T1000

I've ordered this one off Amazon;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...067564-1004611

Mainly for Region 1 SE dvds, but will I need anything else to play the dvds? Anything to do with my tv and such or will the player be fine?

Trigger

depends on where you live. I'll assume you live in the UK - in which case, you won't have to do anything because your tv probably plays both PAL and NTSC discs. In the US, our tvs are NTSC only for the most part and so we need a DVD player that performs the PAL to NTSC conversion on discs from Europe and other areas.

The Valeyard

Speaking of which....what's the best Region Free Player around these days for someone living in the US? I've been eyeing the Oppo but the highest connection I could use is the Component outputs which I hear range from Decent to Subpar with this player. Does the picture really look that bad via Component or is that just the talk of Home Theater Buffs?

I love the price of the Cyberhomes but I've never had luck with one lasting more than 6 months.

M Polo

For the price, usually $50 or so alot of people go with the Philips DVP642. It's cheap and with a small remote hack will play all other regions and do PAL to NTSC conversion. It has DTS capability, DIVX, etc. I have had mine for over a year now and now one single problem and a great progressive scan picture.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...59208?n=172282

The Valeyard

Thanks, M Polo.

Does that one have the "Angle Icon" problem (pops up even when it's turned off) I've heard about or am I thinking of another Player?

Thanks again.

mbs

I <3 my Oppo, but it is very plain through the component. It's 480i only and doesn't look nearly as good as my Philips DVP-642. I would definately not recommend it if you cannot use the DVI-out.

I second the DVP-642 recommendation. Simple to set to R0 and does a decent enough job with PAL-to-NTSC. My 642 is running at 480p, but it looks much better than conponent out on my Oppo to my HDTV.

I don't think there is any "angle icon" problem with the 642. At least I didn't ever notice it. The one conern is that the quality control isn't the best and there seem to be a decent number of dead units out of the box. Just buy it somewhere you can exchange it easily in case you have a problem. That said, mine has lasted about 1.5 years with a decent amount of use and no problems at all.

The Valeyard

Alright, guys. Thanks for the words. I think I'm gonna dive into the 642.

Thanks again!

M Polo

Walmart usually has this on sale so if you HAPPEN to get a dead one it's easy to return. I've never noticed any icon problems.

fourizonly

FYI. Oppo will introduce a player with upconversion through component late April. Their customer service is superb!

koolgrap

I got myself a pio dv-575
i modified the firmware to play all regions
it was set to region 2 until i removed it
maybe it also works with other regions

it's a good player, not like the one with a predefined region-free configuration

d2cheer

Anyone make a player with X & Y scaling or infinite zoom anymore??

I had the Malata N996 but it just died... I also have the Jaton with it, but am wondering if there is another player with it.

I will also agree with the Philips DVP642 recommendation, great player for the money. I have two of them.

The Valeyard

Oh REEEAAALLY??? Well that's info I needed to hear. If the reviews sound good, I may just get that one. If not, I'll grab that Philips. I can wait an extra month or so.


Thanks for the update!

T1000

I found a better player on there.

woot!

Trigger

forgot to mention this - http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/ as a good resource for region free players.

cine

Last night my nearly 5-year old Malata N996 put out some firework (couple of loud pops and a bit of smoke) and then went dead, so I'm looking for a recommendations of good quality players that perform correct PAL->NTSC conversion.

TIA.

Ron G

I love my Oppo.

mrhan

I also bought an Oppo to replace my dead 996, but missed the 996 x/y scaling feature. It looks like your player had the same problem as mine. I had it repaired eventually and it's been running strong since. Check out this site if you want to repair it. It doesn't mention the Malata but they work on them, too.

http://www.drx9000repair.netfirms.com/


I would still buy a new player, though. The Oppo is not a good choice if your TV doesn't have DVI or HDMI 'cause it doesn't do the upconversion on the Component imput.

Dane

I believe the Cambridge and Oppo are the same player. Just something I heard, though.

cine

Has anyone tried the NeuNeo Helios HVD-2085 HKFlix frequently advertises on this forum?

Mammal

I love my Oppo too.

digitalfreaknyc

Eek. Mine is reaching that date. What happened to the disc inside?
After this goes, I won't be region free any more, that's for sure.

cine

Luckily, I was able to get the tray to open right after the first couples of pop sounds and retrieve the disc (a library-loaned copy of Paradise Now) before the player went completely off to its "Paradise".

FWIW, I just shipped the dead power board to drx9000repair.netfirms.com for repair (mrhan: thanks for the tip) since I'm not getting the sense that the current breed of players have the N996's conversion and scaling capabilities.

mrhan

Your Welcome. BTW, if you want to keep up on other Malata problems check out the nerdout forum that was mentioned. Here's the direct link to the Malata forum. That's where I found the guy to repair the board. He goes under the name ArizonaSteve.

http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewfo...075395c7902d53

E Unit

Id anyone if interested in a good hi-def upconvertor dvd player, U would highly suggest the Samsung HD 755. I got mine for about $60 bucks at Fry's. They even have it for sale online for $59.00.

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/466...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

I bought this about 2 months ago, only with the intention of using it as an upconvertor. But Dullboy tipped me off that there is actally a hack for this. Catch? Of course, but it's atually simple but requires using a universal remote, which I bought seperately. Per the site videohelp.com, some people tried using different brand remotes. You can read here.

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.ph...sung+DVD-HD755

Please be aware however, the hack itself is a bit confusing, so I'll just state how I did it. I bought from Fry's as well the Philips Universal Remote PMDVR8. What you need to do is to set the audio code to AIWA 786. Once you do that, with no disc on the player, point the remote and again, press 786. The tray will then eject, and onscreen it will say something like "servo adusted". All done. So far I've thrown in disc from Regions 1, 2, 3, and 4, and all have worked just fine. Picture looks damn good too. Of course, it upconverts, so I would hope so. Some movies i've put in my old Philips 642 and put it in the Samsung, and the picture is like night and day. Of course some I can't tell much of a difference, mostly on the older movies.

E Unit

Damn, ignore my really crappy typos on my post......