In the US do you have unlocked (play all regions) DVD players or are they all set to Region 1?

Over here, I have friends with DVD players set to Region 4 but I have bought three in two years that were all multi-region.

Until today. Two went kaput so I replaced them from The Good Guys, A$90 for the two. Brought them home - locked to region 4. You see, I buy DVDs from Amazon that are regions 1 and 2. I need multi-region players.

Thank goodness for the Internet. They're not locked now!

Hi Leslie,

From what I am aware of, most (99.9%) of DVD players sold in the US are locked to region 1. I bought a few region 2 DVDs on one of my first trips to Italy with no knowledge of the region codes. I was so excited to watch them dubbed in Italian when I got home and was I surprised to find out that none would play on any of the DVDs I had access to! I spent the next 3 months researching on the internet until I found this great site which gave ways to "break the code" on many of the DVd players sold in the US. I bought a Daewoo which worked perfectly and is easy to change back and forth between region 1 & 2. Now I can watch my big collection of DVDs I have bought over the years in Italian. My concern though is what do I do when my trusty dvd player breaks.

The reason I say 99.9% sell locked DVD players is that it is illegal to sell unlocked players in retail stores, or at least this is what I have been told. I have mentioned wanting to buy an unlocked player to a few salesman. On occasion, I have been given "unofficially" a lead on a place to buy an unlocked player (here in Hawaii). I ask now and then just in case my DVD player breaks. There are a few stores which are Asian based here that have a few DVD players that are multi-region but they are never advertised this way. A friend of mine has bought one to watch her Korean soaps.

The website I used to "break the code" is no longer up but I have recently stumbled on this one.

good luck!

Yep, I had it unlocked before you could say "whacky people".

I was just so surprised to find that they were locked after the last three I bought being set to Region 0 - which these two are now set to.

I'm so glad you found a code. I knew someone who bought codes from ebay - but luckily the fourth website I opened had the magic numbers right there. Yay!

Please share! I have a new dvd/vcr player that is only set to region 1. Just needed a vcr player but this was the best option. The website I mentioned does not have a code for this player...an RCA. thanks

OK, the two DVD players I bought were Conia M250.

What is the exact brand and model number of yours?

(Research is my favorite thing!)

It is an RCA DRC6350N DVD/VCR COMBO. I found the same brand name/number saying a DVD recorder but mine is not a recorder, just a DVD/VCR player in case that matters. thanks and good luck on the research.

Okay, lots of looking and one mango later, I was ready to give up (gees, mine was so so easy!) when I found this. Read through to the bottom of it, where it says "some models use...". Try that for a start.

This is a hard one. Those numbers aren't on all the usual sites. Perhaps it's a new model and hasn't hit these sites yet.

Egad! I just found this site and I'll am willing to bet (well, maybe) that there is not an unlock code yet for yours. Bother.

There are also a number of vendors who will sell you an unlocked player. The funny thing is (if it's true that this is illegal in the U.S.) that the one I bought a couple of years ago came from a U.S. company. It wasn't any more expensive than the same player from Amazon or another better known source, though it was probably "last year's model".

You can find several sources by Googling on "multi-region DVD". My player is also dual-voltage, which I wanted in case I want to take it back to the States one of these days.

I considered the unlocking codes, but had heard horror stories of people using bad codes and permanently damaging their players (could just be urban legends, but I didn't want to take a chance).

Hi

The DVD player that I have at home here in Norway is great. It plays all DVD zones, it plays CDs of course, it also plays divx movies and I can also stick in a CD with mp3's and it plays that too :-)

On my laptop it doesn't seem to be that easy. It seems like it is only possible to change zones a limited number of times but I guess since this is a software restriction it should be possible to bypass this somehow

THIS SITE will let you see if your model is hackable, and if so, how to "open" it.

I tried that one for Girasoli, but her model isn't on there yet. I'd bookmark it though if I were her - and try again in a few weeks.

Thanks Leslie for all your research. I guess since my other DVD player is already "hackable" and I can watch region 2 DVDs on it, I will wait for a confirmed hack before trying the possibilities. Figures I bought one of the models not on the hackable list. I really bought it mostly for the VCR though.

Barb (and Art), thanks for the suggestion. It looks like the same site I posted earlier. I will keep my eye on it though in case they ever find a hack for the player.

On the pc issue - I want to watch dvds from all over the world on my laptop - I have downloaded this and am currently using it on a 60 day trial and is working fine - I will be happy to pay the $25 for it.
http://www.dvdidle.com/dvd-region-free-lite.htm

there may be some freeware about but this is the best I found

Sorry I didn't look at all the links when I posted mine! The idea that eliaz3 posted about sounds like a great idea.