Looking for region free multidisc player (1 Viewer)

[John Herk]

Hi Everyone

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I am looking for a region free mulit disc dvd player and I am hoping for suggestions. I really do not know too much terminalogy, but I know I would like one with a fiber optic cable connection (does that make sence?) I am looking within the 500 dollar range.

Also what are sacd's?

Thanks

 

[Eujin]

You might try looking at www.jvbdigital.com for a player. Can't remember exactly, but I think they sell the JVC XV-SA95 which is a 7-disc player modded to be region-free. Also, you can check their list of mods and if you already have a player or are thinking about a player, they can do the modification for you (you can also buy a kit and do it yourself, if you have the necessary soldering skills). I've never personally bought from them, but I've called them a couple of times with questions and they've always been polite and informative. Give them a shout. I'm sure others will have suggestions too.
SACDs are Super Audio Compact Discs, a high-rez audio format that was co-developed by Sony and Philips to be the next generation CD. The technologies are actually quite different and if you search for SACD at the the Archives at www.stereophile.com you'll find a pretty technical article explaining the technology. Sony has positioned SACD to be a direct competitor of DVD-Audio--basically, we have ourselves a format war. SACDs come in many flavors: stereo, multi-channel--which can also include a layer that contains stereo presentations of the same material (this is because SACD first debuted as a stereo only format and early players did not have multi-channel capability) and hybrid, which basically means that it contains both an SACD layer and a CD layer for backwards compatibility (so if you don't have a SACD player but would still like to purchase the title in view of a future SACD upgrade, you can). Only time will tell if SACD (or even DVD-Audio) will catch on. Suffice it to say that there are many supporters and detractors of the format out there, ready to engage in endless debates over the relative merits and demerits of both SACD and DVD-A. I've only spent time with SACD so far, and all I can say is that I really like it--and will take it over CD any day of the week (provided that recording quality is equal, of course--a poorly recorded SACD will still sound like a poor recording). To me, there's a more liquid and smooth sound than you can find on CD and comes very close to an analog sounding format. Quite beautiful to my ears. You should go out and take a listen for yourself--it'll be fun.