Panasonic DMR-E55

[misspeabody]

Hi, Can anyone tell me how to make my Panasonic DVD DMR-E55 region free ?

[jman98]

These guys claim to have a special remote that can do it.
http://www.dvdchips.co.uk/nosoldere50.htm
You pays your money and you takes your chances. This link should not in any way be considered an endorsement or guarantee that it will work.

This model is pretty old. Even if you do somehow pull this off, exactly how much longer do you really think it's going to last?

[orsetto]

Note Panasonic recorders can supposedly be made "multi-region" but *cannot* convert one format to another: PAL records and plays as PAL, NTSC records and plays as NTSC.

This shouldn't be a problem for you in UK, because TV sets in Europe generally have the "PAL 60" internal conversion circuit that accepts pure NTSC.

But anyone in USA who thinks it might be a cute idea to "upgrade" their Panasonic recorder to multi-region should think twice. There are threads here on VH started by owners of the factory-region-free, current EH59 model that describe several inconvenient bugs which make playing commercial USA/Canada pre-rec DVDs tricky. There are other issues as well. Multi-region Panasonic DVD recorders are designed primarily for use in PAL-centric countries, they should be avoided in USA unless absolutely necessary (or you have the tech savvy and patience to deal with the quirks).