this is more of a heads up for New Zealanders if they are reading.

I just bought the new 250gb recorder from panasonic.... its not region free! it wont play back region 1 titles.

this is the model i bought: http://panasonic.co.nz/product-detail$product$897$.html

what sucks is that early models are region-free. big middle-finger up to Panasonic.