# DVD players for foreign DVDs



## LGHTme (Aug 3, 2017)

There are 6 regions so if you see 1-4 it ONLY plays those regions. Region Zero or "0" is the standard for region free, but that doesn't mean that play has the ability to play ALL the regions by default it just means it's not locked or set on a specific region. You want to get a DVD player that specifies region 1,2,3,4,5,6 if you are interested in playing all the disk. 

This is a good highly rated 1-6 player.

http://www.220-electronics.com/samsung-dvd-e360-region-free-player.html


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## NotyeruncleBob (Mar 9, 2017)

More info than you wanted to know, but it might help you make a good decision. 
Zones and regions are the same thing. It was meant to keep movies that were released in one country from getting sold in another where it might not have been released yet or to keep distributors from undercutting each other. Most Hollywood movies will have a single region while most small run DVDs will be Region 0 or ALL and will play in any DVD player. 
A DVD player can officially only play DVDs from one region and will come from the manufacturer that way. But, in order to make them cheaply the manufacturers would make all their players exactly the same with the same parts and leave the region setting to be done on the way off the line by just setting the firmware (aka permanent software). This was often done by just pointing a special remote controller at the player and presto! You have a Region 1 DVD player. The next day they'd change the setting and make them Region 2 DVD players. If they had too many region 1 players they could unbox them and change them to another region and still sell them. 
After a while some people figured out how to switch the setting on some of these players after they left the factory. There were also players that were well known to be easy to switch since they just needed a few key presses in a certain order like the old Nintendo cheat codes. 
When you see a DVD player being sold that is "region free" or "Region 1-6" it's one of these players that has been hacked. 
A DVD player in a laptop or computer can be set on the computer and even changed, but you can only change it 4 or 5 times and then it is stuck on that last region setting forever. 
The other issue you have to keep in mind with getting foreign DVDs to play is whether they are in the same format as your TV system. The US and Japan are NTSC while the EU is PAL. NTSC discs will play on most PAL players, but PAL discs are not playable on NTSC players. Computers will play either NTSC or PAL with no problem. They did make DVD players that could convert PAL to NTSC on the fly, but they were rare and expensive and I don't recall if they were even any good. 
So what to do? If you just have a couple DVDs that you picked up on your European vacation and want to watch once or twice, find an old laptop and switch it to the EU region (2 IIRC) and call it done. If you have a massive collection of Japanese anime and watch it all the time, then either get a region 2 DVD player off the internet or a hacked one that will play all regions.


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## miamicuse (Nov 13, 2011)

NotyeruncleBob said:


> When you see a DVD player being sold that is "region free" or "Region 1-6" it's one of these players that has been hacked.


But I see all these "Region free" DVD players sold at Best Buy, Amazon, HHGregg etc...

For example, this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QIPKNY/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza

Panasonic DVD-S700 HDMI 1080P Up-Converting *All Multi Region Code Zone Free PAL/NTSC* DVD Player

and the feature list:


 HDMI 1080P Up-Converting *Region Code Free 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8* PAL NTSC, built in 3 way converter *PAL to NTSC and NTSC to PAL* you can connect to any TV 
 HDMI 1080p upscales to high definition for sharper pictures 
 Panasonic *Code free Version Multi-System All Region Code Zone Free PAL/NTSC* DVD Player 
 Incredibly versatile and multi-format-friendly, DVD player can play back just about any DVD or CD you can throw at it. 
 PAL/NTSC Play Any Region DVD's - Best Region Free DVD Player DVD+R(including dual layer)1, DVD+RW1, CD, CD-R/RW1, WMA, MP32, JPEG, MPEG43 
 Plays DVDs from all Regions: *0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 PAL NTSC* on ANY TV 
This is not a hacked player or is it?


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## NotyeruncleBob (Mar 9, 2017)

miamicuse said:


> But I see all these "Region free" DVD players sold at Best Buy, Amazon, HHGregg etc...
> 
> For example, this one:
> 
> ...


Sold by outside vendors through Amazon like in this case it's sold by Bombay Electronics and fulfilled by Amazon. BestBuy does that too now with their own marketplace vendors that sell stuff you won't find in a Best Buy store. 
These are modified players, aka hacked, firmware updated, etc. which means that they will do what you want which is to play DVDs from other regions.


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## supers05 (May 23, 2015)

Cheap, no name players often don't check the region and will play anything. Most DVD players won't care about the video format, (ntsc or pal) but your TV does. The majority of newer TVs will play both, usually by changing a setting in the menu options. This is not Universal though, and you'll still find new TVs that can't. (usually big brand names.) 

Generally, for anything along these lines, brand name appliances follow all the rules, while no name ones will throw that  red book out. 

Please note that pirate DVD and VCDs are still quite common in some locations. They are often not burnt directly. IE. Not "finished". DVD players that follow the rules won't be able to find the index of the video and will consider it corrupt. Again, no name players, and PCs will come to your rescue. 

Cheers!


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