All-Region DVD Players available in Canada? (1 Viewer)

[CraigF]

I haven't kept up on these beasts. Have an old Apex that has all the protections removed, but it isn't progressive scan. Anybody know if any of the Malata's etc. available at Future Shop (say) are all-region, and if they're half decent with PAL discs? The salespeople don't know, thanks for any help.

 

[NickSo]

Check out dvdrhelp.com under DVD players, there you can search for a list of players with region hacks

 

[DavidY]

Citizen, Electrohome and Cyberhome are some of the cheaper region-free capable DVD players which are typically available here in Canada.

Dave

 

[Chris PC]

Thinking of selling the APEX? Might be something I could use since I've got the de-interlacing taken care of. Does the APEX play PAL discs? Not sure I'd buy it, just curious. Future Shop hasn't had those Apex's for 2 or 3 years, right?

 

[CraigF]

Chris, the APEX isn't for sale until I can replace it with something better. It actually works quite well, for what it is, just not progressive scan. I got it at Wal-Mart, and it was more than 2 years ago, before Future Shop started selling them too. I don't know how it handles PAL as I don't have any PAL discs.

Thing is, I'm a bit spoilt by the RP82, which also works quite well for what it is, and I wanted something all-region just as good. Or else something all-region very cheap, like an APEX with prog scan, while I'm waiting for better. As best I can tell there isn't anything as good as (or better than) the RP82 and all-region available...yet.

I had read that some time ago some of the Malatas were not bad and all-region, they were quite popular; I asked about them because I happened to notice that FS had some and wondered if they were all-region models. I don't even know if it's "legal" to sell all-region models here.

 

[Chris PC]

Right. What about the Lite-On and Momitsu players?

 

[Andre Bijelic]

If you're in the Toronto area, you can try some of the A/V shops in Chinatown.

There's a place called Golden Electronics, on Yonge Street, right across from the Eaton Centre, that sells Shinco and other Chinese all-region, PAL-NTSC, Macrovision-free players.

 

[CraigF]

Thanks for the hints guys. I don't get to TO as much as I used to, like every day when I worked there... And when I do go now it's usually at night. Anyway, I must do my research and find out whose machines there are flash hacks for if they don't come all-region. Admit I was hoping to hear of an easily available locally model, hoping somebody had already done the "research" for me :b . Also, I really must get a R2 (PAL) DVD, anything at all, for testing. As mentioned, though I'm a hardware person by vocation and avocation, I don't keep up on the details of individual HT hardware units much once I have stuff I'm satisfied with, so I haven't paid much attention to DVD players in the last 18 months or so, just superficially. And it's real tough to see a quality PQ machine (as opposed to just expensive) in action in stores around here.

 

[Chris PC]

One of those all region players would be cool. Would be nice to find a "malata" or similar model which has surprisingly good quality for its inexpensive price.

 

[CraigF]

Yes, that's exactly what I thought, and from somebody who it's easy to return it to if it doesn't work out well within 30 days. I'll check things out and report back, see what's available around Durham that is easily hackable if not suitable as is.

 

[Raj_Thiara]

I've got a Philips DVD 727 which is region-free. Seems to be free of CUE, too. Pretty nice picture on my 51" Hitachi. Only $100 at Walmart last week in Edmonton.

 

[Dave Simpson]

Hey guys,

I bought a Liteon 2001 from HTF member Johnny G at his Link Removed in Mississagua in November. We all know the 2001 is long gone from retail, but perhaps Johnny can get his hands on the 2001 clone model from Norcent. Worth a call to the store, methinks. Cheers!

DS.

 

[JohnnyG]

Thanks for the mention, Dave! Nope, can't get the Norcent. The LVD-2002 still had the 'hidden' menu, but was only available for a short time. There's an LVD-2010 coming in a couple of weeks, but that's a fair bit more expensive because it has an ethernet port on it. What the purpose of the port is, I'm not quite sure yet. I think you can stream audio/video from your PC over it. No idea whether it'll still have the 'hidden' menu though.

 

[Chris PC]

So the LiteOn was region free? Did it output PAL or NTSC? Macrovision free?

 

[Jay Blair]

The Norcent clone of the LiteOn LVD-2001 is widely available online.

It is a very nice player, with great PAL to NTSC conversion and a hidden menu to make it region free and disable macrovision so that you can output 480i/p up to 720p and 1080i. This player though only shines at 1080i, if you have the capability to display that.

See the LiteOn LVD-2001 thread for more than you'll ever want to know about it.

Do a Google for for Norcent DP-501M for places to buy. Around $170 delivered seems to be the going price.

If you don't have 1080i capability, I would recommend the Toshiba SD-4900, available at Best Buy and a lot of other places under $90. This player also has DVD-audio. You can download a hack to make it region free from www.DVDRHelp.com. But it cannot defeat macrovision.

 

[Dave Simpson]

Chris,

The Liteon 2001 is region-free and Macrovision-defeatable via a very simple remote-control code. It does indeed output PAL and NTSC (duh!!), but whether the PAL signal works with a regular NTSC TV set isn't something I can answer; I've got it connected to the Z1 here which will pretty much accept everything. We watched my Irish pal's overseas version of The Office, (not sure what region the UK is; really funny show!) a few weeks ago without any difficulty. I'll be happy to show you the 2001 when you eventually make your way over here.
Cheers, guys!

DS.

 

[JohnnyG]

Definitely mailed the disc out Dave. Happy to send another one though. Perhaps the CD mailer was just too tempting for some postee.

 

[Chris PC]

Cool. Thanx for the info D.S. So you run the Lite-On into the PJ at 1080i or 540p? 720p?

Thats cool about region free. I don't imagine I have a need for that right now though. Any idea of whether you can READ a PAL disc and output NTSC? Probably wouldn't need that for my PJ either. I'm thinking more for my dad and his TV.