Posted by Don Del Grande on 02/17/06 02:09

marks542004 wrote:

>to my knowledge region free is generally not available in the US
>marketplace.
>
>A google search of "region free xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" where xxxxxx is your
>machines model number will often find you a site with instructions on
>hidden or not obvious menus or firmware hacks.
>
> once you get region sorted out you then need to deal with ntsc vs pal/
>secam .

NTSC vs PAL/SECAM (more accurately, 60 half-frames per second vs 50 -
NTSC, PAL, and SECAM are just color formats) is a lot easier for DVDs
to handle than VCRs. There are very few VCRs in the USA that can play
PAL video tapes (and even fewer that don't require a TV that has
PAL-format capability), but as DVDs have the video digitized, it is a
lot easier to adjust from one format to the other. However, for
whatever reason (most likely the same reason multi-format VHS machines
are so hard to find - so TV production companies can release shows on
tape/DVD in Europe knowing they can't be seen in the USA, so you have
to watch the syndicated reruns (with their cuts, and their
commercials)), most DVD players in the USA won't play PAL DVDs - not
even Region 0 ones. (I tried a R0 DVD - the Amnesty International
show collection - on my Sony DVD recorder and it couldn't read it,
while my cheap Daewoo player had no problems converting it to an NTSC
signal.)

There are few openly region-free players in the USA for a good reason;
they are illegal, as they are considered "bypassing a copyright
technology".

-- Don

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