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Author Topic: Buying a non-region 1 player? Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-06-2003 09:53 AM                        Because of the way they release things in other regions and not here I've been thinking of buying a dvd player from either region 4 or region 2 (I think, England, right?) I have a plasma display tv that makes reference to playing PAL format stuff, so I guess the decision is which region to buy from. I guess Europe gets a little better selection than region 4 but I don't know. Anyone got a suggestion?  |  IP: Logged Joe Beres Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 606 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 08-06-2003 10:02 AM                     Greg, I really wouldn't bother trying to get a region-specific player. You can buy an all-region player from various sources that can be found on the net, or you can look for a modifiable player. A list of some of the players and what is required for modification can be found here . I have had good experiences with cheap Apex players. They can be made all-region, some can have macrovision overridden, and most will convert PAL to NTSC quite well. I think there may even be a modifiable progressive scan Apex on the market.  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 08-06-2003 10:09 AM                     Greg There are multi-region players on the market. That can play all regions, not just the regions you mentioned in your post. There is a DVD store here in NYC that sells a few decks. They also have a lot of discs from different regions in the store. They also have a way the disable the macro-vision on the deck. I have to remember the brand name of the deck. Because one of the APEX decks was getting a lot of return at their stores.  |  IP: Logged Ron Keillor Expert Film Handler Posts: 166 From: Vancouver, B.C. Canada Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-06-2003 11:52 AM                     WA state? You're not far from Vancouver, B.C. where you can get an all-zone (PAL and NYSC) and Karaoke player for $165 Cdn.(tax included)in Chinatown. And check out the Hong Kong discs at $7.99 Cdn for recent action titles and Shaw Brothers classics. Discs ordered from Bensons (UK) have arrived as quickly as 6th day from placing the order. Using Amazon.com's England shop also got quick results. Discs from France don't seem to have English subtitles.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 08-06-2003 12:36 PM                        I had one of the early Apex's, the AD-600A. It overheated and died on me after about two years, but it was cheap. The current Apex 1500's seem to be better (we use them in the anime club here) and can be modded to play any region by just playing the upgrade off of a CD-ROM. Very cheap and readily available. My current machine is the Cyber Home CH-DVD 500, which I've had for about eight months now. It plays any region RCE or not, PAL (without geometry errors) or NTSC, Macrovision defeatable, progressive scan output (the cheaper 402 is interlaced), DVD-Rs, VCDs and SVCDs, MP3s, and JPEGs straight out of the box. It runs cool and makes better pictures than (and should last longer than) my old Apex (though that's not saying much ). Cheap and available at Radio Shack, may still be available at Best Buy, certainly available on-line. [ 08-07-2003, 12:12 AM: Message edited by: Paul Mayer ]  |  IP: Logged Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-06-2003 09:24 PM                        Paul Really? You can just go buy it at Radio Shack??? In the US? Ron I might run up to Vancover for an MR2 auto show in a couple of weeks. Can you tell me more about where to look? Vancover is a big town Joe Thanks for the link. I book marked it  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 08-06-2003 11:49 PM                        Greg, as of the last time I checked (a few months ago) yes at Radio Shack. Also currently at Fry's. They were at Best Buy too for $59 back in January. The region and Macrovision features are not advertised or mentioned anywhere, but are accessible through "undocumented" button sequences on the remote. You can read up on this player and download the key sequences at http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/ . Scroll down and click on the Cyberhome thread. Cyberhome has also been real good about updating their BIOS as bugs are reported. Just download it from their download site, burn it to disc and play it into the 500.  |  IP: Logged Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-07-2003 09:15 AM                        I have a Phillips Q50, I wonder if there are any secret buttons on that one?  