OK, I might be asking for a little bit too much here, but I think I'll still give it a try. There are a lot of people around here who are very on the ball and know of many good deals.

I was hoping to make my Panasonic DMR-EH55 region free via hack, because it has HDMI. The link provided on videohelp.com is now dead. No help to me there. But I also read that even if I hacked this player that it can't play PAL discs. Well, that would be pretty shitty. (Can anyone confirm or deny this?)

So, what I am looking for is a cheap or reasonably priced player that could easily be made region free (preferably by its remote), has HDMI, supports DTS and all that jazz, and is able to play PAL discs.

And before anyone tries to sell me on other players, I do own a hacked Phillips DVP642. So it's not a matter of not having a region-free player. I'm really wanting something that will allow me to use the HDMI on my TV.

I would also be open if anyone knows of a good hack for my Panasonic DMR-EH55, but if it won't play PAL discs ...

Thanks for the help!

I have the OPPO 970 and it has HDMI and plays PAL discs.

Oppo 980H, released this past August.. The 970 does not do 1080p.

The latest phillips line up has a couple of models with HDMI out and everything else you need. In the ~$60 range.

Agreed 100%!!

Or you could consider the slightly more expensive 981.

Pro-B

Thanks for the recommendations everyone.

I'm going to look into all suggestions and hopefully will be making a decision soon.

As for that problem, use http://archive.org. You will get e.g. http://web.archive.org/web/200701081...d=32&Itemid=54
Incidentally, their Pana Forum is still available at http://www.dcevolution.net/panasonic/forum/

Cheers ...

If you have a larger TV, you should probably invest in the Oppo 981 rather than the 980. I have both, and on some DVDs, the differences, while subtle in most places, are dramatic in others. You can buy direct from Oppo, or from an authorized reseller like HKFLIX.com. Same price at HKFLIX, and they give you a cool "region free" t-shirt for free, which is pretty cool.

dont know if you got a player yet but i have been very pleased with the
Pioneer DV-400V-K ..
i got it at www.220-electronics.com

I want a free T-shirt ...

This is a little off topic but I have an upconvert player that is hooked up via HDMI and I recently found a region free hack. Has anyone done this with any of their players, I just want to make sure it works, works well and doesnt ruin my player. Thanks

Looking to buy a cheaper model, and this one looked decent:
Philips DVP 5982 - $81.99

http://www.amazon.com/PHILIPS-DVP598...601754&sr=1-15

I've the very same model, in Argentina is Philips 5980 with HDMI and the PQ is Superb!!!...I have it connected via HDMI to a LCD Sammy and let me tell ya that you won't regret the purchase...chepear plus a great PQ...!!

Noirfan, that philips is going to be on sale at best buy for $50 fri and saturday for black friday. you can check out the add already. I'll be picking one up since my bedroom dvd is acting up a bit.

Wow, thanks for the heads up...Never taken part in any of these black friday sales. Can I call them up and have them hold one for me like a DVD? I could go there after work on Friday, but don't know how crazy these sales get.

Is the 5982 region-free out of the box? Or is there a hack somewhere?

there is a remote hack for it. go to dvdrhelp.com

as for best buy I believe it says 5-10 friday and 9-12 saturday but check the ad.

You are correct on the hours BuddhaWake. Even if I am unable to find a copy during the sale, their online price is only $62.99. Totally psyched for this - R2 here I come! Can't wait to delve into the MoC releases, as well as the 2 disc SE of Belle de Jour,Cassavetes' Love Streams, and the complete Vigo set. Glad I didn't open my R1 New Yorker of Atalante.

Congrats on going region-free. Did you know that the French release of Love Streams has non-removable French subs and that the narration is in untranslated French? Not that this should necessarily stop you; just wanted to make sure you knew.

According to DVD Beaver, the subtitles are not "forced on many standard players." I assumed that meant I could turn them off?

Then the review I saw was probably from one of those unlucky souls whose player couldn't remove them. In any case, if you've found your way to DVDBeaver you're already well on your way. Happy hunting.

I'm still using a Jaton (moved from a Malata) - the best my set does is 1080i and only has component for quality image. I would like to retire this Jaton and get a new one - the questions I have are - which one has X-Y scaling like Jaton and Malata of old had? The zoom out feature was really quite handy to me and I must have Pal-NTSC proper. Thanks.

Looks like I'll hold off on the region free player for now- since all the titles I wanted are way too expensive, there doesen't seem to be any real rush to buy the player yet. Hopefully cdwow or Amazon has a sale of some sort over the next few months.

The Complete Vigo is 60% off at Amazon UK: £11.97 before removal of VAT. How low does it have to go to be cheap enough for you?

That is an excellent price. I was thinking more of the MoC titles.