Andrew

Hi all,

Assuming all goes well, I will be moving from Australia to the US later this year to
marry my fiancee in the US. I was wondering if anyone has any advice regarding what
to do with my DVD collection. I have about 60 DVDs that are region-coded for Zone 4
(Australia) and I'm not sure whether it is worth shipping them over.

My laptop can play them fine, however I was hoping I would be able to play them
through a conventional DVD player and TV. Are multi-system TVs available at all
(PAL/NTSC) in the US and would it be possible to even find region-modded DVD players
there (that can also deal with PAL/NTSC)? Such things are plentiful here in
Australia, but I have heard there is practically zero demand in the US.

If someone has dealt with this very same problem recently, I would appreciate any
advice, otherwise I'll be very busy with ebay over the coming months!

Cheers, Andrew

Denis Barlow

Hi Andrew,

Somebody posted this link a while ago, hope it helps

http://www.110-220volts.com/Prod_MSDVD.shtml

--
Denis

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I intend to live forever - so far, so good

"Andrew" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi all,
    >
    > Assuming all goes well, I will be moving from Australia to the US later this year
    > to marry my fiancee in the US. I was wondering if anyone has any advice regarding
    > what to do with my DVD collection. I have about 60 DVDs that are region-coded for
    > Zone 4 (Australia) and I'm not sure whether it is worth shipping them over.
    >
    > My laptop can play them fine, however I was hoping I would be able to play them
    > through a conventional DVD player and TV. Are multi-system TVs available at all
    > (PAL/NTSC) in the US and would it be possible to even find region-modded DVD
    > players there (that can also deal with PAL/NTSC)? Such things are plentiful here in
    > Australia, but I have heard there is practically zero demand in the US.
    >
    > If someone has dealt with this very same problem recently, I would appreciate any
    > advice, otherwise I'll be very busy with ebay over the coming months!
    >
    > Cheers, Andrew

Paulgani

There are a lot of multiregion DVD players available in the U.S. Ironically, they
tend to be the cheapest ones (under $100) - i.e. the ones from China/Korea. The nice
Japanese ones tend to be strict about region coding.

Here's a site dedicated to modifying common DVD players to be region free (and in
some cases, Macrovision free):

http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/index.php

In many cases, the modification involves only pressing some secret keys on the remote
control to activate any region and the PAL/NTSC conversion!

Paulgani

"Andrew" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi all,
    >
    > Assuming all goes well, I will be moving from Australia to the US later this year
    > to marry my fiancee in the US. I was wondering if anyone has any advice regarding
    > what to do with my DVD collection. I have about 60 DVDs that are region-coded for
    > Zone 4 (Australia) and I'm not sure whether it is worth shipping them over.
    >
    > My laptop can play them fine, however I was hoping I would be able to play them
    > through a conventional DVD player and TV. Are multi-system TVs available at all
    > (PAL/NTSC) in the US and would it be possible to even find region-modded DVD
    > players there (that can also deal with PAL/NTSC)? Such things are plentiful here in
    > Australia, but I have heard there is practically zero demand in the US.
    >
    > If someone has dealt with this very same problem recently, I would appreciate any
    > advice, otherwise I'll be very busy with ebay over the coming months!
    >
    > Cheers, Andrew

Bjw

Hi...I face the same problem coming from the UK.....stacks of PAL VHS and REGION 1
DVDs I'm shipping my VCR and DVD player over.... after lots of looking round I came
to the conclusion that a multi format TV would be best have a look
here....http://www.phoenixelectronics.com/tv.htm they aren't really any more
expensive the DVD I have accepts 100-240 V 50/60Hz supply.....so it's worth checking
yours for the video I figure a power converter will work.....

the other options were: using my PC to convert the signals....i.e video capture card
and TV out card....but my friend who has just hooked his PC to the TV reckons that
the signal degradation would be horrific + it's gonna cost for the cards getting a
multi region DVD...ok...doesn't solve the VCR problem though getting a PAL to NTSC
converter......hmm.....from what I can work out for the UK I need one that will
convert 50hz to 60hz and signal conversion....the ones I found were around $200-300
(and a nest of connecting wires!)

