Sell me on a multi-region player - I'm lazy

[KillerCannibal]

Ok, I've recently decided that I want to ditch my old Sony 1080i upconverting DVD player, and my Philips 642-N multi-region player, for one badass, 1080p upconverting multi-region player. I've been out of the mr-player loop for a while now, so I'm not up-to-date on what's good and what isn't. Can someone recommend a universally-hailed, relatively-inexpensive (read: under $100) player that'll handle all my upconverting needs in addition to playing all my foreign discs flawlessly?

All info is greatly appreciated.

[cine]

Philips DVP5990/37 DVD -- currently on sale at J&R (http://www.jr.com/philips/pe/PHI_DVP5990/) for $47.

[NoirFan]

How's the noise level on that one during playback? My 5982 can get distractingly loud at times.

[cine]

My 5990's mechanical noise is loud during disc loading but not very noticeable while it plays.

[NoirFan]

Good to know. I'll probably just hold off until I get a region-free Blu-ray player, and play my R2 DVDs through that.

[dmkb]

Does this play avi's?
And how well does it convert PAL-NTSC?

[cine]

Does this play avi's?
And how well does it convert PAL-NTSC?
It does play avi, and I have no complaint about its PAL-NTSC conversion. It's worth noting that there exists 3rd-party firmware update (http://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/new-firmware-for-5990-37-thanks-to-vb6rocod-t355675.html) for this player which provides some nice user-interface improvements.

I bought my 5990 for its region-free as well as its USB media interface. Even though I now have a multi-region Curtis Mathes BDP as well as a Pioneer BDP I find myself still using the Philips quite often simply due to my lack of patience for the boot-time of both BD players.

[dmkb]

Thanks for that cine - my two region free players have never handled PAL movement well and they are both failing so I'm considering alternatives. You helped make my decision.

[KillerCannibal]

Philips DVP5990/37 DVD -- currently on sale at J&R (http://www.jr.com/philips/pe/PHI_DVP5990/) for $47.

I'm totally happy sticking with Philips, and this one sounds perfect. Thanks!

[Spottedfeather]

I looked and the listing doesn't say anything about multiregion.

[meritocracy]

I looked and the listing doesn't say anything about multiregion.A simple hack via the remote enables multi-region playback.

[cine]

I looked and the listing doesn't say anything about multiregion.
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/philips-dvp5990/9370

[dino88]

So is everyone that bought this player happy with their purchase? I'm looking for a new multi region player right now and may jump on this one as well.

Does anyone know of any free shipping codes for J&R? I've never bought anything from them before.