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excalibur

Newbie Joined: Oct 17, 2011 10:50 Messages: 27 Offline

Oct 18, 2011 08:45

Hi ToniP678,

as written above, the process 'cyberlink brs' controls the region settings of the older versions of PowerDVD. With the release of PowerDVD 11 Cyberlink has changed the way region code is stored and handled - at present, however, I don't know exactly how ( PDVD 11 writes a 'ris.ifo' file into C:\ProgramData\Cyberlink\BDNAV\).

If you easily want to reset / change the region code counter of your software player, I would recommend using the newest version of the DVDFab Passkey tool.

excalibur

ToniP678

Newbie Joined: Jul 23, 2009 04:07 Messages: 13 Offline

Oct 18, 2011 11:37

It's a little unclear to me, that you mean a parallel installation of PDVD 10 and 11.

I downloaded the Trialversion of Passkey and et voilà ... Regioncode B again.

Thanks for the Tip.

Branais

Senior Member Joined: May 27, 2011 07:21 Messages: 202 Offline

Dec 11, 2011 06:31

Quote: some users of PowerDVD 11 have issues with the region code locked to 'A' and no changes left.

Thanks for this info, excalibur. I'm someone who's been experiencing this exact problem with PowerDVD Ultra 11 since first installing it, and have had overwhelming silence from Cyberlink tech support. ( :angry: )

I've gone the route of removing all reference to Power DVD (in any version) from my system, including hand-editing the Registry, and it hasn't fixed the problem for me.

I've had half a dozen replies from tech support saying "We understand the problem, and are researching it", followed by weeks of silence, until I contact them again and get the same reply, over and over. Bloody useless. No idea what exactly they're "researching", since they've asked me no questions at all, about either the problem or the configuration of my system.

If it's simply a matter of deleting a configuration file - either the brs.dat or smething else hidden - surely Cyberlink could whip up some sort of automated tool to resolve the problem? Or are they just like so many companies, and assume that everyone on the planet is either American or doesn't matter? My money was good enough for them, so why isn't my satisfaction with their product?

CyberLink-Michael

Senior Contributor Location: Europe Joined: Apr 18, 2007 04:05 Messages: 7418 Offline

Dec 11, 2011 08:16

Hi,
sorry to hear about your problems with Region Code "A" lock issue and support team issues - can you please forward your support case ID - I want to check with our team about your case.

thanks
Michael Technical Support

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Branais

Senior Member Joined: May 27, 2011 07:21 Messages: 202 Offline

Dec 11, 2011 09:16

Thanks for your help Michael. The case number is CS001087951, but that's a new case since the previous ones went nowhere and I'd lost reference to the numbers.

Tech support keeps saying it's "researching", but then I hear nothing more - certainly no resolution, but not even any update on the "research".

Sorry to sound like I'm complaining. It's because I am! I'm very annoyed that Cyberlink took my money, but hasn't expended any energy in getting their software working for me. It's really not OK.

CyberLink-Michael

Senior Contributor Location: Europe Joined: Apr 18, 2007 04:05 Messages: 7418 Offline

Dec 11, 2011 10:29

Hi Bran,

thanks for the info, please stay tuned!

Br
Michael Technical Support

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Branais

Senior Member Joined: May 27, 2011 07:21 Messages: 202 Offline

Dec 11, 2011 10:56

Michael,
Thanks. Since posting here, I've had a reply from Cyberlink tech support.

They want to do a remote session log-in into my PC, and have said they may have to change some keys in my Registry. I've asked if they can tell me what needs to be changed and let *me* do it. (I hate tech support people changing stuff on your PC, because they never tell you what they've done, and then they go away and you're let to deal with any possible consequences, including those for other apps.) But I've had no reply.

CyberLink-Michael

Senior Contributor Location: Europe Joined: Apr 18, 2007 04:05 Messages: 7418 Offline

Dec 12, 2011 05:37

Hi,

sorry but this is the only solution we cn offer.

BR
Michael Technical Support

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Branais

Senior Member Joined: May 27, 2011 07:21 Messages: 202 Offline

Dec 12, 2011 06:18

But if there are changes to be made to my Registry, why can't i simply be told what they areand do it myself? Or be given a .reg patch?

Would *you* want someone who is uncertain about the issue poking around in your Registry, changing things in the hope that they might get it working?

The problem is that the region is locked to A and the number of allowed changes set to zero - right off the bat, from the first installation. Surely Cyberlink knows where that information is stored. Why can it not just tell me what file to delete or modify?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Dec 12. 2011 06:20

ali

Newbie Joined: Nov 25, 2011 19:08 Messages: 1 Offline

Dec 20, 2011 19:03

I found CyberLink-Michael's use of the term "technical support team" extremely funny. It is good for CyberLink-Michael that Powerdvd faces no real competition in this field, or he will be out of a job. If I go solely based on my experience with their "technical support team" I will give their products a less than zero rating.

