Region-free player suggestions needed

[Darth Tanner]

After putting it off for so long, I'm thinking about getting a region-free DVD player. The reason: Special Edition Russ Meyer discs are being released in Europe by Arrow, but they are PAL and Region 2 (or maybe Region 0 PAL). Reading the reviews on DVDManiacs of the VIXEN and FASTER PUSSYCAT! discs made me want to grab them. There appear to be currently no plans in the near future for these to be released in Region 1 (although Blue Underground did produce some of the extras), so I decided I had to have these but I would need something to watch them on. My Apex AD-600A has still held up well over the past 5 years, but my model had the loophole menu removed So I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive region-free player or one that can easily be hacked. I've heard some mention that Cyberhome players are supposed to be PAL and region-free, but not very reliable. Can anyone verify this? What about the modified players that are sold on Ebay? I'll most likely be using the player just for watching these, but you never know when something else will pop up in another region that I'll want. So I decided to join the club. All suggestions are welcome (and desperately needed!).

[Chris Slack]

Philips DVP642, it has a remote code that makes it region free and plays DIVX and XVID videos as well. I got mine from Target for 63 bucks a few months back and have no complaints.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 8?v=glance

[Latte Thunder]

What he said.

I'm proud of you, Chuck. You're about to enter a new era of entertainment.

[Darth Tanner]

Thanks for the suggestion guys. I went to Target the other night and got this player for $70 (the last one they had in stock). I then took it home and hooked it up so I could see if the remote-hack worked. To test it, I put in the secret code, changed the setting to region 3 and inserted one of my region 1 discs. After the player read the disc, it displayed the "wrong region" message on the screen. So I took the disc out and changed the region to 0 (which is supposed to make it region-free) and the disc played perfectly. I tested my DVD's of ATTACK OF THE CLONES and FREAKY FRIDAY on the Philips. I only watched a little of the movies, but I immediate noticed a much brighter and sharper picture than I got playing the discs on my Apex. Plus this one will play MP3's and picture discs, not to mention it is smaller than the Apex. If this player really will play anything, then it might be $70 well spent. So far I am very happy with it, but I'll still hang on to the Apex in case I ever need a spare player.

On the Import DVD front, I ordered the Arrow special edition discs of VIXEN and FASTER PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! from Exploited Cinema. Both of the discs are Region 0 PAL, and they played fine in my new player. I watched a little of each disc to see how they looked. The only complaint was that the picture wasn't as sharp as some of the recent region 1 releases, but that is forgivable given the age of these films until better releases come along (if any). The picture also seemed a bit jumpy in some spots (is this due to PAL conversion?). But it was overall acceptable since the real reason to get these was the extras. I watched the documentaries on both disc and, while brief, were very informative. It was interesting to see what the stars looked like these days and what they had to say about the movies (although Erica Gavin and Tura Satana really looked worse for wear). I haven't listened to the commentaries yet but the ones with RM are supposed to be the same ones from the old laserdiscs. I'm glad his commentaries are on the discs since Meyer recorded these just before Alzheimer's robbed him of everything:( Overall I'm happy with these releases and plan to get the rest of the series.

I ordered these DVDs from Exploited Wednesday morning and they arrived in my box today (Friday). Talk about fast service! I'm definitely ordering more discs from them. If anyone knows of other Import DVD retailers that are fast and reasonably priced let me know. As Latte said, I'm ready to open myself up to a new world of entertainment

[Kimberly]

I use to have the Phillips one...

It ended up burning out :/

[Darth Tanner]

I use to have the Phillips one...

It ended up burning out :/

Doh!! Did you really have to rain on my parade like that Kim? But seriously my unit works fine. Even if it does break, it will only cost me $70 to replace it or else get another hackable player. It will still be a lot cheaper than the $180 I paid for my Apex 5 years ago.

[Chris Slack]

But seriously my unit works fine. Even if it does break, it will only cost me $70 to replace it or else get another hackable player. It will still be a lot cheaper than the $180 I paid for my Apex 5 years ago.

Keep your receipt, Target is pretty good about returning defective stuff, even if it's out of warantee. I had a TV go dead over a year after the warantee expired and they gave me full purchase price credit towards a new one.

I've had my Philips for over 6 months and it's still going strong.

[Kimberly]

Doh!! Did you really have to rain on my parade like that Kim? But seriously my unit works fine. Even if it does break, it will only cost me $70 to replace it or else get another hackable player. It will still be a lot cheaper than the $180 I paid for my Apex 5 years ago.

I loved mine...

Was my bad... I was off from work so the night before I had like a shmoke/movie fest until I passed out @ around 4am'ish... but passed out on the couch with the player still on... ended up waking up that afternoon and decided to put another film on...

Burnt it out... my bad

We have the hackable Apex that we use as our region free player...

[stypees back]

I've gone through about three Cyberhome CH 500 players, still keep one as a spare and I had a CH 300 that lasted for a day. I bought a Pioneer 363 for region free and have never been happier. It cost a few extra bucks but in my opinion was well worth it.

As for suggestions on were to buy discs, I've always been happy with DIABOLIK, they have a great selection and awesome customer service. Shipping is really fast and the prices, in my opinion, are pretty fair.