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Mallrat · Jun 26, 2005, 02:17 AM

Anyone have any recommendations for a good, cheap (under 150 bucks) region FREE DVD player?

Thanks in advance.

wataru · Jun 26, 2005, 04:35 AM

Your computer + VLC (free)

Otherwise, many regular DVD players can be hacked to be region free. See this website.

BasketofPuppies · Jun 26, 2005, 05:07 AM

I thought I was gonna have to bring out the ol' Spa'am picture again.

mitchell_pgh · Jun 26, 2005, 06:32 AM

Originally Posted by BasketofPuppies

I thought I was gonna have to bring out the ol' Spa'am picture again.

Ha ha...

Millennium · Jun 26, 2005, 11:29 AM

It is usually better to get a region-hackable DVD player, as opposed to a truly region-free one. The reason for this is that some companies have started using a technique which prevents DVDs from playing on region-free players. If you have a region-hackable player you can get around this by changing the region setting to one which the DVD agrees with, but if your player isn't hackable then you're hosed.

SimeyTheLimey · Jun 26, 2005, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by wataru

Your computer + VLC (free)

Otherwise, many regular DVD players can be hacked to be region free. See this website.

Related question. I have VPC and I have a DVD of a home movie that my Dad in England recorded, so it is in the European region whereas I am in the US. I can play it on VPC, but I'm concerned that a revision to the software might make that impossible in the future. Is there any way I can import it and reburn it in the region for the US to make sure I don't lose access to it in the future?

Just to reemphasize this is a home movie of my graduation. There is no copyright issue.

Xeo · Jun 26, 2005, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by SimeyTheLimey

Related question. I have VPC and I have a DVD of a home movie that my Dad in England recorded, so it is in the European region whereas I am in the US. I can play it on VPC, but I'm concerned that a revision to the software might make that impossible in the future. Is there any way I can import it and reburn it in the region for the US to make sure I don't lose access to it in the future?

Just to reemphasize this is a home movie of my graduation. There is no copyright issue.

I think home-made movies are region free, unless you've tried it in your home player and it doesn't work?

Eug Wanker · 01:00 PM

Home made DVDs are region free, but if he made it in England, it may be PAL. PAL DVDs won't work on US DVD players. However, most el cheapo region free DVD players these days also do on-the-fly PAL->NTSC conversion. I bought a couple of these players for less than $60 US each.

I personally have a whole bunch of DVD players. For my secondary TV (cheap 13" 4:3 CRT), I just have a cheap region free player.

For my primary TV (34" widescreen HD CRT) I have a good quality Region 1-only progressive scan DVD player, AND a cheap region free player (as well as a DVD recorder).

BTW, it's sometimes hard to recommend specific models of the cheap players, because the model numbers and the model specifications change so quickly, and many models are only sold in certain regions. The best thing to do is to go to a place like www.dvdrhelp.com and see what's the latest region free/hackable player available.

Or you could just go to a Chinatown of a big city and they'll be happy to sell you one. (However, I bought mine at Future Shop, which is like Best Buy, but my players were Region 1, with a secret code I found online to make it region free. About a month after I bought it Future Shop stopped selling it. Also, some of the ones they sold didn't even work with the code apparently.)

wataru · Jun 26, 2005, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by SimeyTheLimey

Related question. I have VPC and I have a DVD of a home movie that my Dad in England recorded, so it is in the European region whereas I am in the US. I can play it on VPC, but I'm concerned that a revision to the software might make that impossible in the future. Is there any way I can import it and reburn it in the region for the US to make sure I don't lose access to it in the future?

Just to reemphasize this is a home movie of my graduation. There is no copyright issue.

In VPC? Why view it in VPC? Or do you mean VLC?

And like someone mentioned, it shouldn't have any region at all.

Originally Posted by http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.10, second-to-last paragraph

In general, region codes don't apply to recordable DVDs. A DVD that you make on a PC with a DVD burner or in a home DVD video recorder will play in all regions (but don't forget NTSC vs. PAL differences, see 1.19). Region codes do not apply to DVD-Audio.

SimeyTheLimey · Jun 26, 2005, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by wataru

In VPC? Why view it in VPC? Or do you mean VLC?

And like someone mentioned, it shouldn't have any region at all.

Sorry I meant VLC. It plays on that, but won't play on iDVD because it says it is the wrong region. It won't play on my regular DVD player either and when I try, it tells me the same thing -- wrong region code.

It probably is PAL too. But it plays fine on my computer (with VLC) and that is good enough. So, is there any way to re-record it in the right region?

Person Man · Jun 26, 2005, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by SimeyTheLimey

Sorry I meant VLC. It plays on that, but won't play on iDVD because it says it is the wrong region. It won't play on my regular DVD player either and when I try, it tells me the same thing -- wrong region code.

It probably is PAL too. But it plays fine on my computer (with VLC) and that is good enough. So, is there any way to re-record it in the right region?

If it won't play in DVD Player because it's in the "wrong region" then I'd be very surprised, as general DVD-R disks don't even have support for region coding.

Still you could use MacTheRipper to rip the DVD to your hard drive, and then use something like Roxio's Popcorn or perhaps even Toast to burn it to a new DVD without any region encoding. It wouldn't fix the PAL issue, though.

I'm still surprised about the region issue, though. I have no problem playing home movies (which are region free) sent to me from Greece (also region 2 like in UK) on DVD Player in my Mac. And those DVDs were made in Windows, too. Using PAL DV cameras.

