Can anybody point me to a reliable DVD player available in Taiwan that can play DVDs from different regions and different systems, i.e Region 4 (Australia) & PAL. I’ve bought two machines (easily returned) that claim to be multi-region enabled etc but they will not play Region 4 discs. 
Sorry if a thread alredy exists I’m a forum virgin!
Th eproblem is not just down to the DVD player, we had our player chipped and it can play discs from all regions, but as some regions are in PAL and some in NTSC then unless you have a TV equipped to play both, and most are not, then it is pointless anyway.
I’ve seen a US site that claims to sell a multi-region player that converts PAL to NTSC befor it hits the TV. Sadly they won’t ship overseas.
Not sure if this will help if your problem is TV-related as Traveller suggests.
If not, this is my multi-region DVD player advice…
I bought a regular Pantiac DVD player at FNAC. It cost just over 2000 NT. The guy at the store adjusted some little switch (they all knew how to do it) and, voila, I had an all-region player.
I’ve tried it out, and it works.
Well, you go to the nearest Geant or Tesco and buy their cheapest DVD player.
It plays anything apart from video tapes.
Also, we have put Danish PAL DVD’s in the 2 we have had… No problem. I think the last one was NT$1700 or thereabouts, brand Lakewood, sunny or the like.
A lot of those cheapo players are multi-everything out-of-the-box, i.e. they support multi-norm (PAL/NTSC), multi-region (codefree) and multi-voltage (110/220V).
For watching PAL on a NTSC-only TV you have two options:
[ul]
[li]The player can convert from PAL to NTSC (not many can do this)[/li]
[li]Your TV and player have a component (YUV) connection[/li][/ul]
Just keep in mind that the NTSC/PAL issue does not directly relate to the region-coding, so multi-region capability is no guarantee that you can actually view all movies (even they do play in the player).
Rascal: What brand is my DVD player again? And how much was it? Do you remember?
It’s multi-region and multi-system (PAL and NTSC), oh, yes, and multi-voltage, too.
Iris
My Tatung DV-537 plays all regions, but I think the guy chipped it in the shop. I believe it is in fact a series of key stroke on the remote, but I made sure it was done before I tested it out in the shop. It was the display model and I put PAL and various region discs in it in the shop to test it. Worked fine although amusingly the first huge expensive plasma screen they plugged it into was itself broken ! Crikey, there’s a couple of hundred grand down the drain ! I wouldn’t buy a DVD player without testing it with whatever you want to play in it. The player was around NT$2k, can’t remember exactly.
Of course it will only play PAL on a PAL TV. It does have a function to convert PAL to NTSC but it’s a pretty poor conversion (jittery - unwatchable) better of course to have a PAL telly in the first place.
I think it’s an AKAI. Can’t recall the price though. Probably you can’t buy the same model anymore.
I have a Shinco DV-8100 which can-do-it-all, but it also has been replaced by newer models.
Cost me NTD4500 at the time (2 years ago) but today you can get equal features for less.
Or a TV / display with component inputs. Like a 50" plasma … 
Got a Samsung TV model CT29K10MQ (controls in English) and a Panasonic DVD player M255P (unfortunately controls in Chinese). Plays all regions no problem, even “dodgy” disks that other cheaper DVD’s cannot. Not cheap though (DVD about 5k). Got them from a wonderful guy who runs a small little shop up near the Zone. He will get whatever you ask for cheaper than the big chain stores here and deliver to your home and fix it all up (got my washing machine, fridge freezer and stereo from this guy as well).
What I did was visit a couple of large stores (3C, etc.) decide on a model and then go to him. Was always cheaper.
Only problem is he speaks only a little English so if you don’t speak Chinese you will struggle without help.
PM me and I will send you the address and phone number (when the missus gets home and I can find it!)
My DVD player has a switch on the back marked PAL or NTSC, but when I put a PAL DVD in, it wouldn’t play even when I moved the switch. Guess I’m not a metrosexual after all.
Buythe cheapest one, it will…
Ha! You outed yourself.
check amazon.com, they offer real cheap dvd players and even give instructions how the set the player to diffrent regional codes. i can post a link if you want to, but it will lead to the german site of amazon.
I’m guessing it’s because the switch only changes the output mode, and doesn’t actually change the signal from the DVD.
Go to Wu Chang Jie between Taipei Train Station and Hsimending. There’s a whole street of stores selling DVD players and someone there should be able to get you what you want.
