The Never Ending Quest for an All-Region DVD Player (1 Viewer)

[Pirate]

Hi, I’m new to the forum. If this is posted in the wrong area, please move.

I am looking for a DVD player that can do the following things:
1. Handle native PAL and NTSC (no conversion)
2. Upconvert over component or at least HDMI (this is optional)
3. Play all regions (hackable is fine)

Over the last month or so, I have bought and returned 4 DVD players. I’ve been through the following models and encountered the following problems with each. Also, I have a projector and a 110” screen, so I really notice when a DVD player has poor performance.

Oppo 971H (I currently still own this player)
• DVI size issue. There is a border around the image and Oppo has no fix for this.
• Component limited to 480i.

Oppo 970HD
• Subtitle issues: Sometimes the subtitles were only partially shown.
• Vertical squeeze via HDMI: The image looked stretched when viewing via HDMI.

Yamaha DV-S5950BL
• Piss-poor video performance.
• HDMI looked “off,” similar to the issue with the Oppo 970.
• Bad NTSC-PAL conversion.

Samsung HD950
• Bad NTSC-PAL conversion.
• Sub-par video performance.

So, now that you’ve seen what I’ve already tried, does anyone have any recommendations? I’m willing to spend up to $300, because I do have a lot of PAL and other region DVDs.

Thanks in advance. I'm getting desperate, so any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Christian Behrens]

I have that player and have had ZERO problems, both on my HDTV CRT (via HDMI), as well as my LCD 720p projector (via DVI). Are you sure it's a problem of the Oppo and not your display?

-Christian

 

[Pirate]

Your PJ probably has more overscan than mine, so you might not notice it.

 

[Christian Behrens]

Interesting, hadn't heard this before. You're probably right then, the overscan must mask this problem, or I just never noticed.

-Christian

 

[Pirate]

Yeah, other than that, I've no complaints towards the 971H.