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Let's talk about how easy it is play DVDs from anywhere in the world

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:14 pm
by Seibertron
Want to watch Transformers DVDs from anywhere in the world? Let’s break the region-lock chains together.

Tired of waiting for official U.S. releases of your favorite Transformers series while fans overseas are already bingeing Headmasters, Beast Wars, or the RiD sets? Yeah, we’ve been there. The good news? There’s no reason to wait anymore.

The trick? Region-free DVD players — and they're easier to get than you think.

You don’t need some crazy import or high-end tech. There’s an army of budget-friendly DVD players sitting at your local Target, Best Buy, Walmart, or wherever you shop. A little research online will show you which models can be easily unlocked or "hacked" to play DVDs from any region.

💡 Pro Tip: The cheaper the DVD player, the easier it usually is to unlock. Stick with recognizable names like Philips — avoid high-end models like Sony, Toshiba, or Pioneer if you're aiming for flexibility over frills.

Region 4 (Australia)? PAL format (UK)? Region 2 (Europe)? Bring it on.

I’ve been watching global Transformers content for years — including:
    []Metrodome’s Headmasters, Masterforce, Victory, and RiD []Transformers: The Movie Reconstructed []Madman’s flawless Beast Wars and G1 box sets []Japanese bonus DVDs, right out of the box
  • Burned raw video files (AVI, MPEG, etc) straight from downloads

No conversions. No drama. Just plug and play on my main setup.

Why does this matter now? Because one of our site’s latest sponsors is Madman — the team bringing official releases to life down under. If you're not importing from them yet, you’re missing out. I personally think it’s worth the extra few bucks to own incredible sets like Headmasters or RiD, especially when there’s no domestic alternative.

Still unsure where to begin? Want help picking a solid region-free player? Just post below or message me — I’ll do my best to point you in the right direction.

Let’s make sure every Seibertronian can watch their favorite episodes — no matter where in the galaxy they’re released.

Freedom is the right of all sentient Transformers fans.



Ryan in 2005 wrote:Hey guys,

Once Metrodome announced the upcoming Headmasters DVD set, I started doing some research into figuring out a standard way to play foreign DVDs. I've been anxiously awaiting a Headmasters DVD set that's not as expensive as the Japanese version for quite some time so I can assure all of you that I wasn't going to let a little thing like Region 2 or PAL video stop me from figuring out a way to play the Metrodome DVDs here in the States (NTSC video, Region 1). While it was great news that Metrodome was going to release the Movie and Headmasters as Region 0 (just like the Robots in Disguise RiD videos were released unbeknownst to many fans), but that would only allow most of us American fans the ability to watch the DVDs on our computer. I wanted to watch the DVDs on my television with my sound system dammit!

So I talked to a few of my friends at work who are from Poland. A few of them started pointing me toward the DVD player that is sold locally at Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City or Amazon.com. This DVD player can EASILY be hacked to play any region AND it automatically converts PAL formatted videos to NTSC. PLUS IT'S CHEAP and comes with tons of other features that have totally changed my DVD experience. I highly recommend this DVD player:

Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... lectronics

http://www.google.com/products?q=phillips+DVP642

1. Turn on the player.
2. Open the tray.
3. Press the following sequence on the remote: 7 8 9 OK 0
4. The number 0 will appear on the lower left side of your screen.
5. Your player is now region free! Put in a DVD and enjoy! :)


NOTE: The 0 in the sequence above represents the region code. 0 = region free. If you want to change your player to just a specific region code, replace the 0 with the region number you want.

The hack should be perfectly safe, but USE IT ON YOUR OWN RISK!





It plays my RiD DVDs from the UK perfectly as well as my various Takara DVDs that came with my Robot Masters figures and TFC-9 Starscream. I can't say enough great things about this DVD player.

And no, I do not work for Phillips. I'm just trying to spread some information about this DVD player out to the community so that you guys can get your DVD player before the Headmasters set is released.

Apparently the cheaper the DVD Player, the easier it is to region hack and to find a player that will convert from PAL to NTSC. I bought one that was a little more expensive with a brand that I recognized even though several of my friends recommended the Cyberhome DVD players. However, I read so many bad reviews about the Cyberhome DVD player that it didn't matter that it was only $40 or less ... I wanted a player that would last and look decent.

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:14 pm
by Tigertrack
I have a Cyberhome DVD player. It works well, but I have not considered making it region free. Perhaps...

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:17 pm
by Seibertron
Cyberhomes are very notorious for being easy to hack so they can be region free. I've heard questionable things are the quality of Cyberhome DVD players so I don't recommend them though I do have a lot of friends that have them. It's mostly been online reviews that I've read about the shady quality of Cyberhomes. However, my friends all seem to say that the Cyberhomes work just fine.

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:17 pm
by Sideshow Sideswipe
I'm going to go check my cyberhome DVD player as I know it was under $40!

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:17 pm
by Optimist_Prime
Damn, I have a Sony. Well if I have to get a new player may as well get a region free one. Thanks Ryan.

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:21 pm
by Seibertron
Sideshow Sideswipe wrote:I'm going to go check my cyberhome DVD player as I know it was under $40!


Can you post your model number here so that others can find out if theirs are? I'll see if I can find the link so that you guys can post the hacks (and links) for your players. PLEASE make sure you post the brand and model number so that everyone can see. Thanks!

Edit: Just for the record, mine is a Philips DVP642.

