dvd player for Multi-format tv

[chinga79]

Hello, I live in the US and I was recently looking for a new DVD player. I wanted to replace my Sony NS315 with a region free player. At the time I thought I needed PAL to NTSC conversion built in. I picked up the two which I heard were the best, the Toshiba 4900 and the Philips 727. I decided to test them and see what one was better. While looking up some info for my TV, I found that my AV inputs can handle NTSC and PAL output. So I hooked up the Philips and set the output to PAL and it worked. Now, here's my problem. I have the Toshiba, which doesn't have an option to play PAL as PAL output. Any PAL DVD that I put in comes out as NTSC, so I'll probably have to return it. The Philips however does have that option. One thing I don't like about it is it doesn't have DTS built in, not that big of a deal. Here's my main problem with it. I've read that after you do the region hack, if any button is accidently pressed on the remote a few months later, the video goes black and the player is useless. Is this confirmed? If so, can anyone recommend a good player? I know I don't want Cyberhome 500, because it has problems with some movies. Like some Anchor Bay films, etc. Money is not an issue. Region-free hack, good PAL/NTSC playback, DTS also preferred. Sorry for such a long and boring story. Thanks.

[Wolfmancatsup]

Hi - I live in the UK and last week bought a Pioneer 565 from http://www.techtronics.com (and they do ship to the US). This player outputs in PAL or NTSC depending on the disc, has dts, and plays dvd-r/rw, dvd+r/rw, mp3, jpeg, SACD & DVD-Audio as well. Have a look in the dvd player list on the left.
This player is bound to be available in the US; there is a multiregion hack for it (Techtronics will do this for you if required) that involves the use of something like a Palm Pilot and masses of typing.
I settled for paying Techtronics to do it!
Oh, and it plays RCE encoded discs too.

Only my two cents worth but I'm very pleased with it.

Happy shopping

Wc