Video Asylum

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr (A) on November 17, 2004 at 05:34:44

In Reply to: Joe, anywhere I can get one? posted by suburbanDK on November 16, 2004 at 23:53:33:

There are plenty of internet sites that offer Region-free (Macrovision-free usually goes along with that) players. There are even a few $30 - $40 players (Mintek, Norcent, Cyberhome, etc) that have hacks to allow them to play all regions and disable Macrovision. All you really have to do is Google a combined search: region free macrovision free DVD player. I believe there's a site called Area 51 or Area 54 that has a list of hack codes.

If you really wanted a Bravo D1, ebay would probably be the place to look for the most players. Just be aware that the player has reliability issues. There's no guarantee that you'll get a good one. Some people have reported having no problems with their player for months or even a year and then, out of the blue, the player refuses to read discs, skips or outright dies. If you want to take a chance, I believe there's one for sale on www.videogon.com in the DVD player section.

I have about 20 or so Dr Who VHS tapes that were originally recorded on a Beta deck from the (then) local PBS station. My youngest brother transferred them to VHS in the mid/late-80s. The quality is not all that great (the originals and transfers were done in the EP mode), but I will probably transfer them to DVD+R just so that I can watch them whenever I want without worrying about the VHS tapes and the deterioration. I just hope there's actually images on the tapes when I get around to transferring them! I have seen many retailers of the Dr Who series on DVD and, even though I really love the stories, I just can't see spending a zillion dollars to get them (and that's just for the Tom Baker episodes).