If you want a nice player that works for pretty much everything you throw at it, get the Philips 642K. It’s almost NT 6000 though.
This is a good site that explains how to region hack your player: videohelp.com/dvdhacks
I bought a cheapie region free one, but it is flaky at playing some of the flakier DVD-R brands. I later bought a Pioneer DV-366 that I region hacked myself with the help of the above web site. It will play just about everything with no glitches, and does PAL to NTSC conversions no problem. The other nice thing about most Pioneer models is that it has a lot more controls on the front panel, including the arrow and enter buttons, so you can still navigate menus without the remote. Most cheapie players don’t have the menu navigation controls on the front panel, so you’ll have to use the remote even for basic stuff.
For the PAL/NTSC conversion, there’s three different ways that players have implemented things:
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PAL or NTSC only. Kinda rare, but they will only play the one standard and nothing else.
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PAL and NTSC, no conversion. Plays PAL or NTSC disks, but only outputs the same format read from the disk. This only works if you have a multi-standard TV that can display either PAL or NTSC. Multi-standard monitors are common in Hong Kong but not Taiwan.
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PAL and NTSC with conversion. Plays PAL or NTSC disks and will optionally convert the signal from one to the other. These will usually have a setup option for signal output type which usually gives you three choices:
PAL: Your TV displays only PAL, so NTSC sources will be converted to PAL.
NTSC: Your TV displays only NTSC, so PAL sources will be converted to NTSC.
Multi: Your TV is multi-standard, sources will be passed through without conversion.
Often the default is set to Multi, so make sure you set it to NTSC so it will do the PAL conversions.
Most current DVD players are of the third type, but if your player is a couple of years old or an odd brand, it might be the second type.
Get a White-Westinghouse WDV-5200KA.
Your nearest Jialefu (CarreFour) should have it. Although the box advertizes that it can only play region-3 DVDs, you or a friendly sales associate can simple go through a short series of menus (in English or Chinese), click a few buttons on the remote (nothing complicated) and be watching your DVD’s tonight.
(It’s not a “hack” because it doesn’t require opening your DVD player’s case or doing anything else that might void your warranty.)
It’s also a really nice and durable DVD player - and you can sing through it! (With NTSC/PAL options.)
All for around $1800NT.
I bought a Teco DVD player at Carrefour about a year ago (model TD2020) and it can only play Region 3 DVD’s, so I would like to know how to hack it to make it “region free”.
I couldn’t find any information online because Teco DVD players are only sold in Taiwan. Even the “Video Help” website doesn’t have any information about any Teco DVD players.
YOU’RE ALL A BUNCH OF CRIMINALS. . . except for Mark and the others who can’t figure it out.
Just thought I’d let you know that Taiwan just enacted its own DMCA law on September 1 that makes it a criminal offense to mess with your DVD player so you can watch DVDs that you purchased in another region. You’re also a criminal if you make copies of copy-protected CDs or DVDs that you purchased (using software that’s widely available online), even if you make such copies for your own personal use.
Specifically, this is what Taiwan’s new law says (govt translation):
“Technological protection measures employed by copyright owners to prohibit or restrict others from accessing works shall not, without legal authorization, be disarmed, destroyed, or by any other means circumvented.”
(see Article 80ter of the Copyright Law at t tipo.gov.tw/eng/laws/e1-4-1an93.asp).
The law also makes it criminal to import, manufacture or sell any device for circumventing such copy or access-control technology. You can thank those bone-heads at the American Chamber of Commerce for pressuring the Taiwan lawmakers to pass such a law ( :raspberry: ). So much for fair use.
[quote=“Mark Nagel”]I bought a Teco DVD player at Carrefour about a year ago (model TD2020) and it can only play Region 3 DVD’s, so I would like to know how to hack it to make it “region free”.
I couldn’t find any information online because Teco DVD players are only sold in Taiwan. Even the “Video Help” website doesn’t have any information about any Teco DVD players.[/quote]If it’s like the one I have, (many machines are in fact the same, just with different names on it), Open the tray, press set up, then press prev,next,angle until the red number on the display shows the region you want (zero)
[quote=“jlick”]This is a good site that explains how to region hack your player: videohelp.com/dvdhacks
[/quote]
I was able to successfully hack my Philips DVD player using the site jlick suggested (I did this in a make-believe, parallel universe, of course, since according to MT, this is illegal). It is also a good site to research if you are planning on buying a DVD player and are interested in finding which ones are the most compatible with home-made VCDs and DVDs.