Recommendations for region free dvd player
 

Could anyone recommend a good region free dvd player that converts both NTSC and PAL signals -- oh, and it has to be reasonably affordable too. Ideally, nothing over $200.

You would be suprised, but most of the cheapest DVD players can do all regions and PAL to NTSC conversion. I picked up a $40 player from Walmart which can play anything. I think it is a Cyberhome 300. The reason is, many of these cheaper DVD players were made to be sold elsewhere, not just the USA, and the manufacturers put in a chip that will play anything.

Philips 642, it does everything, Remote hack to make it region Free, does proper pal conversion, has progressive scan and is divix Certified. So you can play any video files you might download. You can find it for $70 at target.

I'm looking for a region free DVD player with HD upscan and either a DVI or HDMI output. Those seem to be much harder to find. Anyone know of anything?

I picked up the Phillips 642 for $70 at Walmart for my parents. The hack was ridiculously easy. I tested it out and it played R2 (NTSC), R2 (PAL), R3, R4 disks perfectly.

I own a Toshiba 4900 that I love but I was having a hard time finding one so I got the Phillips instead.

Also remember, that if you already have a good DVD player, it might be cheaper to get it modified instead of buying a second player. This site modifies a lot of different players for well under $200 in most cases:

http://www.jvbdigital.com/jvb.asp?cu...ome&page=faqe1


Stew

I have the DVP642 as well. It works great on non-region 1 discs and plays DIVX and XVID files. It's also the best player I've ever had for burned medium. I've never had a read error.

It does have one serious caveat (IMO): the progressive scan performance is awful. Jaggy-city, to the point where it's unwatchable. Watch the opening sequence of Return of the Jedi sometime (lots of thin, high-contrast lines) and you almost can't make out what's happening on the screen.

Luckly, the video quality is much smoother (on my TV) in interlaced mode.

I use the player as my primary player for its simplicity, also the damn thing plays any disc flawlessly.

Yamakawa 238 or 288. Both good all region players. http://www.yamakawadirect.com/

Does the Philips 642 play divx/xvid files burned on dvd-rw or do they have to be on cd-r/rw?

same here.

anyone?

Momitsu V880.

I haven't tried any RW but I have had no problems with DVD+- and CD Rs

Excellent. That's all i needed to know to pull the trigger. Thanks!

it's on sale for $60 this week or so...I just got one today....

2 questions:
1. Where can I find the region hack?
2. How is this at converting PAL to NTSC...any problem with ratios at all? My tv is NTSC only.

1. http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.ph...&Search=Search

2. It should be fine for PAL to NTSC. I don't have this particular player (my dad does), and it didn't have any problems playing PAL movies. when I tested it, my French 2 disc of Haute Tension looked fine (it's anamorphic widescreen and PAL). Hopefully more people can chime in on this question :)

asianxcore,

thanks for the link! very helpful.

well I finally got that hack to work after about 20 attempts....
I could not get the little "0" to show up as proof that it worked....
I guess exact timing is an issue.

but i'm glad it finally worked!!! :)

Another :up: for the Philips 642. I got mine from Santa (well, my debit card and Wally-World) and after returning the first one for some problems with the tray it has been smooth sailing since. Some issues with oddly encoded DIVX files have preventing me from calling this one bulletproof, but it's close.

Yeah .. I bought and returned a Philips 642 not too long ago. There were other reasons why I didn't like the player .. blinding display lighting, lack of timing display (all faceplate issues) .. but who am I to complain for a $70 player.

Anyway, the hack worked after the first attempt. Didn't try any PAL disks, but everything else I threw at it worked well ... CDR, VCD, CD-RW, DVDs from reg 3 and 2.

The other drawback (and I didn't do my research) was lack of DTS signal passing. Does anyone know if this player does this? Because I'd almost be willing to return to one if I knew it could do it. It's an important feature. Thanks ...

I have mine hooked up via optical cable and my receiver detects and plays DTS audio from the Philips 642 fine. Just watched my Divimax Day of the Dead in DTS Saturday.

I'm really happy with my Pioneer that isn't too old but I'm really needing region free nowadays. I think I may pick up this Philips and use as a region free player.

Im going to pick one up this week at bestbuy with the 10 percent off coupon! But problem is I'm not sure which hack works? I've seen numerous amounts of different types of hacks... if it's the DVP642 with no firmware upgraded, out of the box, how do i make it region free? If someone has done it please reply ASAP... i really wanna start watching my region free dvds!

BTW, don't upgrade the firmware to 1109, leave it at 531. I did it and not only did the playback quality go down for AVIs, but it also enabled Macrovision on me. I backrevved to 531 and all is well again.

any1?

From the International forum:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...6&page=1&pp=25

or check vcdhelp.com for available hacks for all DVD players