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-07-2003 02:17 PM                     Greg, If you have a computer DVD-ROM, you can change the region on it a limited number of times (I think 5 or 6) before it locks itself into the last region you entered. One of my drives is set at Region 1, and the second one was never set by the factory, making it currently All-Region! =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Christian Appelt Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 505 From: Frankfurt, Germany Registered: Dec 2001 posted 08-07-2003 05:18 PM                     Greg, it`s not worth the money. Except for some special genres (like Eurotrash films), the Region 2 market is always one step behind the Region 1 releases. Even with european films, you will find better releases in the U.S. When I had to buy the german Werner Herzog films (FITZCARRALDO, AGUIRRE etc.), I couldn`t get them in R2, had to buy them through Amazon (US). I have also noticed that on some R2 releases special features are missing compared to the R1 version, and sometimes R2 DVDs do not even carry the original language version. (My THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY disc has no Italian, no English dialogue track. LA FEMME NIKITA has no french track, no special features, and so on.  |  IP: Logged Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-07-2003 06:37 PM                        What got me going on this is that everybody else in the whole wide world (besides region 1) gets the Boxset of Season 2 of Farscape. I see it is in region 4 and I think region 2 for sure. Also I think season 2 of Twin Peaks is out in region 2 and also the original pilot. If I can get a zone free player for the above mentioned $39.95 it would be worth it as a second player just to play the occasional odd stuff I can't get in the US. That's why I originally thought of just buying one from England or New Zealand. Then I wouldn't have to monkey with my Q50. Just unplug it and plug in the other one. I wish they'd just stop the baloney and sell everything everywhere.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 08-12-2003 10:29 PM                        Another candidate just popped up: Toshiba SD-3900. New model, $99 at Best Buy, plays any region OOB via remote keystrokes, progressive scan. Does not have built-in Dolby Digital or DTS decoding. Better picture and probably built better than the Cyber Home. Relevent DVD Talk thread here.  |  IP: Logged Lionel Fouillen Expert Film Handler Posts: 230 From: Belgium Registered: Nov 2002 posted 08-31-2003 02:07 AM                     Christian wrote: quote: Except for some special genres (like Eurotrash films), the Region 2 market is always one step behind the Region 1 releases. (...) When I had to buy the german Werner Herzog films (FITZCARRALDO, AGUIRRE etc.), I couldn`t get them in R2, had to buy them through Amazon (US). (...) and sometimes R2 DVDs do not even carry the original language version. (My THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY disc has no Italian, no English dialogue track. LA FEMME NIKITA has no french track Christian, are you sure you searched everywhere for your DVDs? Sometimes I check european Amazon website for a DVD, can't find it, but if I go to a local store and ask, they've got it or can order it! Regarding the quality of DVDs, R2 releases can be excellent, using high Kb rates and anamorphic 16:9, sometimes with both Dolby and DTS tracks in the same DVD set. As for languages, I never saw a DVD in Belgium where the original language is not part of the set. I would even say that English (for films where English was the original language) is the main language. For example, here in Belgium, you'll get Dolby 5.1 in subtitled English along with Dolby 5.1 in dubbed French. When they want to release audio tracks for more languages (some editions here have dialogs in up to 5 languages), English is the main one with Dolby 5.1 and the others are in Dolby 2.0 or mono. However I agree that release dates are often more in advance in the US so I think the titles Greg refers to are exceptions. I'd also recommend Greg to buy an all-region player as well. BTW, since you're keen on the Herzog movies, could you recommend a decent R2 edition of his Nosferatu? Thanks and bye, Lionel  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-04-2003 03:31 PM                     Anyone with a computer DVD drive (OK, not exactly on-topic here) should check this out... http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html The company is based in Antigua, and (for now) seems to be ignoring the DMCA. The program lets you play any region DVD on a Windows system - the site stresses the ability to copy a disk as well, but I'm thinking of trying it to play some region locked Japanese DVDs I've acquired.  |  IP: Logged Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-06-2003 11:43 AM                        I got one of those Cyberhome 500s for $69.95 but haven't done "the change" with it yet. Of course the day after I ordered it and the season 2 boxset of Farscape, ADV writes and says the are going to release Season 2 boxset of Farscape in Oct. I did have the pleasure of telling them that" You guys screwed around too long. I bought a region 4 boxset and region free player. Next time don't wait so long" Hey whats that FBI car doing in my driveway?  |  IP: Logged

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