Inability to make Evesham laptop's DVD multi-region?

Hi,

I recently bought a hi-spec Evesham laptop, online.

Before buying it, I'd checked at their Bristol showroom that the DVD player could be made multi-region (in so far as region could be changed indefinately). I was told that yes it could, simply by d/loading DVD Genie.

However, the DVD supplied (a Mat****a DVD RAM UJ-845S) cannot, as far as I've been able to find, be made region-free, & Evesham refuse to do anything about it, as they say it's not a function they advertise & seem (rather oddly imo) to deny their salesman would have told me what, he did in fact, tell me.

I'm posting here in the hope someone may know how to make the thing region-free, or have other advice.

I've tried 4 separate DVD d/load hacks ... DVD Genie is no more, it's been replaced by DVD RegionFree + CSS - I've tried that, it does n't work. I've also tried AnyDVD, DVD43, & MAster DVD Region Free - none of those work, either. I've tried an RPC-1 site to find a firmware fix for the DVD - there is n't one. MAt****u seem to be linked with Panasonic ... there's no firmware fix for a Panasonic UJ845 either.

My current plan is to buy a new dvd-ram after checking that the particular model I buy can be made region free, & install it myself ... plus write a stiff letter of complaint to Evesham.

As I've a massive DVD collection, a third of which are region 1, this is a major concern to me ... any suggetions as to a good - hackable - DVD Ram would also be welcome.

Eyam.