I wanna purchase one -- have any recommendations? Is there anything special I should know about owning a multi-region player?

As a btw, I am utterly hooked on the UK TV series, "Spaced". I must own it and is only available in a Region 2 format. A multi-region DVD player is my only hope, Obi Wan Kenobi, and need one posthaste.

Here's one for cheap from Newegg. It's region free and supports PAL, which is important if you're gonna watch dvds from the UK. Plus it does karaoke!

I love Spaced too. I downloaded all of the episodes and watched them one weekend. I'm hoping they release them over here soon so I can get a legit copy.

Is newegg.com a reputable retailer? I've never heard of 'em. What about the SDAT brand? I'm not familiar with them either.

I did a bit of research on Amazon and found some fairly decent priced players (JVC and Phillips were a couple of brands that I immediately recognized).

And, Donovan, if you have a multi-region player, you can purchase the collectors' edition of 'Spaced' from Amazon UK for fairly cheap.

newegg is legit, more known for computer parts/accessories than entertainment electronics but i'd trust them.

Yeah, newegg is most definitely legit. I've ordered from them several times with no problems. Supposedly, they have some of the highest customer satisfaction among internet retailers.

They're very reputable. Like chase said, they mainly deal with computer hardware, but I'm sure you'd be safe buying from them.



I'm not familar with them, but the reviews I've found online are mostly favourable. At that price it's hard to go wrong. If it lasts you a year you've got your money's worth. At least that's the way I look at it.



If a brand name gives you more comfort, go for it.



I don't have a multi-region player... yet. I have been thinking about getting one mostly because my girlfriend has turned me on to foreign films. Let me know what you end up buying.

Thanks for the feedback on newegg. As for the price, shit...$52, you can't beat that at all.

With four dollar shipping, no less. I'm ordering this when I get to the new digs.

I bought a magnavox one, and it broke a week later.
Now my kid can't watch any of his Finnish dvd collections, unless johanna learns to hook the computer up to the tv switch video outputs and plays it from there, but that is way to much work.

I bought the really cheap one from Radio Shack (zees vun), which also does PAL (which is important if you're doing European DVDs). I actually got a US$20 rebate on it. Of course, it was US$40 at the time, not US$35...plus, if you're impatient, you don't have to do mail order, your local store most likely has one.

Picture is crap (well, it's not high-def), but it doesn't suck -- I only use it when I have to, and it's watchable. And it still works.

A lot of multi-region players are targeted at European audiences, so don't let the web sites confuse you.

Or, as has been recently implied, you can just watch it on your computer. But I recommend not going back and forth between another region and this one -- watch the entire series, because you only get a limited number of switches back and forth. I think that's a DVD-ROM thing, but it might be fixable by reloading the software -- don't quote me on that.

I recently picked up the Philips DVP642 for sole purpose of watching some Region 2 PAL DVDs that I picked up. I think the player was around 60 bucks at Target. The player isn't region-free out of the box, but you can use the remote to make it region-free in a few seconds (Power up the player, open the tray, then while the tray is in the open position press the following sequence on the remote 7,8,9,OK, 0).

I've got/and did the same thing.

Do you need to do this everytime you watch a Region 2 video or does that permanently convert the player?

I can't answer for the Philips, but for the Desay, it puts you on a screen in which you switch the region. It stays that way until the next time you do it again.