What to look for in dvd player

[tom2b]

Some advice would be appreciated. I have several DVD's which I cant play on my DVD player~it gives me some error message about PAL not'reading' . I understand that this may be something to do with'regions',and the fact that my player cant'read'the DVD . As I would like to get DVD's from the USA, for example, I would like to know if there are any DVD players(Not Blu ray!)that play all DVD's.. I know the reviews mention PAL scan,NTS and such like,but these terms mean little to me...grateful for help

 

[John Duncan]

Hi Tom2b, and welcome to the forum. US DVDs at region 1 and are in the NTSC format, whilst UK ones are region 2 and play in the PAL format, so you need a DVD player which can do both. Now practically all will out of the box, either through an included hardware modification or a hack through a code on your remote. Which player have you got, maybe you just need to enter a remote code to get it to play region free...

 

[simonlewis]

Uk is region 2 for DVD.

 

[John Duncan]

Apologies, iPhone typing, fixed now...

 

[tom2b]

Thanks for reply/advice~Should have included details of my DVD player: Toshiba SD-220EB. Handbook indicates it is region2 playback only.. To clarify your advice, if I were to buy a new player, checking onsite for the tech spec and it indicates PAL and NTSC prog scan~this would cover all bases..?

 

[John Duncan]

Whilst the manual *has* to say that, I'd be very surprised if anybody in the uk would sell a player that hadn't been hardware modded or had a remote hack. A quick google suggests the Tosh ha a hardware mod, and from your description I think you may have the player set to PAL only - somewhere iny the picture menus there should be an option to change from 'PA'L to 'NTSC' or 'AUTO' - can you take a look and see if you can change it to 'AUTO', that should fix it. You have to have no disc in, apparently...

 

[tom2b]

John,

Spot on...... With DVD in,the format can be changed to AUTO~and it is now playing what it hasnt been playing previously

Thank you!

 

[John Duncan]

o/

Excellent, glad to be of help.