Today I found out that my little $40 CyberHome DVD player can actually play DVDs from all over the world, simply by changing a setting on the DVD player, that I didn't know exists.

Anyway, so I'm now interested in getting DVDs from other regions.

My question is simple, I hope. Can I dive in and start buying DVDs from other regions, or do I need to take anything else into consideration, like my TV, etc... Is there anything that I really need to know?

I want to just go out and buy a bunch of DVDs that I never could before (or didn't think that I could), but I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I do so.

Thanks a lot guys.

Yes. There is one BIG thing you have to take into consideration.
Even though your player can play any region DVD, it may not be able to do proper pal --> ntsc conversion. The two video standards are incompatable. PAL (Phase Alternating Line) DVDs will certainly play, but since US televisions are NTSC, they will display improperly in black and white... or in gibberish.

My old player in Chicago is Cyberhome CH-500 and you are all set to use PAL dvds...nothing else is needed.

YES, there is something else you need to take into consideration called- MONEY!!!!!!

I find this to be the biggest issue for me.

Pro-B

That's what I thought DrGerbil.

Over at the place where I found out about my DVD being able to actually play DVDs from other regions, I found the following also when talking about the Black/White problem.

I have went to the TV Output option, and it does have the options from above, it has PAL/Auto/NTSC. If I set it for PAL, when I have a DVD that requires it, should it then be fine on my TV as this guy says?

what you have to do is set it up to NTSC output.....this way even when you watch PAL dvds on your NTSC TV the incoming signal (to the TV) will ALWAYS be NTSC and you will be able to watch everything in colour, etc.


Pro-B

Gracias.

A whole new world has been opened to me.

Yes, that world being Severe Credit Card Debt

Indeed.

Any other advice that you could give me to get started? I'm just rambling now, thanks for the help everyone.

Pro-B, you are so right...

BrentLumkin, now you can get some of these DVDs... (my recommendations)

, , ,

And if you cannot get a hold of the R1 of this, I would also check this out...

Yes, this is what I want.

Some recommendations!

Thanks a lot.

Some great places to shop:

amazon.co.uk - probably the best service o the internet, ncredibly fast and reliable. For items shipped to the U.S., the VAT (tax) is deducted from the displayed prices (approximately 17%).

ezydvd.com.au - fast shipping, great pricing, and their local tax (approx. 9%) is deducted from the regularly displayed prices.

If you're looking for Asian DVDs, check out dddhouse.com and layoyo.com - both reliable and used by many people here.

edited to correct ezydvd reference

Thanks are once again in order. I will take all of the advice that I can get right now.

EDIT:

ezydvd.co.au isn't coming up for me right now by the way.

It's actually www.ezydvd.com.au. I make that mistake all the time, forgetting that Down Under URLs have the "com" instead of "co" like most countries.

Speaking of Aussie etailers (sorry to hijack the thread) www.planetdvd.com.au seems to have better prices. How's the service compared to EzyDVD?

Hopefully PlanetDVD is good, just ordered Strange Days 16x9 Anamorphic from them. Love that movie and no Anamorphic version exists here.

Il Mare? One of my favs. Bought it from DVDBoxOffice (so it's region 1) last year.

Excellent film.

I never heard of the R1 version 'til you menitioned it. I bought it two months ago from yesasia... oh, well...

Cheers

DVD Smurf