Just got myself a DVL-H9 from Japan for what I think is a low price of $190 (plus $150 for shipping) and was looking to see if the DVD playback can be modded like a 909/919 but sadly I'm not sure what DVD player it's using.. wiki says its based on DV-9 but googling that just gets Elite DV-09 & DV-S9.

The Macrovision hack/off looks to be the same as the other models, not that I'll be copying DVD on it but just being doing it anyway.
Just can't find the Region-free hack part, if it can be done (I think it can be done as the boards are set up almost the same.)
CN703 is not on the board next to the FW chip.

I'll most likely recap the board someday using Polymer Capacitors but they look good right now.
I've seen people say it does better than a CLD-R7G, that's another model I have & now I'm looking to sell my old DVL-909 (full hack Macrovision off, DTS, Region Free)

P.S. I know its not good for DVD playback, just like to set its Region to 1 so I can play my DVDs on it, not that I'm going to do it much.

DVL-909 Info at http://decuslib.com/decus/vmslt01b/net/pioneer909.html

Macrovision hack looks to be the same as this, newer chip but looks to be the same pinout. (labels are the same as well)

I also have a CLD-R7G. In yr opinion, how is the picture quality of DVL-H9 comparing to CLD-R7G?

I would replace my DVL-919 (Japan) with the DVL-H9 IF I could find a region hack, and get the H9 to play PAL DVDs. The 919 is unlocked and plays PAL DVDs by default.

The picture quality does look a little better than the CLD-R7G in my opinion (like 20~30%) so if you can get it for a good price like me, I'll do it for sure.


I'm almost sure I got the right pinout now for the Region Free part. However, I'm not sure it works but the line is on the H9 as well.
I'm sure it can play PAL DVD but it will not play them NTSC like the DVL-919 can.

Looks like IC601 Pin 4 to GND does the Region Hack.