Help with region free dvd player

[Astro Forever]

Edit: It might be worth mentioning that your TV needs to be PAL capable too if you want to play PAL videos/DVDs. Dual support might be standard in your country, I don't know.

My player will send the signal to either a PAL or a NTSC TV, no matter if it was a PAL or NTSC DVD. At the very least, the player should be able to send the signal to a NTSC TV. I've yet to see such a DVD player that doesn't here.

[mr skunk]

Wow, it's all so complicated! Dr Frag, how do you enter in number codes on a dvd player?

[mr skunk]

I was thinking about this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FB67CE/ref=pd_cp_e_title/104-9718095-4000706?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=172282

But one review said to buy the cheap version, mainly because they were identical, and then just make it code free by following the steps he provided. I'd love some feedback, if people could tell me whether this is a good idea, or whether the steps are even the correct ones.

[Astro Forever]

I was thinking about this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FB67CE/ref=pd_cp_e_title/104-9718095-4000706?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=172282

But one review said to buy the cheap version, mainly because they were identical, and then just make it code free by following the steps he provided. I'd love some feedback, if people could tell me whether this is a good idea, or whether the steps are even the correct ones.

It looks fine to me, and so did the Toshiba you were looking into at first.

If I understand correctly, the review said that the DVP5140 region free is sold at a higher price than the DVP5140 that is not sold as region free? What's happening is that manufacturers won't put together their players differently wether it's for a region 1 market or a region 5, for example. They are all assembled the same way, and the at the end they'll will use a trick to make them compatible with the desired region. I don't know why Amazon sells the region free at a higher price, maybe because they manually perform the thing or because they fell the market allows them to ask for a higher price?

By Googling "region free DVP5140", it does seem that the right code was provided. As they all say, one does it at its own risk. All I can say is that if it were mine, I wouldn't be afraid to do it.

But that said, perhaps I should have asked this question first: where do you want to buy your player? From Amazon? Because if so, it says that the Toshiba *is* region free, so if you want to buy this one, go ahead, and if it turns out it isn't, then I assume you should be able to send it back to Amazon. However, if you are going to buy it from a different store, then just don't assume it will be region free out of the box, unless that store says so, because just like the Philips, all existing units from every possible store may not be region free.

[mr skunk]

It looks fine to me, and so did the Toshiba you were looking into at first.

If I understand correctly, the review said that the DVP5140 region free is sold at a higher price than the DVP5140 that is not sold as region free? What's happening is that manufacturers won't put together their players differently wether it's for a region 1 market or a region 5, for example. They are all assembled the same way, and the at the end they'll will use a trick to make them compatible with the desired region. I don't know why Amazon sells the region free at a higher price, maybe because they manually perform the thing or because they fell the market allows them to ask for a higher price?

By Googling "region free DVP5140", it does seem that the right code was provided. As they all say, one does it at its own risk. All I can say is that if it were mine, I wouldn't be afraid to do it.

But that said, perhaps I should have asked this question first: where do you want to buy your player? From Amazon? Because if so, it says that the Toshiba *is* region free, so if you want to buy this one, go ahead, and if it turns out it isn't, then I assume you should be able to send it back to Amazon. However, if you are going to buy it from a different store, then just don't assume it will be region free out of the box, unless that store says so, because just like the Philips, all existing units from every possible store may not be region free.

I'm not sure if I'm mistaken, but I thought either you or Dr Frag said something about not all region free dvd players in fact ARE region free. Am I wrong? If it says region free, then will it take any disc I pop in, despite the region? Well, I don't care where I get mine from, as long as it's under 100 bucks. I don't want to risk breaking the player, so I would much rather buy one that already comes region free. Now, if it says it's region free, then that means I don't need to set any codes, right?

Oh man, this is confusing...

[Astro Forever]

I'm not sure if I'm mistaken, but I thought either you or Dr Frag said something about not all region free dvd players in fact ARE region free. Am I wrong? If it says region free, then will it take any disc I pop in, despite the region? Well, I don't care where I get mine from, as long as it's under 100 bucks. I don't want to risk breaking the player, so I would much rather buy one that already comes region free. Now, if it says it's region free, then that means I don't need to set any codes, right?

Oh man, this is confusing...

Keep in mind that I live in Canada, and laws and customs may be different. But I'll try to make it clearer.

If I buy from a store that claim that its player is region free, then I assume it will indeed be region free without an action for me (it should be the same for you).

In my case, that didn't happen, even though the teller told me it would AND it was written as such on the box itself (!), hence why I needed the code. BUT I would have been entitled to return it to the store if I had wanted to since the product didn't do what it was supposed to do. (Doing so would have left me without a PAL player since they were more rare here back then, but that's another story.)

So, basically, you see that, for example, the Toshiba model ABC123 (or any other player) is region free on Amazon's website. Fine, if you buy it from Amazon, but if you buy it from elsewhere, just be careful to check if it is indeed region free with that store too, even if the brand and model number are the same as what Amazon says. Otherwise, then you might have had to check on the web to see if you could make it region free yourself, but since you don't want to take that route, don't worry about it. Just make sure it's still region free where you buy it from.

Does that make sense?

[mr skunk]

Ah yes, much better. Sorry for the confusion.

I found a SamSung I liked, and also I have a good feeling about the Philips. I'll get reviews somewhere and then determine which one I want. Thanks for your help. I didn't know things were different in Canada... I understand you're doing the best you can, and you've been a great help, especially since things are slightly different in Canada. Though not as much as most places.

Again, thanks for your help. I'll make sure to let you know how it turns out.

[fafner]

I don't know why Amazon sells the region free at a higher price, maybe because they manually perform the thing or because they fell the market allows them to ask for a higher price?

I think I have an answer for that. A few years ago, switches and routers were expensive. They usually had (expensive) features to enhance the capabilities (more data per second for example). It was found out that those features relied on software, not hardware. That means that by installing a new firmware, it was possible to turn a 60$ router into a 600$ one.

[Astro Forever]

Ah yes, much better. Sorry for the confusion.

You don't need to be sorry, I think I may not have been very clear. And it can be confusing too.

I found a SamSung I liked, and also I have a good feeling about the Philips. I'll get reviews somewhere and then determine which one I want. Thanks for your help. I didn't know things were different in Canada...

I don't know for sure that they are, because I've never lived in the US, but one never knows. At one point I even wondered if it was legal to see a multi region player here. But I saw one recently, so I assume it is. Up until recently, those PAL/NTSC players were so difficult to find that when you found one, you wouldn't let the region thing bug you and you'd be just happy that there was a code available to change it. At least that was my experience.

Again, thanks for your help. I'll make sure to let you know how it turns out.

I bought mine specifically to watch Madman's release of Astroboy, although I had been thinking about buying a player before. Since then, I've imported a few series from Europe and I'm planning to buy more. It was really worth it!

I think I have an answer for that. A few years ago, switches and routers were expensive. They usually had (expensive) features to enhance the capabilities (more data per second for example). It was found out that those features relied on software, not hardware. That means that by installing a new firmware, it was possible to turn a 60$ router into a 600$ one.

How is that for taking advantage of the market!

[DrFrag]

Wow, it's all so complicated! Dr Frag, how do you enter in number codes on a dvd player?

Press the channel buttons on the remote. You can't damage the DVD player by entering a code.

Personally, I would go for the cheaper region locked DVP5140 and unlock it myself.