Mallrat · Jun 26, 2005, 02:16 PM

good dicussion, but i neglected to specify that I was talking about a DVD player to hook up to my TV.

I prefer to watch DVD's on my TV. Bigger view, better seat.

Person Man · Jun 26, 2005, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by rushmore

good dicussion, but i neglected to specify that I was talking about a DVD player to hook up to my TV.

I prefer to watch DVD's on my TV. Bigger view, better seat.

And the post by wataru immediately underneath yours links to a site where you can find instructions on hackable DVD players that you can hook up to your TV.

That's how I found my current standalone DVD player.

Randman · Jun 26, 2005, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by rushmore

good dicussion, but i neglected to specify that I was talking about a DVD player to hook up to my TV.

I prefer to watch DVD's on my TV. Bigger view, better seat.

You've never watched a film on a PowerBook 17.

Eug Wanker · Jun 26, 2005, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by Randman

You've never watched a film on a PowerBook 17.

I've watched parts of movies on a 20" iMac. It sucks.

Randman · Jun 26, 2005, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

I've watched parts of movies on a 20" iMac. It sucks.

You've never watched a film on a PowerBook 17.

Person Man · Jun 26, 2005, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by Randman

You've never watched a film on a PowerBook 17.

I have watched a film on a PowerBook 17. I have also watched films on: PowerBook G3 Pismo, TiPB G4 1GHz, Power Mac G4 QuickSilver 867 MHz, and Power Mac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz, and also Power Macintosh G3 B&W 450 MHz. I have also watched films on my Dell Machine at work (I own it), and my No name Pentium 4 3.06 GHz box I built myself. That's 8 computers I have personally watched whole films on.

Guess what? I still prefer my big screen 56" widescreen HDTV.

JoshuaZ · Jun 26, 2005, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by wataru

Your computer + VLC (free)

Otherwise, many regular DVD players can be hacked to be region free. See this website.

Actually I can't get my computer to load up foreign region DVDs. When I was in japan last time a friend gave me a DVD to watch, so I stuck it in my Powerbook. Now it asked if I wanted to change regions, and I said no. Then it showed up on my desktop, but I couldn't copy any information off of it. I tried MacTheRipper, and it did nothing. The odd thing is another friend stuck it in his iBook and it worked fine. Maybe its just the superdrive being mean to me...

I have a 1.33 ghz 12in Powerbook. For the life of me I could never figure out why this happened.

wataru · Jun 26, 2005, 09:57 PM

If your system is set to open DVD Player upon mounting a DVD, and you don't allow DVD Player to change the region, then it will eject the DVD, not mount it on the desktop. So it sounds like something wasn't quite right in your situation to begin with. Make sure that the default response to inserting a DVD is "ignore."

CRASH HARDDRIVE · Jun 27, 2005, 04:05 AM

For anyone looking for a standalone region free DVD player, pick up a Philips 642.

I got one for my wife so she could play European DVDs. It's the only standard model DVD player I know of that is region free, and plays PAL and DIVX.

Person Man · Jun 27, 2005, 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE

For anyone looking for a standalone region free DVD player, pick up a Philips 642.

I got one for my wife so she could play European DVDs. It's the only standard model DVD player I know of that is region free, and plays PAL and DIVX.

It's not the only one. If you can't find a Philips 642 (which by the way does REALLY CRAPPY PAL to NTSC conversion), then buy one on the list wataru posted earlier.

CRASH HARDDRIVE · Jun 27, 2005, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by Person Man

It's not the only one. If you can't find a Philips 642 (which by the way does REALLY CRAPPY PAL to NTSC conversion), then buy one on the list wataru posted earlier.

True, but people should keep in mind, a player must not only be region code free, it needs to be multisystem to play the PAL format on an NTSC TV with no other converter.

Also, by standard player, I meant *cheap*. There are plenty of other models that are multi-system, do PAL to NTSC conversion, and are Macrovision free etc., but at the time I bought it, the Philips was among the only easily found models that was as inexpensive as any other DVD player. (IE: less than $50.) This may have changed since I've had the 642 though. People's experience with these seems to vary. I've had no real picture quality issues with ours in either PAL or NTSC, but then, there are several revisions of the 642 model.

olePigeon · Jun 27, 2005, 07:32 PM

While it's not cheap, I'm saving my pennies for this one:

Yamaha DVD-SL100S-R

Region free. Full progressive PAL/NTSC video. Plays back all DVD and CD formats. Doesn't have DiVX support, but.. meh. I really like Yamaha, I think they make solid products.

$240

Gene Jockey · Jul 14, 2005, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE

For anyone looking for a standalone region free DVD player, pick up a Philips 642.

I got one for my wife so she could play European DVDs. It's the only standard model DVD player I know of that is region free, and plays PAL and DIVX.

I have one of these for my bedroom. It works just fine for me, as I have an LCD TV, which does PAL or NTSC, so no conversion issues. However:

When you have a multi-angle DVD, it puts up a little "multi-angle" pictogram bug on screen while an alternate angle is available. All the time. There is no way to dismiss it. So if you plan to watch a lot of concert DVDs or something, look elsewhere. Just FYI.

Wiskedjak · Jul 14, 2005, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE

For anyone looking for a standalone region free DVD player, pick up a Philips 642.

I got one for my wife so she could play European DVDs. It's the only standard model DVD player I know of that is region free, and plays PAL and DIVX.

Third for the Philips. Great player for under $100 (Canadian $! ... that's like free in US$)