Where to get multi-region DVD player?

[Big Booger]

[Watcher]

My question is a little different... Wife's sister has a DVD Recorder that she's using to record all sorts of Japanese, ahem, entertainment. We've tried to play these DVD-R's on both region free DVD players and my computer to no avail. The shopkeep said that only original discs work in region free players. So what can we do to play these DVD-R's? BTW we're here, in Canada, not there in Japan, so f anyone knows a hack for a player or a player that can be ordered online, tha would be great.

[Big Booger]

My question is a little different... Wife's sister has a DVD Recorder that she's using to record all sorts of Japanese, ahem, entertainment. We've tried to play these DVD-R's on both region free DVD players and my computer to no avail. The shopkeep said that only original discs work in region free players. So what can we do to play these DVD-R's? BTW we're here, in Canada, not there in Japan, so f anyone knows a hack for a player or a player that can be ordered online, tha would be great.

My guess is that she didn't take the copy protection off of the DVDs when she copied them. Without knowing how she burnt the disks, I have no idea what to suggest.

A region free player will play any Disk from any region. However it will not play copy protected content if that content has been copied. You'd need to remove the copy protection, and the rules here state emphatically about not discussing that.

Some types of copyprotection are:

http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_protections.shtml

Commercial DVD Protections

* Alpha-DVD
* DVD-Cops
* SecuROM
* SafeDisc v3
* TAGES

[American Oyaji]

Did she check the DVDs she made before she sent them to you?

[Watcher]

It wasn't copies of movies... it was a recording of various tv shows (Hey Hey Hey, Spring of Trivia, and some dramas)... is there any copy protection inherent to the home-made discs on that? Seems to me it's the same as my buds who used to get VHS tapes of The Simpsons and Friends in Japan from his Mother in America.

[Socratesabroad]

It wasn't copies of movies... it was a recording of various tv shows (Hey Hey Hey, Spring of Trivia, and some dramas)... is there any copy protection inherent to the home-made discs on that?

My guess would be that there is no copy protection on a home-made recording of a TV show - unless the sister put it on there, and I seriously doubt that.

The shopkeep said that only original discs work in region free players.

No offense, but that's bollocks. I have a region free player here in China and watch all kinds of stuff I've bought and stuff I've burned to DVD.

A far likelier cause is the codec the sister used to encode the shows originally. I assume you can put the DVD in your PC's DVD drive and see the files. If not, then as AO suggested the sister screwed up the burn. If the files are there but won't play (file not recognized, etc.) via your DVD player (you should have player soft like WinDVD or PowerDVD since Microsoft's Media Player is a bit fussy about avi files and such), download the following app (it's free and small) and check the codec info:

http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

If you don't have the codec installed, then install it. You should then get the files to at least play correctly on your PC.

Assuming they play as they should, then the next step is converting and burning the files to a format that'll work on your DVD player. A good one-stop convert & burn app is Super DVD Creator. It'll let you convert any bizarre codecs to standard ones and then burn a playable DVD.

[Watcher]

Ther sister has checked them and they worked in her recorder. They are Maxell DVD-R Video Recordable 1-8x discs. My dvd drive is a simple CD-RW/DVD player. I've had no problems playing other discs. I can't even see the files on this thing... the drive just keeps wanting to read it but eventualy gives up. Is it because my Matsushita drive just can't read these newer discs?

Side note- THis whole mess has plunged me into the dark world of DVD recorders and formats. OMG what a mess! Who is responsible for this disaster with all these formats and bits and pieces which don't seem to work with one another. I'm going back to my reel to reel.

[Greji]

Side note- THis whole mess has plunged me into the dark world of DVD recorders and formats. OMG what a mess! Who is responsible for this disaster with all these formats and bits and pieces which don't seem to work with one another. I'm going back to my reel to reel.

I'm in the same mess, just getting into the DVD's heavily in recent months, so this tread is hightly informative to a tyro.

