Regional Code 2 played in zone 1

[Miatudello]

I bought Toshiba BDX2300KE in Germany and brought it to Florida (region 1), believing that DVDs with region code 2 could be played on that device over there. But the player bought in Germany does not play german DVDs when it is in the US! How does it know? The TV is a Samsung LN46E550 LCD (series 5). I´m ready to hack the regional code after all that expences and difficulty to bring in the device...

[manono]

I´m ready to hack the regional code...

That won't help. Unless your TV set also plays PAL (and it won't if it's a US set), you'll never get it to work. You wasted your money.

[Constant Gardener]

The dvd player output is probably compatible with European TVs, not US ones - the frame rate is different.

There are a few players that convert appropriately. I have a Philips BDP2900 that does; bought it this year at Best Buy.

[DB83]

Wouldn't these do the biz ?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=multi%20system%20tv

Yeah. More cost but your have already spent some in getting that player into the US. Or,as above, try and get one of those Philips.

[jman98]

I really wish I could get paid every time some European buys a cheap US DVD player and finds out that it only plays region 1 DVDs and can't be unlocked or brings a European player here and has playback issues of various kinds.

Throw the player away or give it to a visiting friend/relative from Europe and buy a US made player. Some Philips players can still be unlocked and they at least always have a setting in the video output section where you can specific NTSC output (that converts PAL DVDs to NTSC output) and make American TVs happy.

By the way, Samsung TVs sold in the USA/Canada do NOT in any way support PAL video. You MUST convert all video to NTSC to use their TVs. This is why you need a converting player. Maybe if you are lucky your Toshiba has a video output section where you can set it to NTSC and that might fix your problems, but some manufacturers do not put such an option in their players' setup menus.

[manono]

Wouldn't these do the biz ?

Sure. In my reply I didn't mean to imply that such TV sets aren't available in the US or don't exist, but only that one wouldn't be likely to own one unless in the same situation as Miatudello or is expecting to take it with him to a PAL country or something similar. They aren't sold in places like Wal-Mart or Costco. At least I've never seen one advertised as multi-system at the usual places selling home electronics.

I also think buying a converting DVD player is the easiest solution. There are many available, usually needing to be hacked to make the all-region conversion to NTSC available.

By the way, Samsung TVs sold in the USA/Canada do NOT in any way support PAL video. You MUST convert all video to NTSC to use their TVs.

Edit: Oh, so just getting the multi-system TV set isn't good enough? You still have to feed it from a converting DVD player if you want to play a PAL DVD to it? Good to know.

[wulf109]

Is it the region code or the 25FPS encoding that is preventing playback? I've bought region B locked and 25FPS BR's from Germany. Ripping to my hard drive make's it region free. The 25FPS rate is a different problem but my LG player will play 25FPS BR's if they are region free. The LG BP125 is available at very low price's and will play region free 25FPS BR's. You could salvage the disks but the player would seem to be a waste of money.

[turk690]

Is it the region code or the 25FPS encoding that is preventing playback? I've bought region B locked and 25FPS BR's from Germany. Ripping to my hard drive make's it region free. The 25FPS rate is a different problem but my LG player will play 25FPS BR's if they are region free. The LG BP125 is available at very low price's and will play region free 25FPS BR's. You could salvage the disks but the player would seem to be a waste of money.

OP's region 2 DVDs and player play hunky-dory, but his TV will likely not display 25fps. Either your particular TV does or your LG player converts to NTSC 29.97fps or both. Ripping to hard drive will make the DVDs play but I get that OP wants to play them with the Germany-purchased player.

[jman98]

By the way, Samsung TVs sold in the USA/Canada do NOT in any way support PAL video. You MUST convert all video to NTSC to use their TVs.

Edit: Oh, so just getting the multi-system TV set isn't good enough? You still have to feed it from a converting DVD player if you want to play a PAL DVD to it? Good to know.

I said what I said very carefully, but I seem to have not been clear enough. Let me try again.

Samsung multi-system TVs are not made for the North American market. They are imported from elsewhere. I have no idea if those support PAL natively. They probably do. But I'm not going to guarantee something I can't test.

Normal Samsung TVs made for the North American market don't support PAL resolutions and frame rates at all. We've had posts on this and it has something to do with Samsung's desire to prevent people from coming to the USA/Canada and buying cheaper TVs then they can get at home and bringing them home to PAL countries. It's all about protecting Samsung's foreign distribution channel from cheaper American TVs.

[wulf109]

It would seem the OP best option would be a hardware modified U.S. player. There available from stores like Bombay or 220. He needs one that's region-free for DVD and BR and most importantly performs PAL to NTSC conversion.