I was directed here when I was considering getting a region free player. I'm thinking about the Philips 5160 (IIRC).

But for now, I was wondering how the PAL vs NTSC encoding works in terms of seeing a R2 release on an NTSC TV, etc. Does it depend on the release, etc?

It only really depends on if your player has an "Ntsc to Pal converter" which essentially converts pal into ntsc, so you don't need to have a pal tv.

Also - there is a multisystem TV around that can accept both PAL and NTSC. I think its pretty common in some country but I'm not sure you can find these kind of TV in North America though.

If the 5160 is the replacement for the 642, you do not need a PAL tv to watch PAL discs. The Philips player has a built-in converter.

Do confirm that there is a region hack for the model before you purchase, though.