I think the responsibility goes back to the individual companies who have been trying as much as possibleto keep their products dependent upon their software, hardware and anything else that they are selling, that will also work on a competitors system without allowing the competitors stuff to work on theirs. Keep as many markets open on as many fronts as they can!

[Socratesabroad]

Ther sister has checked them and they worked in her recorder. They are Maxell DVD-R Video Recordable 1-8x discs. My dvd drive is a simple CD-RW/DVD player. I've had no problems playing other discs. I can't even see the files on this thing... the drive just keeps wanting to read it but eventualy gives up. Is it because my Matsushita drive just can't read these newer discs?

Yep, if you can't even see the files on your DVD drive, that sounds like a hardware issue. Some discs aren't recognized by some players - you might, if you're really intent on checking out these shows, try buying clean, new Maxell DVDs (the same brand if possible). Try burning and reading data to test the discs. If you're unsuccessful doing that, then you might want to upgrade to a new DVD drive. A DVD RW drive might solve your problems.

[IkemenTommy]

I am looking for a networked dvd player with Divx/Xvid/Vcd capabilities.. preferably multi-region. I really don't need HDD recording though because those things are still quite expensive. Any recommendations out there?

[maninjapan]

Have you tries tsutaya? My friend picked up a multiregion dvd player there that can play the div/vcd etc etc

[IkemenTommy]

I am more interested in the NETWORKED one where you can connect to your LAN HD and stream it off of that.

[GuyJean]

My LG from FlyingPig just crapped out. Actually, it has been dropped a few times while moving or installing, so I'm not sure if it's the maker's fault..

Anyway, FlyingPig seems to be out of their 'region free' players.. Anyone purchase a 'region free' system from Kakaku recently? Or purchased a system from Bic?

I know there's a lot of informatioin in this thread, but DVD info changes quickly; just curious if anyone has purchased a system in the last few months.

Thanks in advance..

GJ

[GomiGirl]

We have a buffalo link system - plays Div x as well as region free. You can get the japanese version (remote, instruction book) here at say Bic but I got mine on-line. Think that a slight adjustment had to be made to work here but not exactly sure.

Alternatively, down at Akiba, there are quite a few stores that sell region free DVD players. Just walk around the stores on the left of the station in the labarinth of small electronic shops and talk to the staff. They will tell you if they have region free or not.

[Tabibito]

Yesterday I bought a multi-region DVD player at Eisan in front of the Akihabara station. I have tested it and it works. They had a large variety of multi-region DVD players from 8,000 yen and up.

They also have tequila and JW Blue.

http://www.eisan.jp

[6810]

with the widespread availability of avi, divx etc files as well as vob files and cheap as dirt broadband in japan you almost have to have a good excuse to warrant a multi region DVD player...

what's that? you buy DVDs? How cute.

[samuraiwig]

Don Kihote sells multi-region DVD players from about 6,500-10,000. Most are Chinese brands you'll never have heard of, but they work fine.

[halfnip]

I am more interested in the NETWORKED one where you can connect to your LAN HD and stream it off of that.

Have you looked at the Popcorn box? I just use my mod'd XBox w/ XBMC and it works with virutally every format you can think of. You can even stream directly from your PC to the XBox instead of having to FTP them directly on the XBox itself..

[Hamaki]

I have seen region free and PAL/NTSC players for about 15,000 yen at a little store near Tamekisano station.

[FG Lurker]

My region free & multi format DVD player died the other day and as I have both PAL and NTSC DVDs I needed to replace it with something similar.

Costco had a huge stack of LG DV392H players for 6500yen/each. A quick check online showed that it plays both PAL and NTSC discs so I picked one up. It isn't region free out of the box, and it refused to play PAL discs too.

A quick Google search turned up this thread, and the hack in the 3rd post worked perfectly. The player is now region free and it plays both PAL and NTSC DVDs without any problems.

It's not a bad little player actually, and it does DIVx among other formats too. Definitely recommended to anyone who wants a cheap player that will play just about anything you throw at it!

[IkemenTommy]

My region free & multi format DVD player died the other day and as I have both PAL and NTSC DVDs I needed to replace it with something similar.