anyway...take a look at the site, chack out the input specs

ben

"Andrew" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi all,
    >
    > Assuming all goes well, I will be moving from Australia to the US later this year
    > to marry my fiancee in the US. I was wondering if anyone has any advice regarding
    > what to do with my DVD collection. I have about 60 DVDs that are region-coded for
    > Zone 4 (Australia) and I'm not sure whether it is worth shipping them over.
    >
    > My laptop can play them fine, however I was hoping I would be able to play them
    > through a conventional DVD player and TV. Are multi-system TVs available at all
    > (PAL/NTSC) in the US and would it be possible to even find region-modded DVD
    > players there (that can also deal with PAL/NTSC)? Such things are plentiful here in
    > Australia, but I have heard there is practically zero demand in the US.
    >
    > If someone has dealt with this very same problem recently, I would appreciate any
    > advice, otherwise I'll be very busy with ebay over the coming months!
    >
    > Cheers, Andrew

Woodsie

Hey,

What you do, to make life really simple on yourself.. When you are flying to the US,
you fly through Hong Kong. You spend a couple days in Hong Kong, get a visa to goto
China for a day, and you goto Shenzhen. You goto this place called "Luo Hu Commercial
City" (after you cross the border into China, its the first huge building you see, if
you walk towards the right, after leaving the building you went through customs and
immigration in)

Once you get into that shopping mall, you goto the 5th floor, and just walk around
until you see stores filled with DVD players, and people bugging you to buy DVDs. The
DVD players they sell in there are multi-region, they can convert PAL display to
display on NTSC 3.58 (which, for the most part, is the standard), and they are
universal voltage. And, for the most part.. they only cost about $50-$70 US dollars.

That solution is a lot cheaper than buying one of those $400 US dollar ones off the
internet.

-Matt "Andrew" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi all,
    >
    > Assuming all goes well, I will be moving from Australia to the US later this year
    > to marry my fiancee in the US. I was wondering if anyone has any advice regarding
    > what to do with my DVD collection. I have about 60 DVDs that are region-coded for
    > Zone 4 (Australia) and I'm not sure whether it is worth shipping them over.
    >
    > My laptop can play them fine, however I was hoping I would be able to play them
    > through a conventional DVD player and TV. Are multi-system TVs available at all
    > (PAL/NTSC) in the US and would it be possible to even find region-modded DVD
    > players there (that can also deal with PAL/NTSC)? Such things are plentiful here in
    > Australia, but I have heard there is practically zero demand in the US.
    >
    > If someone has dealt with this very same problem recently, I would appreciate any
    > advice, otherwise I'll be very busy with ebay over the coming months!
    >
    > Cheers, Andrew

Paul

In article <[email protected]>, Woodsie <+==+sat
anismylord@hotmail+==+.com> writes
    >Hey,
    >
    >What you do, to make life really simple on yourself.. When you are flying to the US,
    >you fly through Hong Kong. You spend a couple days in Hong Kong, get a visa to goto
    >China for a day, and you goto Shenzhen. You goto this place called "Luo Hu
    >Commercial City" (after you cross the border into China, its the first huge building
    >you see, if you walk towards the right, after leaving the building you went through
    >customs and immigration in)
    >
    >Once you get into that shopping mall, you goto the 5th floor, and just walk around
    >until you see stores filled with DVD players, and people bugging you to buy DVDs.
    >The DVD players they sell in there are multi-region, they can convert PAL display to
    >display on NTSC 3.58 (which, for the most part, is the standard), and they are
    >universal voltage. And, for the most part.. they only cost about $50-$70 US dollars.
    >
    >That solution is a lot cheaper than buying one of those $400 US dollar ones off the
    >internet.
    >
Sampo, bought via the net, costing around $130. Easy to hack to play any/every
region, plus VCD & SVCD.
--
paul 58-77 Sheffield 77-79 Coventry 79-88 Sheffield 88-97 Milton Keynes 97-99 London
99-00 Seattle 00-?? Fremont