A little advice for an upgrade to an all region DVD player?
 

I have a couple of questions and would appreciate any advice/opinions.

First, I have been considering an upgrade to an all region DVD player. I recognize the many benefits of this decision but just the tiny bit of research that I've started so far has shown that there can be a problem with these players converting PAL properly. The latest OPPO machine seems pretty nice for a reasonable price but in general, I'm concerned that there will be unforseen problems that I don't want to deal with, much less waste money on. I don't aspire to, or have the opportunity to have the top of the line, cutting edge equipment and would essentially like to have a player that will play movies from other regions with no headaches.

This leads me to me second question which is inspired by my recent quest to find a copy of Phantasm II. There have been other examples but it seems all too common to have a movie unavailable in RI or just plain out of print. Is there a good way or resource for finding out which titles are on the horizon? Fletch is a good example of the inspiration behind this question. I went to the trouble of buying it when it was out of print, luckily for a decent enough price, but now it's be re-released and expanded. Had I know, obviously, I would have just waited.

Thanks in advance,

-Andy

I wish i could give you an advice man but i guess we are on the same boat i would like an all region dvd player also. I have an ZENITH dvc2200 and i google to see if it could be hacked or find a all region code but i dont know to much about this, Some of the sites on the list it appears that my player could become a region free player but they are charging for the code or cd. Anyways take care

If any of you want to know if the DVD player you own has a region-free hack, then just go here.

I own and recommend the Philips DVP642, which can be picked up for $50 or less. It plays everything to throw at it.

It would help if you could say what your specific concerns are.

For what it's worth, I have an Oppo and it converts PAL to NTSC flawlessly.

Also, this thread probably belongs in the hardware area. You'd probably get more help there.

I have one too, and it's been my only dvd player for coming up on two years now. It really plays pretty much everything, it's slim, it's cheap, and it's nice looking, and it has the easiest region-free hack ever. It's like a four button push sequence on the remote.

I notice that they have it on amazon.com from 29.95 to 49.99 price range great price makes me wanna buy one now. I have a question is there a site where i could get the hack from to make it region free, i mean a good site where i could get the code from alot of those site ask you to purchase the code or cd or whatever it is

^ ever heard of google?

1. Connect player and power it up
2. Open disc tray
3. Press the Disc Menu button (not system menu)
4. Press 7, 8, 9, Ok, 0
5. A message will appear saying 'Old region code = 1'... New region code = 0'

thank you very much you beat me to it cause i found the h code at videohelp.com i google it sorry forasking to many questions lol is that im new when it comes to the region free player thing anyways now all i need is go purchase it thank you

The Philips 642 is OK for old tube type televisions. If I'm not mistaken, this is the player which turns off progressive scan when you power it off. I had one but quickly replaced it with an Oppo player with digital video output. The picture difference was astounding. If you have a fairly poor TV then get the Philips, but if you have a decent TV, then I'd go with the Oppo. The 642 is currently on a tube television and I am satsfied with it's performance there. Like Brent said, it definately plays anything I throw at it.

Anther big :up: for the Philips. Mine has been chugging away many hours each week for about three years now.

You may want to mention you have the 981.

I believe the 970 has a bit of a problem with 3:2 pulldown, but I still reccomend them both.

Thanks for all of the advice. It sounds like it may not be as big an issue as I thought to find an affordable player. The Phillips is so inexpensive that it's worth the risk to test it's quality. If I'm not happy with it, I can then go to the OPPO. Thanks again everyone.

The Philips DVP-642 is the old version. The newer ones are DVP-5140 and DVP-5960. I have both the 642 and 5140. Check this site out for comparisons

Check your available connections, as the 5140 does NOT have S-Video. Check your local Wallymart of Circuit City for the Philips players. The 5960 (HDMI) goes on sale at CC occasionallly.

...and buy your cables, if needed, from Monoprice.com.

I have the Philips 5960. It's a good player for the money, and the USB port really comes in handy.

I have a Toshiba v592 combo player and it appears that there is a way to unlock it to make it region free. However, the stuff I've found with the above link and a google search only provide outdated links. Any ideas on how to make this unit region free(safely)?

Now that I've looked a little more, it seems that a PAL-NTSC converter is necessary to play region 2 discs(?). Should I bother trying to unlock my Toshiba or just go for the Philips listed above? Will the Philips play PAL discs? Man, the more I look, the more confused I get.

This may not be correct but I think players are generally manufactured to be marketed globally. So rather than build separate players for NTSC and PAL markets, they build one for all.

If you get Japanese R2 discs they are NTSC.

I don't know about the Philips or Toshiba players, but Oppo's players convert PAL to NTSC. The DV-981HD that I have does so flawlessly.