Region Free DVD - says converted unit plays on ALL US TVs

[mraor]

Hey guys!

I'm a big DVD fan, but I'm not a videophile, per se. I ran across this website that has a converted DVD player that will play all types of region DVDs on all US tvs, without a conversion pack that I read about on a lot of sites.

PAL playback on NTSC TV and NTSC playback on Pal TV:
This is a special feature available on very few DVD players. Most other region free players will play back all region discs but if the disc is Pal you will not be able to play it on a normal American TV's. With this dvd player you can play your European region 2 Pal discs. With this dvd player you can play Any disc on any TV.

Is all of this too good to be true? Is it even possible? Here's the webpage...I would love any feedback on this!

http://www.220-electronics.com/dvd/international.htm

[Darthkim]

It seems to be an ok player, but the Daewoo player i bought from sam's for 89 dollars seems to fit the bill. The only way i modded this by using a remote hack. I am watching a region 3 dvd as we speak.

It can even to pal to ntsc and vice versa.

I would check out this website for more info.

http://www.nerd-out.com/darrenk/

[renaldow]

Quite a few players convert PAL/NTSC, it's not a big deal and it's a mandatory staple on any regionless player. Unfortunately, 90% of all regionless players have a problem with PAL/NTSC conversion on anamorphic discs. The problem is that the chip in the player that does PAL/NTSC conversion is also the chip responsible for letterboxing anamorphic movies. Most players can only do 1 thing at a time, either convert or letterbox, but not both at the same time. So, if you've got an anamorphic PAL DVD it will convert it to NTSC, but will not be able to letterbox it properly, resulting in a stretched, non-letterboxed picture. (It's the same as having your player set to play on a wide screen TV) If you've got a widescreen TV, or a TV that does anamorphic squeeze on its' own, then it's no big deal. If you don't, then the movie is basically unwatchable.

Malata and JVC both make regionless players that do PAL/NTSC conversion and correctly play anamorphic DVD's. You can find out more about them in the International Forum here. If you don't need to worry about anamorphic playback probs then as Darthkim pointed out, there are other, cheaper regionless players than the one you linked to. Check out the link provided in that post.