Playing Region Free PAL DVD On Soon To Be Hacked Toshiba HD-A2 Player??

[akthmps]

So, just a quick overview of my system. The DVD Player is a U.S. Toshiba HD-A2 player, and my television is an AV-56P776 JVC 56" HDTV. I am wanting to pal a standard definition PAL DVD on my system. I am planning to update the original firmware on my HD-A2 player twice, the first to make it region free and then I guess the second is to replace the firmware with that of the European "equivalent" Toshiba HD-E1 DVD player. The links to the firmware are here:
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/toshiba-hd-a2/7554

The question is, will this alone be sufficient to allow me to watch this DVD on my television? Is my TV able to handle the PAL formatting, or does the DVD player after hacking take care of this for me? The specifications for my TV are in the following link:
http://support.jvc.com/consumer/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027617&pathId=81&page=2&archive=true

Thanks for letting me know!

-Aaron

[hech54]

95% of DVD player "hacks" only effect the Region Coding. You need to search around in the player's menu to see if it converts PAL to NTSC.....some do....some don't...and few advertise it in their literature.

[Krispy Kritter]

The region free hack will allow the player to play PAL discs. However, the A2 does not convert from PAL to NTSC, so the results will vary based on the TV. Most American NTSC TV's will not accept or play a PAL signal.

The E1 firmware, at best, won't brick your player. However, it won't change PAL playback as conversion is chipset (hardware) based and not firmware based.

This is all covered in great detail over at the AVS forums.

[jman98]

NONE of the Toshiba HD DVD players are converting players. That means PAL DVD -> PAL video output. I have no idea if your TV can display a PAL video signal or not. My Samsung HDTV manual clearly states that it cannot display PAL resolutions. I have a DVD player that can output PAL video and my TV chokes on it and can't display it correctly. You can always try it and see if it works, but as Krispy Kritter points out, many North American HDTVs can't display PAL signals. Some can though, so you may just have to try.

Do note that some region 1 (North America) DVDs use RCE to prevent them from playing on region free DVD players. If you have a DVD that uses this and your Toshiba refuses to play it, you'll have to change the region setting back to region 1 to play the discs or you'll have to rip them and remove the RCE and re-burn them. The Toshiba hack is a less than optimal solution for this region and you'd be better off to buy a DVD that you know can be made region free and can convert PAL to NTSC properly like the Oppo models.

[Krispy Kritter]

I second the Oppo players. They are very highly rated and provide some of best video quality. Most of them are also Divx certified, support region free, and they can convert PAL>NTSC.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Or get a cheap Philips player to play PAL.