DVD Regions - Any Workaround?

The British are always talking about multi-region mods in their magazines. It seems that the British do not think that buying a single region DVD player is a good idea. Some players have chips that are replaceable, others have sets of switches or leads that can be cut. You need someone who knows how to modify your specific DVD player.

Since modifying DVD players is so popular in the U.K., there may be some resources on the internet that tell you how to do it for your player. Try this search:
Go to google.com and click on the advanced search
Restrict the domain to co.uk
Search for DVD hacks

It would probably be easier to buy a multi-region or U.K. region DVD player from a U.K. source than to modify your existing player. Amazon.co.uk sells multi-region players but they are restricted to shipping them the U.K. or Ireland. They may sell and ship a U.K. region player to you though. You may want to pick up a magazine like What Hi-Fi and call some of the big electronics mail order advertisers. I don't think you'll find it too difficult to find one who will ship you a multi-region player, or maybe a U.K. player that is easy to modify. If the only foreign DVD's you want to play are from the U.K., then I think a U.K. region player would be the cheapest and easiest route.

Search "region free"under home audio dvd players on E Bay for a player.Cheap!Click descriptions also.

The chipping of a DVD player is a pretty simple process-I would imagine it could be done by any knowledgeable tech in the States for not much more than $60.
It's not that the Brits don't fancy a single region machine-it's just that it gives you a limited option when buying software-it's actually just as cheap or even cheaper to import an American disc,usually the American discs have more features,certainly a bigger back catalogue and usually less edits by the censor.
It's not as common but you still get some movies released officially on DVD in the States before they hit the cinema in the UK!
We are catching up though....

There are many companies that sell and modify DVD players and some mods are as simple as just flashing the EPROM with a CDR. I have an inexpensive Sampo codefree PAL/NTSC player because there are a lot of DVD music videos that aren't available in the US. I recently purchased from New Zealand The Millenium Bell and Tubular Bells II and III in concert. Both are exceptional. It looked as though there must have been close to a million people at the Millenium Bell show in Berlin. Try these sites; http://www.techtronics.com/uk/shop/index.html
http://www.codefreedvd.com/
http://www.area450.com/

Robt.

Thanks guys for the advice. I'll look into the above options. Cheers,
John.

I have run into a similar problem. A good friend of mine is married to a German lady and they now live together in the US. He is trying to find DVD titles that have German as an optional language. It seems like all of the alternate languages here in Region one is Spanish, French and sometimes Portugese. All of the titles that have German as an optional language are Region 2. He is leary of converting the player to "all-region" for fear of voiding the warranty. Anyone know where you can pick up some titles where German is an optional language in Region 1? Or some other suggestion? Thanks.

Most warranties are only 90 days anyway for labor. But if you buy one that is factory converted like mine you don't have to worry about it. The Sampo is a very low end player and only cost me 149.00 but it does have a full one year warranty on parts and labor.

While buying a cheap European player may be an option, I'd hate to step down on the quality. My player is a really good one - I would be happier getting it modified and then getting high quality sound and picture for my viewing of Europen DVDs. Does anyone know where I may be able to get my player modified for multi region? I live in California, San Francisco South Bay. Thanks.

You can buy the mod from one of the websites that I gave you and do it yourself or send it to them and let them do it.

Keep in mind that if you get your DV-09 modded for region free, or region selectable playback that you still won't ba able to watch European discs on almost all US monitors. The European discs are PAL formatted, not NTSC formatted. So you'll have to get a video standards converter. Tenlab makes some great converters.

I've got a Pioneer DV-333 that's been modded for region selection, as well as a Tenlab standards converter for PAL DVD's. Works great. And Amazon.co.uk is great for UK discs. Can't say the same for Amazon.com though.

The Sampo that I bought has the Pal, NTSC converter built in. They are the same machines that Sharp sells. Of course, Sharp covers up the button to switch between PAL and NTSC on the remote. Some people have drilled a hole in the remote to access the button. You can download and flash the Sharp unit with a CDR and make it codefree also.

Though the Sampo doesn't do nearly as good of a job as a standalone standards converter does. Or a converter in a world wide VCR. I believe that the Sampo also has the same problem converting 16:9 transfers that other built-in converter players have.

If he's wanting to get the highest quality playback, the standalone is the best way to go.