TheDudeiswatching

Member Joined: Sep 19, 2010 00:20 Messages: 80 Offline

Dec 20, 2011 19:56

Well, everybody has his own level of allowable intrusion, and I do agree I'm not a fan of letting 3-rd parties poke around in my computer. But, I think I would let them have a go. First this is a good time to image your primary disk. Then backup the registry. When they are done, run a compare on the registry and your backup - at least you will know what has been changed.

Branais

Senior Member Joined: May 27, 2011 07:21 Messages: 202 Offline

Dec 22, 2011 02:29

Hi Dude, thanks for at least understanding where I was coming from in my concern. I don't have a high level of confidence in what they're proposing, especially since they can't tell me what they might be looking for - that seems to suggest they haven't got a clue about the problem.

CyberLink-Michael

Senior Contributor Location: Europe Joined: Apr 18, 2007 04:05 Messages: 7418 Offline

Dec 22, 2011 15:15

Hi Bran,

the team will reset the counter and fix the problem while online session.

br
Michael Technical Support

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techguy

Newbie Joined: Dec 25, 2010 10:00 Messages: 17 Offline

Jan 08, 2012 16:18

Hi,

I too have run into a similar problem to this. After upgrading from POWERDVD9 to POWERDVD11 and running successfully for several months, my POWERDVD region code went from 4 remaining to zero recently.

I've been running latest version for several weeks now but started running into this problem with region code on Jan 1st 2012.

The blu-ray drive in my pc still shows 4 region codes remaining and this has never changed. Only POWERDVD 11 reports 0 changes remaining. I have never used this feature at all as I only use Region 1/A and therefore do no change it.

I submitted a ticket with the service desk on this but after a week am getting the run-around with no solutions at all.

I too wonder if this is related to upgrading from previous versions. I have already tried to unistall and deleting all folder traces of Cyberlink from my system followed by a re-installation but to no avail. Makes me wonder where this information is kept.

When I had a problem a couple of years ago with V9, the technician handling my ticket sent me a 'cleanup' program 'CLCLEANER' that essentially eliminated all traces of the POWERDVD9 program from my system, then I was also given a link to a new BASELINE version of the program and re-installed the program and that cleaned up my problem at the time. I wonder if there is a similar thing available for V11 that would also reset the region count back to normal upon re-installation.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.

excalibur

Newbie Joined: Oct 17, 2011 10:50 Messages: 27 Offline

Jan 08, 2012 20:38

Hi techguy,

welcome to the club ! As written above, with the release of PowerDVD 11 Cyberlink has changed the way region code is stored, handled and p r o t e c t e d. The data concerning the region code are automatically generated at the first-time installation of PowerDVD 11 and stored in the following two directories

C:\ProgramData\Cyberlink\BDNAV (ris.ifo) and
C:\ProgramData\PDVD (*.ve2)

The .ve2-file has a dynamic naming which changes all the time, deleting the file results in re-generation and 0 remaining changes (PBRCT set to 0).
The respective files are system-dependent (hardware-locked ?) and thus not interchangeable between different PCs.

The registry setting HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cyberlink\Common\PBRCT=5 seems to be the counter for the remaining changes.

If you easily want to reset / change the (buggy) region code counter of your software player, I once again can only recommend using the newest (trial)version of the DVDFab Passkey tool (google knows more ...). If the region settings of PowerDVD thereupon are ok (i.e. Region A, B or C with 5 available changes), backup the two directories and the registry key for future use ! You will need them ! Everytime you want 5 new changes restore both the files and the registry key.

excalibur

techguy

Newbie Joined: Dec 25, 2010 10:00 Messages: 17 Offline

Jan 08, 2012 21:17

HI Excalibur,

Thank you for the added info. I tried to look for this in the registry but had missed it.

After I posted this message, I saw the reference earlier in the sequence about DVDFAB Passkey so decided to try and download the free lite version. It easily reset the counter for me back up to 5 so my POWERDVD 11 is now back working again so I didn't have to mess with the registry myself.

What was strange for me is that my blu-ray drive's counter has never changed and remained at 4. I've never touched it. Only POWERDVD 11's couner developed this problem on its own. I never changed the region settings on any playback program I've used and I've used Version 7, 8, 9, and now 11 for several years now. This is the first time that the program just changed itself to zero while the blu-ray drive remained at 4. Seems like a software bug to me but based on my bad experiene so far I doubt that Cyberlink will acknowledge that and then provide a fix for it.

Thanks again.

CyberLink-Michael

Senior Contributor Location: Europe Joined: Apr 18, 2007 04:05 Messages: 7418 Offline

Jan 09, 2012 07:04

Hi,
the counter for DVD and BD are independent. You can not check the BD counter from within OS Device settings
page

br
Michael Technical Support

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