I'd appreciate hearing from people as to their experiences with all-region dvd players, and whether they truly are "all region" or if I'm better off going for a specific region 3 player.

Thanks.

i have a ritech that mom got me as a gift from a japenese website jlist - i have never had a problem playing any dvd & can play all the dramas i have ordered from malaysia & taiwan as well as korea & japan that i couldn't play before...and it was a good price - under 100 i believe...

Thanks!
I started looking at them on-line, and the price had dropped (at least from the last time I looked) so I think I'm ready to give it a go.

I have three DAEWOO code free multi-region DVD players, which I bought over 5 years ago. I bought two of them through eBay, and my husband found the third one (a newer model) at a local Brazilian electronic store. All three of them were really cheap back then--I don't think I paid more than $50.00 for any of them. I think the biggest cost was the shipping for the two I bought online.

When I first got into Korean dramas, I couldn't find several of the dramas I wanted in Region 1, NTSC format. I remember that I looked for "Autumn in my Heart" for months, but it was only available in PAL format. I finally gave in and bought it in PAL, and then I looked online for my first DAEWOO.

Since then, I have bought DVD's from Australia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Thailand, Malaysia, Spain and Brazil, with different region codes, and formats. I don't worry whether it's PAL or NTSC, or what region code it has. My trusty little DAEWOOs play all of them. You don't have to manually change anything. Just insert the disk, and it will automatically find the region and the format, and plays it beautifully. It will also play .mp3's, and disks you burn yourself.

I think both of my models are discontinued, but DAEWOO continues to make them in different models, probably with newer and better features. As I said, I've had them for over 5 years and they are still going strong.

My personal favorite is the Best Buy Insignia player. It is cheap, hackable and plays just about everything. It comes to you as a Region 1 player but after a few easy steps, it becomes region free. (I don't remember the exact steps but it was something like - push 2 buttons at once, type in a code, turn it off then turn it on.)

Best Buy Insignia Player

 

Thanks to all!

Have you tried just hacking the one you already have?



I tried to find the brand I ordered from YesAsia a few years ago, but they don't seem to sell them anymore.
Too bad--it was a nice little DVD player.
It was a Giec 3128.
Played everything I threw in there!

I can't believe they did it. Those freakin' nerds blew up the BuyMore.

~Big Mike




It's better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness.




Be sure to check out----> www.adrienneleslie.com

Can any of these players handle soft subs?

I lack the brains, ingenuity and patience to hack anything, Cat.

The prices I've seen on the all-region players don't look too bad, which is what led me down this path. Though, of course, if I do get such a player, what I'll be spending at YesAsia on dvds is entirely another matter!

This'll be my husband ==>

gerryg wrote:

Can any of these players handle soft subs?

These players only play standard DVD's, they don't play .avi files with softsubs. For that you'll need a player that plays Divx files, such as the Philips DVP 5990.