DVD Hacks » Sony DAV-S500 region code

Help us keep the list up to date and Submit new DVD and Blu-ray Players here. This list is based from user reports and we have not verified or tested any region codes. Use them at your own risk.

What are Blu-ray and DVD region codes, country codes, multi-region or zone locks? Read DVD Player region codes and Blu-ray region codes.

Search DVD Player:

Hits per page:

DVD Player	Hacks	Updated	Add
Sony DAV-S500	21 user region code comments	May 25, 2006	Post region code/hack comment
	Region code hack posted by Sergio Macedo, January 10 2003:
	This post is to confront the general belief that DAV-S500 can only be chip hacked. Brazilian magazines and the post below confirms that a remote hacking DOES EXIST for this equipment. The references include the following post: http://www.planetdvd.net/discussion/messages/1304.htm And the manual for the "Upgrade Remote" product: http://www.shoyle.f9.co.uk/dvdchipsuk/sonyremote.htm The manual describes the procedure to get to the Service Menu (detailed below). However the product being sold is the "magic wand" that does the magic, sending God knows what commands to the equipment. From the service menu and a vanilla remote you will only be able to confirm your equipment settings (beware of the "configuration" topics. You may screw up your dvd...) Unfortunately he Pronto hex codes presented elsewhere in this site WON'T WORK with DAV-S500. Below is the procedure to reach the service menu. -=-=-=-=- Opening the DAV-S500 Service Menu -==-=--= 1 - Turn it on with no disc inside. 2 - (ON THE EQUIPMENT NOT ON REMOTE) Press and hold both the Display and Stop keys while turning the volume control to the right. When your TV screen fickle, release the buttons. You should be seeing the Service Menu now. 3 - (Informational Only) Pressing 0, 2, 5 on the remote will show you the region your eq. is set to (as you didn't know... :)) Just out of curiosity, my equipment reports itself as a HCX-1030-BR model, Revision 1.080 (you'll see these informations on the first screen). I hope this can help someone out there to find out the correct codes for setting it region free or, at last, dual region. (Note: a technical assist I called confirmed they would hack it without opening but they specified the equipment would be region 4 (default) and region 1 only. I don't know if it's their standard procedure or if the command set just allow you to add a second region...) See ya.
	Other hack posted by Fuji Sartono, January 12 2003:
	Hi .. I'm commenting on the remote/eqpt hack mentioned in this thread where a combo of buttons are pressed/manipulated on the DVD player. Yes I have tried this on my DAV S550 (Reg.3) and it works. I am presented with a menu on my TV. However this menu is only informational in nature. No twiddling/hacking can be done. I hope we are one step closer to hacking it though. Thanks.
	Region code hack posted by Sergio Macedo, January 12 2003:
	Hi, the references states the remote hacking is done through a "special" or "service" remote (most likely a universal remote with some "cool" codes programed) when in this screen. I've found a service shop that will do the hack for me but I still haven't tried to convince them the allow me to copy the codes sent by their remote... Is anyone out there in a better situation? See ya.
	Region code hack posted by jacker, February 09 2003:
	Press Display and stop from the panel and still pressed then move volume, this gonna show you the test menu, but this don't have any function
	Region code hack posted by Attila, March 18 2003:
	Hi! Just read the DAV-550 Hack ! And it worked fine for my Region2 DAV-S500 as well. I used my palm, downloaded the two files: 1. Remote program. 2. Sony-DVD hack database. I got into the service menu. Then pressed 1,2,3,4,5 on the Palm. Nothing happend (on the screen), but now it plays R4 just fine. (Now trying to get an R1 disk just to see if it works too.) A
	Region code hack posted by harry walsh, March 31 2003:
	Where can I get the Sony_DVD_hack.pdb file?
	Region code hack posted by Fringe, April 16 2003:
	could the palm hack work via an emulated palm on a laptop with IRD device
	Region code hack posted by Fringe, April 30 2003:
	I confirm The palm hack WORKS!! You have to press 1122334455 on the palm. Nothing semmed to happen on the screen I used it on my Player and now I can see R1 DVD. Bye all
	Region code hack posted by Mike, May 21 2003:
	http://www.techtronics.com/uk/pdfs/sony-davs500-davs800.pdf
	Region code hack posted by steve wraight, November 28 2003:
	sony compact av system dav s 500
	Region code hack posted by jaume, December 12 2003:
	I have just used my laptop with an IR port to crack my DAV-S500. The method was as follows: Fist thanks to Fuji and Attila for pointing me to the DVA-550 list where I got my information and to Stepht on the DVA-550 list who describes the PC side of it. 1. Build a Windows 95 boot disk. (If you're not on 95, you can get an '.exe' file from the web which will build one. You need to search Google for 'Windows 95 boot disk') 2. Download Winsamp here: http://www.veg.nildram.co.uk/remote13.zip This program will emulate an IR remote on your laptop. 3. Extract the package onto the bootable DOS floppy disk. (this step is very important). 4. Download this IR code file and place it in the same directory as the package above. This file holds the five necessary IR codes converted to the format used by winsamp.exe. http://www.selen.org/files/REMOTE.TXT 5. Next you need to find out what COM port your IR is on. If you know, great. If not, the help in the 'zip' above will tell you the IO address locations which correspond to each COM port. You can then use your BIOS config menu or PC user manual to tell you what the IO address is and the the info from the zip to give you the COM port. 6. Boot up your PC from the floppy disk and run winsamp.exe. If your IR port isn't COM2 you may override this by using an appropriate command line switch. For example, use COM1 by running 'winsamp C1' 7. Press the 'r' key to load up the codes from the REMOTE.TXT file into Winsamp. 