Hello Hello

Long time collector of dvds but want to start buying non-region 1 dvds, especially England's for the tv series, unreleased movies, and different versions of previously owned. But looking on Amazon.com, I was kinda of intimidated by the diversity of players.

I'm not looking for anything special just a cheap working all regions player. Any help is much appreciated.

BuddhaWake

philips dvdp5982 or the like.

clckworang

As BuddhaWake said, you can find a cheap Philips player that will do a pretty good job. Mine died after a year or so, but when you only spend about $40 on it, it takes the sting out of having to replace it.

BuddhaWake

you can get the 5990 for $50 from amazon.

Hello Hello

Thanks the 5990 it is since Amazon fulfills it through Prime so I'll get it in 2 days and I get to deal with Amazon's customer service not an outside company.

Now to spend some money at Amazon UK

mythmaker18

If you're not needing USB, you can get a cheap Philips (3982, refurbished) from J&RMusicWorld for about $30. At Christmas, they had them for $29 with free shipping.

But yes, I'd recommend just about any Philips for this purpose, since all it takes to unlock them is a simple remote-control code that you can find on VideoHelp's website. Also, some of the Philips models (but not all) can be made multi-standard (i.e. can output PAL material as PAL without standards conversion) with changed firmware (though that's a little trickier).

dick_grayson

you'll want to update the firmware to this when you get it:

http://vb6rocod.200u.com/dvp5990_37.php

Dane

One word: OPPO

...worlds best regionfree DVD player

theflyingdutch

Which are not made any more. Bluray yes, DVD players no.

tecHouse

so what is the best region - free dvd player now that Oppo is defunct? I am also in the original posters situation. Would like to get a reliable region free player, no cheap bs.

Lastdaysofrain

My problem is finding a good Blu Ray player that is region free for DVD, for Blu Rays and converts PAL to NTSC without a converter. That's what's been stopping me from buying a Blu Ray player

manicsounds

oppo is defunct??!

Steve

there is firmware and hardware mods to the OPPO blu-ray to make both SD and HD region free. not cheap tho - I think its about $800.

the comment on "defunct" is that it seems that OPPO is ONLY selling their blu-ray versions, and there is no 'easy' way to make these region free. you must do a firmware (which I believe invalidates the warranty) or get a hardware mod (which in reality is just a cable exchange). But the good old days of buying the OPPO and just changing the region to "0" is over.

The Lizard King

RIF. No, the company is still going strong. They're just not producing DVD players (region-free or otherwise) any more.

TLK

AmonTwin

$800!? The hardware mod for the BDP-80 can be bought for $69 including shipping and it is really easy to do...I don't know about a firmware mod for the OPPO.

Steve

Amontwin, Yes - I meant that you can buy from a reseller a modded Oppo BD 83 that makes it 100% region free - BD and SD. Local hardware mods are about $80 if you feel comfortable doing it yourself. Have heard of some problems with the firmware - don't think anyone is using that anymore.

Regarding the HW mod - I guess I don't feel comfortable opening up a brand new $500 player, void the warranty and messing around with electronics where that is definitely not my forte. But yeah, understand others may not have a problem with that.

BSTNFAN

But, the BD-80 is sub $300. Still not cheap, but great value with a $70 mod.

CritterYawn

The rest is added value.

Damn, I should take the soldering iron from the attic and start rolling the ball.

dablueguy

Having just modded my Oppo bd-80 today I can tell you that there is nothing to it. It took me longer to take the top off of the case than it did to install the mod. You simply unplug 1 wire from the main board and plug it in to the mod, then you plug 2 wires from the mod into the main board. DONE. Works perfectly and will not cause warranty issues because there is no way for anyone to tell you opened the case. If you need warranty work uninstall the mod and send it in! Also, check eBay for the mod, I got mine for $25 and it got here in 2 days. All-in-all I got a Blu-Ray, DVD, SACD, DVD-Audio player that can play any region and converts PAL to NTSC for about $300 from a U.S. company that actually cares about it's products.

Steve

dablueguy, thanks for the words of encouragement. Definitely looking at the bd-83 (I have a 106" screen so want the high end model), but doing the HW mod sounds not as intimidating as I thought!!

dablueguy

Having now watched a sample of all different types of discs I can say that I don't really notice any difference when playing PAL DVDs or any type of Blu-Rays, and only a slight difference in upscaling on NTSC DVDs versus the PS3. I'm watching on a 60A3000 so your experience may differ on a screen almost twice as large, however to be able to play everything on 1 machine for $300 is worth it.

terrycloth

Im currently looking into getting a region free dvd player as Iv bitten on some titles from amazon UK and get the whole regioning thing but confused on PAL.

Will a region free player also play PAL format? Iv looked it up but not very tech savy on understanding what exactly PAL is in difference from standard us. or is there a pal/region free player to look for?

really hope this makes sense to someone

dick_grayson

the philips 5990 is available at costco for $40.

smokedragon

I just bought a DVP3982/f7.Anyone have one? Region free?PAL to NTSC? Haven't opened it yet as I want some opinions on it.Don't want to make a mistake when I bought a Toshiba XDE.Christ, what a lousy DVD player.I'd appreciate your thoughts.