Cheap multi-region DVD player now at Best Buy
 

The Cyberhome CH-DVD 300 is in stock at most Best Buys again (I'm guessing for the holiday season). It's $46.99.

It's easily region hacked.

http://www.cyberhome.com/images/300.jpg

I have had one of these units for about 6 months. It has been used as a back DVD and my boys use it back in his room.

The only Internation DVD that has been used is "The Scarlet Pimpernel" 1982 TV Version.

The clearity and color is not as good as my JVC, but it is only $50 and is Region free.

Region hack is:
1. Turn on unit with no DVD in tray
2. Push menu, 1, 9 (then a screen will come up)
3. Third line from bottom is region #
4. Scroll down to the region line
5. Arrow over to the 1
6. Press Play
7. enter # of what region you want to play
or just push 0 for all region.
8. Push Play to enter
9. Push Menu button to exit, i think.

To change your Video output to NTSC only
(if you put in R2 DVD, it will send out a detected R2 Region and send a PAL signal to your NTSC TV. You need to have NTSC as the "Forced" TV signal.)
1. Turn on system with no DVD in it
2. Hit the setup key
3. Arrow down to Video Output (or whatever it is called)
4. Change from Auto to NTSC only
5. Hit play to enter.

keep checking vcdhlp.com for updates

How is the PAL to NTSC conversion? A lot of the lower priced region free players have difficulty converting anamorphic PAL to NTSC.

Dang.... $50.... I might have to give myself one for Christmas :)

Not sure...

My Cyber Home CH-DVD 500 does the conversion correctly.

I'd like to know this as well! I already have a region-free player but it sucks at the PAL conversion. I'd pick this up for $50 if it can do it correctly.

Does anybody know if Best Buy is going to put Cyberhome 500 back in stock as well? My local Frys has it for I think either $79.99 or $69.99 and I don't want to pay that much knowing some of you guys payed only for about $50....

The Cyberhome units do anamorphic PAL to NTSC conversion correctly.

depends on what you mean by correctly.

it does a decent job of converting PAL to NTSC *BUT* the Cyberhome 300 will not properly convert anamorphic PAL material on 4x3 displays.. is shows it as stretched..

You can read all about it in the nerd-out.com forums...

FWIW, I own one and it's my third one... One started skipping and got worse.. returned it.. the next one froze and I got my disc stuck inside.. had to open it with a screwdriver to get the disc out. returned that one... The one I have now seems to work OK. There are some discs that it has trouble with occasionally and it makes me nervous everytime I use it but it's not my only DVD player :)

--mike

it seems that it will be $29.99 after $10 rebate at Radio Shack on BF 7am to noon or $24.99 after $15 rebate at Long's on BF according to threads on fatwallet when I did a search for cyberhome.

So the Cyberhome 300 doesn't handle PAL anamorphic? Hmmm. I didn't realize that, I thought it worked exactly as the model 500 does.

I can assure you the Cyberhome 500 DOES correctly display PAL anamorphic discs with no stretching. I guess it is worth spending an extra $20!

Just sold my 500...the red push in progressive is a little hard to take.

Iron Giant, I 've been using the JVC XV-Sa70BK dvd player. Hooked to my HD ready Sony through the component video out. I always thought the picture was good but really soft. Read online that the picture looks that way through component and progressive scan.
Well, i bought this Cyberhome dvd player at Radio Shack for the multi region dvd function. Then i decided to hook it up through the component cables, and i was BLOWN away. PIcture was not soft at all, but Sharp and CLEAR. How could you say not as good as the JVC ? It does it all.
My only problem is that the CYberhome doesnt have optical audio out, and my receiver only has optical in, no coax in for digital.
QUES, can you guys recommend me a player with similar sharp picture thought component/progressive that has a optical out for audio? thanks.

Since you have a RS around, you can just get their coax/optical converter for $15.

cool thanks.

I noticed that the line doubler in my Cyberhome 300 is of poor quality.. It combed a lot.. I used the doubler in my TV instead.. it seems to do a better job with difficult discs

--mike

DRAT! My third Cyberhome CH300 just died... Went to power it on and nothing happens....and this time I can't return it. :( Oh well, at least this one lasted ~6 months.. Funny thing is my co-worker who bought one when I did had his die recently too.. No more CH300s for me..

Gonna pickup a Philips 727 for region free playback now..
$74.84 - $10.00 coupon+free shipping=$64.84 @ amazon

--mike

I just recently finally, after years of contemplation, started buying overseas DVDs, and I have encountered the above-quoted problem. I was going to start a thread enquiring whether some DVD players can't handle anamorphic, but I searched first and found this 5-year-old discussion.

Can anyone recommend a good all-region, all-code, anamorphic-compatible player for under $100? Preferrably one that is as small and compact as the Cyberhome.

You are in the wrong forum, really. Check out the International forum.

But many people seem to love the Philips line, usually around $60.

Yes, thanks, I came across some positive talk of the Philips DVP5982. I assume it has no trouble with PAL anamorphic? I don't like the size of the player, but I can live with it.

I would say no trouble. I had one briefly and it was just fine for PAL. That is, mine was an earlier model, can't remember it. But should be similar.

I didn't like the overall pic quality compared to my Malata at the time and I got something different, but PAL and NTSC were pretty much indistinguishable on it (except for the PAL speedup), so the conversion was excellent.

Thanks for the reply. What I forgot to ask earlier is about disabling Macrovision. Reportedly, most or all of the newer players can no longer be hacked to disable Macrovision.
Looks like the old Cyberhome 500, with the proper anamorphic conversion and capacity to switch off Macrovision, would have been perfect for my present needs, but I'm 5 years too late to be able to buy it, at least at a reasonable price. I guess I'll grab the Philips.

That's the model I have. I've had no problems with it so far. A big plus is the USB port. Congrats on going region-free, you'll wonder how you survived without it. I have three words for you: Masters of Cinema.

^I finally had my fill of waiting, waiting, waiting for some of the stuff I want to show up on R1. Most of the movies that remain on my "want" list are not out in any region, but going all-region at least makes available those that are in release anywhere in the world.
We have had the Cyberhome 300 since it came out years ago, but I never realized it could be converted to region-free. I wouldn't have bought other-region DVDs even if I had known, because I have never liked the idea of owning DVDs that could not be played if, say, I wanted to bring one over to a friend's house.