region-free DVD player advice

[siluet]

what is cheap and reliable region-free DVD player with decent picture quality? (no HDMI is required).
Is there good second-tier brands from a non-major vendors, which already designed as multi-region DVD players and does not need any hardware or firmware modification?

[Constant Gardener]

Not cheap, but I have a four-year-old Oppo 971H that is region-free, plays nearly everything except HD, and has excellent picture quality.

[jman98]

Where do you live? If it's in the USA or Canada, I'd recommend Oppo. Some Philips models are rumored to still be able to be made region free in North America, but then again we also get posts from people crying because their new Philips player can't be made region free. I don't keep up with which Philips models supposedly can be made region free. We've had discussions about it though. If the player must be cheap then Philips is your only option, but be sure you do your research to see which players supposedly still can be made region free and be sure you can take your player back if it won't change regions. Manufacturers do change hardware all the time and a model that can be made region free today may not be able to be made region free tomorrow.

At this time Sony and Samsung seem to make the most difficult to hack DVD players in the world. I would not recommend them.

[siluet]

well, Oppo is not low cost model. There is a selection from Pioneer or Philips region-free models, but these models are software modified DVD players. There are software modified region free DVD players as well as hardware modified DVD players (chipset modification). As far I know it's best to get a hardware modified region-free DVD player. But hardware modified DVD players are more expensive. Software modified DVD players may have side effect, like annoying "slipping" problems in which the software modified DVD player slips back to only playing its original region code.
So I want to find some good model from a non-major vendors, which already designed as multi-region DVD player and does not need any modification.

[jman98]

well, Oppo is not low cost model. There is a selection from Pioneer or Philips region-free models, but these models are software modified DVD players.

What do you mean by "software modified DVD players"? I speak from experience with Philips. If you have a Philips player and it can be made region free, you enter a code and it's region free. It's that simple. It does not "slip" into its original state - ever. Cost is why I mentioned Philips. Your scenarios are quite wrong about how Philips DVD players work. Again, I don't keep up with the current models, but some are said to still be able to be made region free by simply entering a code. It's up to you to find out which ones still are like that.

[siluet]

Software modified DVD players - DVD players which turned into multi-region player by replacing original firmware with modified firmware. And you speak about unlocking DVD player with an unlock code entered via the remote control. This code simply allows the user to change the factory-set configuration flag to another region, or to the special region "0".

[CODEWERKX]

i have an oppo....you get what you pay for....the unit is very well built and durable.