Buy a DVD player in the US wait till he gets to the UK?

[cdb]

My friend (born in Britain, raised in Australia, living in the US for the past 20 years) will soon be moving back to the UK for a year or so and then back down under. He would like to keep his current DVD collection without having to convert them all to region free DVDRs.

He's considering:
- buying a player in the US that is 110v/220v switchable, can be made region free, read PAL and NTSC, and then a TV in the UK/Austraila that can accept an NTSC signal

- buying a player in the UK that can be made region free and read NTSC discs

I find lots of info about players that may be available in both the US and UK. Any comments or suggestions about which to get, price, import duties, voltage, warranties etc?

Thanks!

[yoda313]

Hello,

Best option -

buying a player in the UK that can be made region free and read NTSC discs

That way no voltage problem and will do the conversion on the fly.....

Or buy a dvd burner and rip it region free (but you'll still need the player to do the ntsc playback ).

Kevin

[NamPla]

In PAL countries, ALL DVD players (and TV & VCR etc) play both NTSC and PAL. It's only in America that PAL is illegal (ha). Even Japan, I hear, (which is an NTSC country), has dual-format society.

It's strange that the U.S. is so restricted like this, compared to the rest of this world!?

Anyhow, DVD players are so cheap nowadays (multizone, region-free), your friend could buy a player in Britain, and then buy another one in Australia. The freight charge to ship your British player down here would probably exceed the cost of a new player, ha.

Cheers.

[HatchetMan]

It's only in America that PAL is illegal (ha).

Really? My $20 COBY DVD-227 has the PAL/NTSC option right on the remote.

[Paul_G]

You can buy a player what plays every single cd/dvd you put in in for £28 in UK.

From any Kwik Save store. ClairLone DVD 8087 £27.99 and it is small and compact.

[NamPla]

It's only in America that PAL is illegal (ha).

Really? My $20 COBY DVD-227 has the PAL/NTSC option right on the remote.

Well if it's so cheap there too, how come so many Americans are asking about this? I thought it was pure NTSC county over there! Cool if it's not, tho'.

One thing I hate, is an un-standardized world! :P

[HatchetMan]

Well if it's so cheap there too, how come so many Americans are asking about this?

Due to lack of research on end user, the models are not common as PAL discs are not common, but the players do exist, usually relatively inexpensive too. ($40 minus $20 mail in rebate)

[NamPla]

That's cool, I didn't know that was the case.

But it's still strange how the world is dual-format. Doesn't anyone else agree, it should be one format? Or is that too totalitarian?

(PS: I'm not including SECAM, coz I don't even know what part of the world that exists in! Ha ha)....

[HatchetMan]

But, my player is only region free after a hack, so go figure.

[mray]

The U.S don't need multi region dvd like we do here in England. The main reason we had here it was because most movies are released in the U.S first, then here months later, though the gap between the two has reduced.

[mikesbytes]

You can buy a player what plays every single cd/dvd you put in in for £28 in UK.

From any Kwik Save store. ClairLone DVD 8087 £27.99 and it is small and compact.

And when you get to Australia, either buy a powerpoint adaptor, or buy another DVD player for $55.

[Richard_G]

But it's still strange how the world is dual-format. Doesn't anyone else agree, it should be one format? Or is that too totalitarian?

(PS: I'm not including SECAM, coz I don't even know what part of the world that exists in! Ha ha)....

I understand it to be an American NIH (Not Invented Here) mentality. In saying that, NTSC came out before PAL, prior to that video was black and white only. Maybe someone looked at it and decided that it was good, but could be improved upon. The classic example of the NIH is with cellphones (or mobiles or portables or whatever they are referred to in your own country). The entire world, with the exception of the US, uses GSM. The US uses their own unique system. Could it be because the GSM standard is a product of a bunch of Frenchmen at ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute)?

SECAM only exists in France, but even then only in broadcast, I don't think you'll ever find a SECAM DVD.

To the original question, buy in the UK and be able to play everything.

[lenti_75]

cyberhome 300 for 40$

110/220 regin free and conversion....

[MrMoody]

It's illegal to sell region-free players here in the US; it's a violation of the DMCA. Hacks are the way around that. PAL is OK, but just not in much demand by the ignorant masses. Most if not all players that will convert PAL to NTSC are cheap Chinese ones; many don't do it very well. They all MUST work by converting because virtually no TVs here will support a PAL signal.

In Europe, I understand many TVs will play NTSC, so therefore all you need is a player that will output either standard and you can watch NTSC with no nasty converting.

[mikesbytes]

It's illegal to sell region-free players here in the US; it's a violation of the DMCA. Hacks are the way around that. PAL is OK, but just not in much demand by the ignorant masses. Most if not all players that will convert PAL to NTSC are cheap Chinese ones; many don't do it very well. They all MUST work by converting because virtually no TVs here will support a PAL signal.

In Europe, I understand many TVs will play NTSC, so therefore all you need is a player that will output either standard and you can watch NTSC with no nasty converting.

I think NZ has a law that makes it illegal to sell dvd players that are not region free (perhaps someone can correct me on that).

In Oz, most players are region-free.

What I would look for in a DVD player, is that you can setup the video to pass thru in its native format. I had a DVD player that would only play in NTSC or PAL, meaning that if you put the other one in, it would do a shoddy convert resulting in that jerky look. Better to let the TV handle the DVD's native signal.