Updated 9/9/03
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We have reports certain R2 PALs wil not play on the Toshiba 3900 with the hack.

If you have a definite answer or a hack, would you post us? Are these ALL Pathe' discs? Is that the problem?

1) Deer Hunter SE (confirmed non-play)
2) Bend it Like Beckham (confirmed non-play)
3) Dog Soldiers ?
4) Deathwatch ?
5) Preditor SE - (confirmed non-play)
6) In Search of Shakespeare BBC - (confirmed non-play)

This is a REAL disappointment, as it is the release that pushed me over the edge. I REALLY wanted this to work. Now I'll just view it on my tiny pc screen.

(maybe more to follow)

Playing fine for me-

Starman R2
Croupier R2
They Live R2
Army of Darkness R3
Chimes at Midnight R0 (PAL)

Hope Deer Hunter works, it's on it's way.

Please let us know!

thanks

Yeah, please if anybody know please tell us. I'm thinking of buying the Region 2 version of Bend It Like Beckham dvd and I don't want to waste money if this dvd does not play on this particular dvd player. Thanks for the input!

Can't get my 3900 to play:
Dog Soldiers
Deathwatch

Note: Both of them are distributed by Pathe'. Does anyone have any Pathe' discs that play?


Played fine:
Trainspotting: The Definitive Edition
The Bunker

That's interesting about those Pathé discs as Pathé UK has a history of supplying discs that don't like the Toshiba 2109 (UK/European).

Maybe they still use the same pressing plant.

EDIT

Do those Pathé discs load or not?

[I went to post this but the other 3900 thread is closed]


I'm glad you guys are getting quality multi-region PAL images from the Toshiba

It's odd me looking in from Europe (PAL) to see you guys in the main finally catching on to the wonders of multi-region.

Most TVs (and many VHS players and now most DVD players) in Europe accept/output pure NTSC. I think is was originally intended to help people bringing back or being sent NTSC VHS (home videos/weddings etc) -which is ironic when you consider the lengths studios now go to to make sure we don't get enjoyment from DVDs.

The first multi-region players (that played all NTSC/PAL discs very very well) appeared in the UK probably 5 years ago -that one player (Samsung 807) started off the UK and European DVD revolution!

I play NTSC as NTSC (on my PAL/SECAM TV -it accepts real NTSC) and PAL as PAL -so we seem to have the best of both worlds in Europe

My Pathe discs from France all play fine on the Tosh. Same problems with the UK Dog Soldiers. Something is different in the IFO layout (UOP perhaps) that prevents the hack from working as it can't directly access titles/chapters, which is how the Tosh circumvents the region protection. If I had to guess, I'd say its either a common authoring house or authoring package that is being used...UK ones seem to be the only troublesome discs...have yet to have a single problem with anything from France/HK/Korea/Japan/Thailand.

Latest- Just picked up (at Blackstar) Croupier, a superior Brit flick for 5.99 GBP, free shipping! Plays great on the 3900.

Another thread here reveals that this machine is now $80 at BB. (of course. it would. just paid $90 for mine!)

Waiting on more reports on Deer Hunter SE- is it really a problem?

Does the Toshiba have that chip that displays every 4th line of the PAL signal?

I have a Sampo and read somewhere that the picture quality wasn't as good because every 4th line was skipped. I foget what kind of chip it was that didn't do this.

FYI, BestBuy has the 3900 for $79.99 this week, plus, if you wait until thd 28th to buy and have a Rewards card, you get an additional 5000 points when you buy anything over $25.

Never heard of the issue. The 3900 quality is superb. I cannot believe that it would look as good if it missed every 4th line. (shrug)

This is now on sale at Amazon for 79.98..

Just picked mine up yesterday.. Please don't compare this player to the Cyberhome or the Samo 612 (I had both)..

This player is way better than both of them. Better Video quality than both and the sound quality really puts them to shame. If you think your Cyberhome is on par quality wise with this then you must be listening to the speakers that came with your TV and need glasses.

In other words, the player is worth getting especially at $79.99

Has anyone found a macrovision hack or mod for this player yet?

The 3900 has the chroma bug, I have it and it is driving me nuts! Invest in the JVC!! I have the JVC also, it destroys this 3900

The Deer Hunter SE works fine on my 3900. The only disc I've ever had problems with was the Predator SE.

What are some other superior R2 releases?

Hello all,

I bought the Toshiba 3900 last week thanks to the $80 Best Buy sale. I finally got to play with it today, and got it to play my PAL Attack of the Clones: Theatrical Cut bootleg and my R2 (Japan) Leon:Version Integral NTSC discs with no problem.

The only thing that is really bugging is that I can't figure out how to get it to display the time remaining on the disc! On my old Toshiba 1200, I would hit display and it would show me the elapsed and remaining time for both the title and chapter I was on. The 3900 only seems to display the elapsed time, and knowing how much is left of a title is a pretty important feature I assumed every dvd player would have.

Any ideas?

The 3900 only seems to display the elapsed time, and knowing how much is left of a title is a pretty important feature I assumed every dvd player would have.


That is very annoying. I own a Toshiba 330 and have to press display 3 times to see time remaining and then another twice to get rid of the text.

Much easier on my previous Toshiba.

Croupier is on sale at Blackstar. It cost me 5.99 GBP shipped. Goes for lots more here. Great film, great looking disc, with director's commentary.

Thanks for the update on Deerhunter SE, Tarantino!

Same here. My old Tosh machines all had that. The current does not seem to have the ability to do so. Neither does my Zenith. Is this a trend?

I've played every disc I have and it works great on them all.
That includes French R2, HK R3, and Spanish R2.
I had a HK disc that would not play on my Daewoo 5800 that did play on the Toshiba.
I love this machine myself, it's made my imports like new again with the jump in picture quality over the Daewoo.

I received my Toshiba 3900 today from Amazon and hooked it up temporarily to my bedroom TV by composite video. I tried the [menu] [1] [play] hack and it worked fine on my region 2 PAL disc of a Full Metal Jacket. However, that's the only non region 1 disc in my collection currently. I thought the video looked quite good through composite video and can't wait to hook it into my main system by component video later today.

That is not an ability of the player. My old DVD players always could always show time remaining, and now it seems that all newer ones are just starting to show time played. Kinda sucks, the remaining is important. But, if you look at the back of the box it tells you how long the movie is, so you can generally figure out how much time is remaining anyways.

updated 9/3/03 - bump - see first posting