Page 1 of ANY IDEAS ON A GOOD ALL ROUND PLAYER

NEED A DVD PLAYER THAT CAN PLAY
CDR CDRW DVD-R DVD-RW DVD+R DVD+RW VCD SVCD MP3 AND THAT CONVERT TO PAL FROM NTSC ALSO NEED IT TO BE REGION FREE. PRICE DOESN`T MATTER(THOUGH A BARGIN WOULD BE GREAT)

ANY IDEAS

THAKS IN ADVANCE

There`s a whole host of players that meet your criteria, ranging from £80 up to, ooh, as much as you want to spend really :)

There`s plenty of supermarkets now flogging dirt cheap players : eg Safeway (Reoc A3/A5), Tesco (Dansai 852/952/1010), Asda (Pacific 750), Coop (Naiko N2051), Kwik Save (Crown CDV661) : they may be unfamiliar brands, but essentially they are all simply hacked as they are manufactured in the Far East. It`s hit or miss as to whether these will handle the recordable DVD types that you mention, however.

Looking at more familiar brands, the options to get multi-region playback by default start to vanish a little, but a little research usually gives up codes or adjustments to firmware (via a CD-R) which can crack it.

If you want a recognised brand, bear in mind that generally those made by Pioneer, JVC, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba can only be rendered region-free by hardware modifications to the players printed circuit boards. Some require even more obtuse hacks (eg Philips/Yamaha players need the owner to have access to a One For All 6 remote).

Having said that, one player that is well worth considering is the Toshiba SD220E, which has been rendered region-free pre-sale by http://www.unbeatable.co.uk : the player is winning a lot of friends in the AV press (eg both What HiFi and Home Entertainment have bestowed a five-star award on the player). For about £150 it`s probably the best you`re gonna get.

Similarly, multiregion versions of Pioneer decks, such as the new DV-350, are also worth considering, as these will be compliant with DVD-RW.
Try http://www.homecinemaheaven.co.uk for more details.

Hope this helps : picking a player is getting quite difficult these days.

(P.S. Leave the CAPS LOCK off : capitals=shouting !!!)

Thanks for all the info!!

I am not going to bore you with all the details, but I have encountered no end of probs trying to get a player that matches the spec of a dansai 852, not to mention the miles driven, time wasted and refunds requested.

Could you with your vast experience recommend one that can do all requested. Checked out the Toshiba SD220E on ubeatable, but doesn`t give away much on the spec.

Sorry to be a pain, but any further guidence what be much appriciated!!

Thanks

Hey dax00, check out the Daewoo DVG-6000D the spec on it is everything you are looking for and more and it`s only £89.99, honest it`s brilliant. Take a look through the pages here ie martymcfly, davelympany and there are others though I can`t name them off the top of my head.

Will the Toshiba SD220E convert NTSC signals to PAL though? I want to get the Simpsons Season 2 Region 1 but my TV can only do PAL 60HZ.

I too have the same problem with the player reading region 1 NTSC format dvd`s , but outputting to my PAL only tv in black and white only .

I am told this is cured by buying a newer tv that supports both formats ,
( apparently virtually all new ones would do this ), but having gone to a shop and talked to a salesman he says this is erroneous . apparently tv`s marked pal/ntsc are really pal/pal60 . Perhaps this means that is what the 220e outputs ntsc disks in ...?

I will look into this and get back to you , but if you find any answers please post back as I am sure there are going to be loads of us with the same problem ! In the mean time here an alternative solution to your problem ...

One thing you could do although it is time consuming is rip any region 1 dvd using the VCD galaxy Ripper to a vcd and use this to convert the format on the vcd to pal .
( this is acheived during STEP 3 "encode to final vcd"
at the point you click on LOAD , the file you select is
"VideoCD (PAL).mcf" even if your original dvd is in NTSC ) This will play the vcd back in your dvd in colour and correctly synched sound.

Why not go for the sc an 2500 from www.scan.co.uk. It plays all the disks you want 2 play and also converts ntsc to pal. Its reviewed on this site 2!