8. Turn on the Player. Just as it starts, hold "Display" and "Stop" and and while keeping them pressed turn the volume knob to the right. 9. The screen will flash a few times and then a service menu will appear. Now back to the laptop.... 10. You will see that the buttons 1 to 5 in the Winsamp screen are purple which means that they are usable. Press Enter with button 1 highlighted then button 2 etc up to 5. (Navigate with the arrow keys). After using some of the buttons (certainly button 1), you will see a cursor flash on the TV near the bottom left of the Service Menu. You can use this to check if the laptop is talking to the player properly. Let this stop flashing before pressing the next button. Alternatively, use buttons 1-5 about 10 seconds apart to be safe. The 'Data Reset' message will briefly appear in the TV (in my case after button 4, but I still pressed button 5). 11. Switch off the power to the player. 12. Unplug the player for 5-10 seconds. 13. Plug in and play any region!! (I had a UK machine, i.e. region 2 and have tested a US, region 1 DVD which played fine. From the messages above I'm pretty sure other regions will also be fine.)
	Region code hack posted by dog-god, December 27 2003:
	my thanks to the guys above for the hack info worked perfect as posted just above me im region 2 ,ive tested on 5 region 1 ntsc ,all working perfect however the difference i had is i didnt have a floppy drive in the laptop i had access to so i made a bootable cd rom using the instructions here www.nu2.nu/bootcd/ just unpack the hack files to the dir it tells u on the above webpage hope this helps
	Other hack posted by hannon, January 23 2004:
	I tried the above IR port hack and it worked a treat I also to save hassle liining up my ir port to my dvd player ... sinply sent the signal from my ir port to a learning remote control ... this also allowed me to ensure that a signal had been sent........ thanks .........
	Region code hack posted by Jerker, January 30 2004:
	Hi, I have a DAV-S500 region 4 and have tried the hack above (using the PC IR port) and it does not work! Any help is welcome... Thanks
	Region code hack posted by Gary, April 08 2004:
	I can confirm that this hack posted by Claire on the DAV S400 works for the DAV S500 just fine. Thanks to Claire! I used a Palm Vx for the downloads. Region 2 player can now play Region 1. "1) Go to http://www.pacificneotek.com browse DOWNLOAD and select the remote for MOST USERS. Don't download the v1.171 as this is not registered and certain features don't work. I downloaded OmnniRemote Pro (which is free) 2) Go to http://dev0_2000.tripod.com and download the Sony_DVD_Hack.pdb 3) Install both files to your Palm Pilot 4) Turn your Sony DAV-S400 on with no disc inside. 5) ON THE EQUIPMENT NOT ON REMOTE - Press and hold both the Display and Stop keys while turning the volume control to the right. When your TV screen flickers, release the buttons. You should be seeing the Service Menu now. 6) Turn on the Palm Pilot and got to REMOTE feature 7) Make sure you select the SONY DVD HACK from the drop down menu in the top right-hand corner. The screen should show a row of buttons (ignore the screen instructions as they are for another SONY DVD Player) 8) I sent numbers 1 to 5 with the PALM and then turned off the DVD PLAYER using my normal remote (you will not see any messages on the screen telling you you have succeeded). 9) I tried playing a region 1 DVD and it WORKED. Hope this helps all you out there" Note: No need to press 0 once you are in the service screen, which is an instruction in other posts on here. I tried that and couldn't make it work. I also unplugged the DVD player for 5 seconds after tapping the Palm keys. No visible signs of anything happening on-screen...it just worked when I switched it on and put on a region 1 DVD!
	Region code hack posted by cheeky, May 01 2004:
	This link is broken: http://www.selen.org/files/REMOTE.TXT If anyone has the file would you kindly publish a link to this file on this site. Many thanks :)
	Region code hack posted by klintistwood, February 02 2005:
	Hi All, I was wondering if anyone has managed to make the hack work on a Pocket PC. I'm trying to make this work with TV Remote (from PDAwin), I have downloaded the ccf file from remotecentral.com and then associated a skin to it. When using this ccf on my pocket pc, my dvd player doesn't seem to react at all. Any idea ? Thanks K
	Region code hack posted by DC17, February 28 2005:
	Just to confirm that the hack provided by Gary and Claire (above) works a treat on the Sony Dav S500. I used my Sony Clie handheld and downloaded the two pieces of software as detailed above (omni remote pro 15 day trial and Sony DvD hack). Following the instructions I hacked the machine in seconds and am, now watching a region 1 dvd! Cheers!
	Region code hack posted by Brian Conway, May 23 2005:
	Hi I have a Region 1 Sony DAV-S500 and I tried using the remote control hack listed above. I don't have a palm pilot and I don't feel like messing with the parts...is there any other way I can hack it to play more than one region or make it a region 0?
	Region code hack posted by Killerspost, March 08 2006:
	To make the Sony Dav S500 region free, use a psp with Irshell, download from here http://www.ahman.co.nr/ and then download and use this rdf http://www.savefile.com/files/5058957 This Works !!!!
	Region code posted by Franklin, May 25 2006:
	I have a DAV-S500. First I use the crack with my computer with Irda port and nothing happend. Then I try it with the palm and I had the same result. In both cracks here exposed in detail, when the number 5 was pressing, the cursor on the screen was not doing anything, it was not receiving the sign unlike other numbers (1 to 4). There exists another way of being able to have multi region?