Converting Samsung BD-F5100 Blu-ray & DVD player to become region free (unlocked)

Most genuine DVD and Blu-ray movie discs carry a region code, and the movie can only be played in a Blu-ray and/or DVD player with firmware having the same region code with the disc.

Depends on the manufacturer of the Blu-ray / DVD player, certain players don't implement the region code checking and restriction, and can play the dics from all region. Certain other branded players, particularly Samsung, Sony, etc. impose the region code restriction.

For DVD, the region code is assigned as follow:

• 0 = Playable in all regions
• 1 = North America, Hawaii and Bermuda
• 2 = Middle East, Western Europe, Central Europe, Egypt, French overseas territories, Greenland, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland
• 3 = Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan 
• 4 = Australia, New Zealand, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Oceania, South America
• 5 = The rest of Africa, Former Soviet Union, the Indian subcontinent, Mongolia, North Korea
• 6 = Mainland China

For Blu-ray, the region code is assigned as follow:

• A = East Asia (except Mainland China and Mongolia), Southeast Asia, North America, South America and their dependencies
• B = Africa, Southwest Asia, Europe (except Russia and Kazakhstan), Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand) and their dependencies
• C = Central Asia, East Asia (Mainland China and Mongolia only), South Asia, central Eurasia and their dependencies

The problem with this region code is that, if you are staying in Southeast Asia and want to play a Hollywood DVD movie in genuine discs, the movie might not play due to this region code restriction. This actually encourages people to look for pirated copy or to download the DVD ripped copy from the Internet.

Anyhow, there are methods to hack certain Bly-ray and/or DVD players by hardware chip modification, or just by unlocking the region restriction using the remote control.

I have a Samsung BD-F5100 Blu-ray & DVD player shipped with the latest firmware version 1019.0. Its region code for DVD and Blu-ray is stated on the label stuck behind the unit.

The steps to unlock this Samsung BD-F5100 Blu-ray & DVD player to make it region free and enabling it to play DVD from all the regions are as below.

Step 1: Take out any disc in the player, and power off the unit.

Step 2: Switch it on. Wait until the Main Menu of the player appears on the TV screen.

Step 3: Press the REPEAT button (the black button under the yellow "C") on its remote control.

Step 4: Use the keypad on remote control to punch in the following 5 digits, depends on the DVD region code stated in the label (the DVD region code in the picture above is "3").

For Region 1: 2 9 3 3 4
For Region 2: 5 7 5 3 8
For Region 3: 5 6 7 3 2
For Region 4: 7 6 8 8 4
For Region 5: 5 3 8 1 4 
For Region 6: 2 4 4 6 2

Step 5: Once you punched in the above 5-digit codes, you will see your current region code shown up on the top left corner in your TV screen. Before this region code disappears, quickly punch in "9" with your remote control.

Step 6: The number on the TV screen will change to "9". Wait for it to disappear.

Step 7: Power off the player.

Your BD-F5100 player should be unlocked to region free by now. Repeat Step 1 to Step 4 above, you will be able to see your region code has changed to "0".

Test it with a DVD disc from different region. The movie should be able to play in your player now.

Eco Breeze EB-2228 ceiling mount air circulator with LED lights and ionizer

I have recently installed an Eco Breeze EB-2228 ceiling mount air circulator with LED lights and ionizer.

It is basically a small fan with energy saving motor (claimed to be able to save up to 30% electricity) function to improve air circulation and regulate the room temperature, best working together with a nearby air-cond. It will boost the cooling effectiveness and efficiency of the air-cond, and claimed to be able to save up to 20% electricity consumption cost of air-cond too.

Under the fan is a 360 degree air jet rotation grill, which can let us manually direct the air blowing direction by stopping the grill rotation at a fixed position, or to let the air circulate 360 degree by keeping the jet rotating.

Surrounding the grill are several blue and white colour LED lights (the black dots in the photo above. They are off when the photo was taken), which will produce a soft, dim, aesthetic lighting.

There is a built in ionizer, which can be manually turned on or off.

At the outer part are 4 E27 lamp bulb base, which can put in LED bulbs. The light bulbs do not come together with the air circulator package, and need to purchase separately. In the photo above, I use the 5 watts warm white (yellowish) LED bulbs, which are pretty bright when all 4 of them are turned on.

This Eco Breeze air circulator comes with an all-in-one remote control, which can control separately for:

• Fan on/off
• Fan speed (slow, medium, high)
• Louver vent oscillation on/off
• Ionizer on/off
• On/off timer (2, 4, 6 hours)
• Light on/off
• Circulation among 5 lighting modes

The 5 lighting modes are:

• Single LED blue light
• 4 LED white light
• Air circulator internal blue light
• 2 diagonal light bulbs
• 4 light bulbs

After installation, this Eco Breeze EB-2228 air circulator is flat with the ceiling. It needs a 6 inches space above the ceiling to fit in completely.

The fan blades is pretty short though. Therefore, do not expect the wind produced will be as powerful as normal ceiling fan or wall fan, which has longer blades than this air circulator. After all, it is meant to circulate the air and best working together with nearby air-cond or ceiling fan, rather than blowing air like normal fan by itself.

Yale YKB/200/CB2 20 hooks security key cabinet box with combination lock

I have just purchased a Yale YKB/200/CB2 20 hooks security key cabinet box with combination lock to secure and organize my apartment keys.

This key box with powder coated black surface can be wall mounted. It can be secured with its 3-dial resettable combination lock. This keyless access design is the main attraction for me to buy it, as most other similar products are using normal key lock, causing the user to still need to carry the key to unlock the box.

This key box is pretty small. Its dimension is 20cm x 16cm x 8cm. It contains 20 key hooks inside, able to store many keys. You can lock your car's remote control and apartment door/lift access RFID cards in it too.