I've been out of the latest electronics loop but you should consider this opportunity to get yourself a region free BluRay Disc player, if it ever exists..

[FG Lurker]

I've been out of the latest electronics loop but you should consider this opportunity to get yourself a region free BluRay Disc player, if it ever exists..

Low def TV. Going to get a wall unit put into our living room at some point and I will replace the TV and stereo when that happens.

[GomiGirl]

My region free & multi format DVD player died the other day and as I have both PAL and NTSC DVDs I needed to replace it with something similar.

Costco had a huge stack of LG DV392H players for 6500yen/each. A quick check online showed that it plays both PAL and NTSC discs so I picked one up. It isn't region free out of the box, and it refused to play PAL discs too.

A quick Google search turned up this thread, and the hack in the 3rd post worked perfectly. The player is now region free and it plays both PAL and NTSC DVDs without any problems.

It's not a bad little player actually, and it does DIVx among other formats too. Definitely recommended to anyone who wants a cheap player that will play just about anything you throw at it!

Does this player have HDMI support?

I am looking for a new DVD player that will have digital cables to our TV. Our current region free Buffalo is a few years old now and only has analog cables.

[Midwinter]

Why would you want HDMi with a DVD player? If you care so much about picture quality, just get bluray. Otherwise a D-type plug should be enough to get a progressive scan picture with a suitable resolution.

[Mock Cockpit]

Why would you want HDMi with a DVD player? If you care so much about picture quality, just get bluray. Otherwise a D-type plug should be enough to get a progressive scan picture with a suitable resolution.

What he said.
Blu-rays are backwards compatible GG, no worries playing your DVDs. A decent blu-ray will also upscale your DVDs so they'll look better on a blu-ray player than on a stand alone DVD player.

[GomiGirl]

What he said.
Blu-rays are backwards compatible GG, no worries playing your DVDs. A decent blu-ray will also upscale your DVDs so they'll look better on a blu-ray player than on a stand alone DVD player.

They play DivX as well?

Thanks for helping a girl out. Am pretty clueless on all this AV stuff.

[Midwinter]

They play DivX as well?

Thanks for helping a girl out. Am pretty clueless on all this AV stuff.

Not sure about standard Bluray players, but a PS3 will play divx off a USB memory stick.

[Kuang_Grade]

here some info on the PS3 and Divx

http://support.divx.com/faq/view/supportFAQen038/DivX%20on%20the%20Sony%20Playstation%203

As for other blu ray players, the support may or may not be there...this page might help.

http://www.divx.com/en/electronics/categories/blu-ray-players

Also, in the US Blu ray players with built in internet streaming capabilities are starting to be sold at fairly reasonable price points (ie, not on the cheapest units but on the second cheapest)...I don't know what the what the J equilviant for Netflix instant streaming is but you might want to keep that in mind as well.

As for the PS3, the big US video game trade show E3 is in early June, and in the past there have been some video game hardware price drops annouced during this event. While that might not be the case this year (Sony is having some serious supply issues in the US...PS3s have been quite scarce since Jan or so....after years of not being able to sell them due to lack of demand, Sony is now losing sales because they aren't pumping out enough to meet demand) you might want to try to hold out until then to hear what Sony has to say at E3 if you decided you want a PS3. While Sony treats the J PS3 market separately from the US PS3 market, major price changes in one market usually show up in the other within a few weeks.

[IkemenTommy]

I'm not sure if there is a Blu-Ray divx player so I play all my divx from my computer and hook it to my TV via the HDMI port

[IkemenTommy]

Have you looked at the Popcorn box?

I recently saw the review on it and I was amazed. It is close to what I was looking for. Thanks.
http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php

It allows BD playback with an upgrade and provides the internal HDD option for media storage but does not record TV programs. It seems to be Debian based and open-source so it is very promising. There were a lot of bugs to be worked out at the time though.

The cost is US$299 but the jerk off local distributors are charging 38,000 yen for it. It's such an insult. I can care less for the Japanese instruction manual and whatever telephone support for that price so I will just order directly from the US.