Recommendations/HELP

[poolman]

OK here is my situation:

I have just gotten into burning DVD's (fairly knowledgable but no expert) and I am in the market for a new DVD player and could use a little help from the experts.

I am located in the USA and I am looking for a DVD player that will play Region Free PAL & NTSC. I was looking at the Philips DVP-642 but have heard horrible things about the remote and 6 months crashing. I was also looking at the Pioneer DV-270. Now I noticed that each of these players have a NTSC/PAL conversion but there was no Region Free Hack for the Pioneer. Would this cause a problem for me burning PAL DVD's?

Now here is my main question. I recently figured out that DVD Shrink can burn Region Free DVD's and a PAL movie burned to be Region Free worked fine in my cheapo Mintek DVP-2110. Will most players play my discs from DVD Shrink that are region free?? If not, I am sort of limited to buying a Player from Circuit City, here is a link to there selection if anyone could recommend one that is worthy of playing my burned collection of DVD's. I would rather get a DVD player that I liked the look of that will play these region free DVD Shrink copies if possible.

http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/catOid/-12873/N/20012866+20012872+20012873/link/ref/rp...ategorylist.do

THANKS in advance for anytime spent on helping me out on this problem!!!

[jman98]

The big deal about the DVP-642 is that it's cheap AND it plays DivX. You can find other players that are as cheap or cheaper, but they won't play DivX.

I have had the DVP-642 for more than 6 months. I have had no problems at all. It runs a little hot (the Cyberhome on the Circuit City link REALLY runs hot, by the way). If you have adequate ventilation, you should be OK. If you're going to jam it into a tight cabinet with stuff piled all around it, well, get ready to buy a new DVD player in 6 months.

Most, but not all, DVD players will convert PAL to NTSC if the disc is region free. Basically, you just have to try out the player to see. I had a Pioneer DVD-Audo/SACD/DVD player and I had a region free PAL DVD to try on it. The conversion was terrible.
The video stuttered so badly it was unwatchable for PAL DVDs. I accidentally broke the player later and decided it wasn't worth repairing. In fact, I bought the DVP-642 after I broke the Pioneer.

I really like the DVP-642. It's not perfect, but I do think it is a good value for the money.

[poolman]

Is there a list of DVD players that will convert PAL to NTSC if the discs are region free? The only reason I ask is because my Mintek is listed on this site with no reference to it being able to convert but it does and without any stuttering I might add. I watched Lord of The Rings (Fellowship) which has some rather active moments and it played as if it were the real thing.

THANKS AGAIN

[craiggus365]

Remote is not that bad. I have 2 642's and one is ovewr a year old. The only drawback to getting now as far as I know is all the new versions in the new boxes have Macrovision enabled and can't be flashed to an earlier firmware due to a "loader" included with it. If you go to the DVD players section here you can find all players which convert PAL > NTSC and maybe some user comments to boot.

[poolman]

The only reason I ask if there is a list that says which DVD Players will convert PAL -> NTSC is because the Mintek 2110 that I have does not indicate that it does but when I burn a region free PAL disk it plays fine. Will most players do this given that the disk is region free or will I run into problems with the players that do not specifically advertise PAL --> NTSC conversion?

[giannid]

I also have 2 DVP642's and they both work okay (one is 8 months old the other 5 months).

My main gripe about the remote is that it is easy to hit the advance to next chapter button on the remote when you meant to pause or fast forward. Otherwise the remote is okay.

[junkmalle]

Is there a list of DVD players that will convert PAL to NTSC if the discs are region free?

https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDname=&Submit=Search&Search=Search&multisyst...y=Name&hits=25