Films/DVD Asylum

• You don't have to order from Asia... - Harmonia 19:06:13 05/19/04 (0)
  In Reply to: luck with 'code-free' DVD? posted by gwlvrns on May 15, 2004 at 17:13:57:

  Go to The Laser's Edge website, my local DVD store here in Indianapolis area - they sell two very decent region free PAL> NTSC DVD players quite reasonably ($139 and $199), one a JVC and the other a Pioneer. You don't have to worry about doing any hacks - just plug and play.

  The Laser's Edge is a family owned, bricks & mortor stre with a considerable eb presence and great DVD prices. Excellent people to deal with.

  If ya love to tinker the 963SA does a lot, but it's a buggy bastard.
  
  

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• Re: luck with 'code-free' DVD? - Jack G 07:14:46 05/19/04 (0)
  In Reply to: luck with 'code-free' DVD? posted by gwlvrns on May 15, 2004 at 17:13:57:

  I have a JVC 602 I got from HKflix.com. It is all region(change R with the remote), does PAL-> NTSC is progressive scan etc. All the bells and whistles. Built well. Nice picture, good sound too. I'm very happy with it.
  Most of the places that sell imported DVDs sells all region players.
  Variety IS nice.
  Jack
  
  

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• Thanks, guys....now, - gwlvrns 17:04:48 05/16/04 (2)
  In Reply to: luck with 'code-free' DVD? posted by gwlvrns on May 15, 2004 at 17:13:57:

  ... has anyone here ordered anything from the 'Asian Cult Cinema' website? Almost all their DVDs are purported to be 'Code Free, and will play in all American DVD players'
  I'm a little curious because they have alot of stuff I've been wanting to see that has never been picked up by US distribution

  Tim
  
  

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  • Re: Thanks, guys....now, - Andrew T. 15:45:42 05/17/04 (0)
    In Reply to: Thanks, guys....now, posted by GWlvrns on May 16, 2004 at 17:04:48:

    Hello,

    Never ordered from Asian Cult Cinema, but have done so from Poker Industries, and
    have not had a problem. Poker also gives a discount to anybody referred from
    an Asian film chat site called 'Mobius Home Video Forum'. Feel free to do a Google
    search and check the place out for some worthwhile reviews/information about
    HK and other Asian films before you commit and order something sight unseen.
    Some industry insiders frequent the site, and often post there.

    The quality of the transfers are variable, as pointed out by TA, but things have
    improved, and some of the newer films have rather good transfers. Region coding
    is rarely practised, and many of the discs clearly labelled 'Region 3'on the cases
    are actually playable on regular machines.

    Rgds
    
    

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  • Re: Thanks, guys....now, - TA 20:54:43 05/16/04 (0)
    In Reply to: Thanks, guys....now, posted by GWlvrns on May 16, 2004 at 17:04:48:

    not familiar with the website, but in general many Hong Kong DVDs (of native films) are code-free. They don't look good either, but they're not bootlegs ... just a lot of cheap and fast product put out by the Hong Kong studios.
    
    "HEY" - BIG A
    
    

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• Re: luck with 'code-free' DVD? - Andrew T. 16:00:34 05/16/04 (0)
  In Reply to: luck with 'code-free' DVD? posted by gwlvrns on May 15, 2004 at 17:13:57:

  Hello,

  Try the Malata DVP520...it is region free and plays NTSC and PAL DVDs.
  It also features Progressive Scan and XY scaling. Well built.
  I use it for all my DVDs from Japan, Europe etc and have never had a problem.
  Rgds.
  
  

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• Re: luck with 'code-free' DVD? - monk 15:35:06 05/16/04 (0)
  In Reply to: luck with 'code-free' DVD? posted by gwlvrns on May 15, 2004 at 17:13:57:

  DVD players have been hacked to play more than was *allowed* from the very start.

  Not all hacked or modded DVD players are equal - and I'm talking here about what they can/can't do, not about the quality of the picture.

  A modded player may do some or all of the following:

  - Play DVD's from any Region.
  - Play NTSC and PAL video
  - Output PAL from a NTSC DVD (i.e. convert)
  - Output NTSC from a PAL DVD
  - Output PAL Progressive scan
  - Disable Macrovision (most won't care, but some projectors and TV's are bothered by Macrovision)

  Note that a DVD player that is *All Region/Region Free* is only of limited benefit. An All Region player that could play only NTSC would limit it to DVD's from N.America (NTSC video Standard) and Japan (NTSC) and a few other places,...but would NOT play DVD's from any countries with the PAL video standard (most of Europe, Australia etc.).

  In addition, there are machines that will be Region Free, will play both NTSC and PAL,...but they will only output a PAL video signal from a PAL DVD and NTSC from an NTSC DVD (i.e., it won't convert one video standard to the one needed by your TV).

  Many/most video projectors don't care what kind of video they get, so they don't necessarily need a machine that will convert PAL--> NTSC. But, if you have a TV that will play only NTSC video or only PAL, then you will want to make sure that the All Region DVD player you buy can play both PAL and NTSC ...and also that it can convert one to the other.

  Many DVD players can have all the features needed openned up by just entering codes via the remote - no openning of the box, soldering or messing with the internal parts.

  I'm not up on what's out there now, but last year the Cyperhome 500 was selling at around $70 from Best Buy and online and it was easy to hack.

  The Philips 963sa can be modded pretty easily, and it will play PAL progressive scan (not many all region machines can do that) and it's a decent CD/SACD player. Only issues with this one are that it will only convert PAL-> NTSC output if using the Component video outs (Composite and S-Video jacks don't have the conversion as part of their circuitry) - And the hack is a little more complicated (need a Philips pronto or other means of sending an RC-6 code to the machine, as well as entering the codes from the remote.

  I'd say to do like the other poster suggested, find the DVD players you're interested in first, and then search and see how hard/easy they are to mod (Google),...and make sure to see what abilities the machine will have after it's modded (as you see from above, not all modded players can do all the same things).

  The www.AVS-forum.com is well worth searching for tips on a specific machine, search the DVD Player page ...
  
  

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• Re: luck with 'code-free' DVD? - Peterloplop 19:14:30 05/15/04 (0)
  In Reply to: luck with 'code-free' DVD? posted by gwlvrns on May 15, 2004 at 17:13:57:

  code free = all zone / region free?
  Here in NZ pretty much every dvd player is sold region free because we live in a crappy zone and no one wants to be stuck with a player that can only play zone 4 dvds. From what I've heard from dealers most of this is done through service menus built into dvd players that you can access by pressing strange sequences of buttons on the remote. So maybe instead of buying a dodgy zone-free player you should just find a few players you like then type the name of that player and the word "hack" into google.

  Other players need new firmware (usually from a .rar file burnt to a cdr) but that might change other stuff so do some research before you go down that route.

  Good luck.
  
  

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