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:23 pm
by Seibertron
Here's the website that I used to find out about my player: http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/philips-dvp-642/4117

I then used Amazon.com's reviews to figure out which one of the lower-end DVD players that I wanted to purchase. I saw a lot of positive reviews for the Phillips DVP642 so I decided to buy that one to watch the RiD DVDs from Metrodome back in 2005. It quickly replaced my very nice Toshiba DVD player because I was tired of it not being region free.

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:25 pm
by Seibertron
Ah, here's a whole list of DVD hacks on that same site ... http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:26 pm
by Optimist_Prime
It's a Sony DVD&VCR Combo SLV-D300P

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:27 pm
by i_amtrunks
You wont regret hacking your lower end DVD players either, as since the AU$1 is only worth about US$0.80, you guys save a bunch on purchasing, and shipping costs arent anywhere near as bad for dvd's.

And for those from the UK where 1 Pound is about AU$2.50, you guys save a bundle buying Madman's stuff.

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:32 pm
by Optimist_Prime
Well... I'm a little thing I like to call S.O.L

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:37 pm
by Seibertron
For those of you with laptops or PCs that you want to be regionless, it's fairly easy to make your DVD player on your computer region free as well. Of course, that might depend on the DVD player that came with your system, but I was able to get mine on my Dell laptop to become region free fairly easy.

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:42 pm
by Seibertron
Optimist_Prime wrote:Well... I'm a little thing I like to call S.O.L


A $48 investment gets you the same player I have that used to be $70 2 years ago.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... lectronics

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:43 pm
by Optimist_Prime
http://www.world-import.com/dvd.htm?OVRAW=region%20free%20player&OVKEY=region%20free%20player&OVMTC=standard&OVADID=6618804511&OVKWID=38549816511
For those of you who want an easy, and fairly inexpensive way, here are some Region-Free DVD Players

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:43 pm
by Jedi Kermit
I've bought the same player as Ryan did last year so I could watch my Transformers DVDs from other countries. It does a good job of playback on a CRT but not on a HDTV. I ended up getting a Sony upconvert DVD player to watch all of my region 1 NTSC DVDs on my HDTV and on the Phillips just the Transformers DVDs I got from Europe.

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:46 pm
by Optimist_Prime
Seibertron wrote:
Optimist_Prime wrote:Well... I'm a little thing I like to call S.O.L


A $48 investment gets you the same player I have that used to be $70 2 years ago.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... lectronics

Well... that would just be to easy. :BLACKEYE:

Re: Let's talk about how easy it is play DVDs from anywhere in the world

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:52 pm
by Gutsman Heavy
Seibertron wrote:It certainly beats the alternative of not owning sets like Headmasters (which Madman will be releasing later this year)


WHOA!! How'd get get that juicy nugget of info!?

Re: Let's talk about how easy it is play DVDs from anywhere in the world

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:20 pm
by Seibertron
Gutsman Heavy wrote:
Seibertron wrote:It certainly beats the alternative of not owning sets like Headmasters (which Madman will be releasing later this year)


WHOA!! How'd get get that juicy nugget of info!?


Whoops! I forgot to post about it back on the 17th. :oops:

Here's the official news story about it: http://seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=11283

Re: Let's talk about how easy it is play DVDs from anywhere in the world

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:30 pm
by Azrael Prime
Seibertron wrote:I can even download videos from the Internet, burn them directly to a DVD-R as their native format (i.e. AVI, MPEG, etc) and watch the actual raw videos on my home TV without ever havign to convert the video to a DVD format.


Anything special that needs to be done to said DVD-R?

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:36 pm
by shortround
Hey ryan can put of link to the headmasters dvds on madman site I couldn't find them I'm thinking about buying them and trying your trick.

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:37 pm
by Noisemaze
Okay, now all I need to know is where can I buy the dvd's? Who sells them? Where can I buy the UK RID set that I've heard so much about?

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:41 pm
by ZoneDaiatlas
Seibertron wrote:For those of you with laptops or PCs that you want to be regionless, it's fairly easy to make your DVD player on your computer region free as well. Of course, that might depend on the DVD player that came with your system, but I was able to get mine on my Dell laptop to become region free fairly easy.

The best solution is downloading "VLC Media Player" and it will play any region on your computer...

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:41 pm
by Seibertron
shortround wrote:Hey ryan can put of link to the headmasters dvds on madman site I couldn't find them I'm thinking about buying them and trying your trick.


Headmasters will be available in November from Madman. You can buy Metrodome's version from Amazon.co.uk at the following link:

Headmasters: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transformers-Ta ... 557&sr=8-1

Amazon.co.uk will deliver to the U.S.

Masteforce: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transformers-Ta ... 557&sr=8-1

Victory: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transformers-Ta ... 557&sr=8-1

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:42 pm
by Noisemaze
And what about Beast Wars II & Beast Wars NEO?

PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:43 pm
by Seibertron
ZoneDaiatlas wrote:
Seibertron wrote:For those of you with laptops or PCs that you want to be regionless, it's fairly easy to make your DVD player on your computer region free as well. Of course, that might depend on the DVD player that came with your system, but I was able to get mine on my Dell laptop to become region free fairly easy.

The best solution is downloading "VLC Media Player" and it will play any region on your computer...


I disagree. The best solution is just to make your player region free, which mine is, then you can use Windows Media Player or whatever other program you normally use to watch DVDs on your computer.