what player is everyone's fave region-free player these days? (1 Viewer)

[Anthony*B]

hey guys, looks like my Cyberhome CH-500 may have finally cr*pped out on me, & I need a replacement that has to be region-free & MUST do proper anamorphic conversion of PAL discs....I don't really wanna go through the mess of trying to get the unit running (seems that it's probably a bad dvd drive judging by posts on nerd-out.com) so I need a reasonably priced replacement...any help, as usual is GREATLY appreciated!

 

[PaulDA]

Well, my favourite region-free player is my own Cambridge Audio 540D. Is region-free right out of the box, does PALNTSC very well, is solid, reliable and has a great analogue audio stage. Street price, however, is not bargain level (around 325$).

 

[Anthony*B]

gack, sorry, way out of my price range my friend I should have also specified needs to be well under 100$, sorry...not many replies though...things are looking bleak

 

[Christopher B]

Anthony,
As far as inexpensive but decent models, the Philips 642 seems to be the current favorite. It is easily hacked with the remote control. It does the PAL-NTSC conversion really well. The average price that I found was $70, but my friend managed to find one for $60, the lucky bastard! They have them at Target, Wal-Mart, those kind of places. My friend paid $60 at a place called Shopko in Wisconsin.

 

[Anthony*B]

ah, excellent, thank you kind sir, I will look into that one immediately! need to see also if it does DTS & has optical out or dig. coax out

 

[Steve Berger]

I picked up a Cyberhome CH-DVD300 for about $35. I only have one R2 PAL DVD so I don't know if it does a "good" conversion or not but seems to work fine with the Bond "Casino Royale" that was issued a year and a half earlier that the US release. If you were really lucky then you could swap the drive from one to the other and keep your original features on the 500. All the fancy stuff is done on the mpeg board.