rickfarang Posted September 27, 2003 Report Share Posted September 27, 2003 Sunday before last, my wife and I went to Pantip Plaza to look for a DVD player for a friend who wants to play zone 1 and zone 2 DVDs on one player. I bought what was touted as a zone-free DVD player. When we got back to the apartment, I leafed through the owner's manual and saw that the manufacturer said that it will only play zone 3 (S.E. Asia) DVDs. So...yesterday I took it back to Pantip and told them that the player didn't do want I wanted (and what the salesman said it would do). They really didn't want to give me a refund and they showed me two players, also supposedly zone-free. Upon checking the manual of one, it said that the machine would learn one of the zones. The manual for the other did not mention zones, but when we called the distributor, the distributor said the machine would play zones 1,3,5 and 9. (is there a zone 9?). No zone 2 (Europe). They were unable to show me any player that would play zones 1 and 2. It seemed that when these people sell you something, they figure they have your money and you have whatever it is that they sold, and if you aren't happy with it, its YOUR problem, not theirs, whether they misrepresented it or not. After 45 minutes of talking, and finally getting a little stern, I got 4000 of my original 4500 baht back. This was my goal, but it was an exausting ordeal, and not one that I would liek to repeat. Does anyone here have a line on a known and proven zone-free DVD player that has been shown to play DVDs set to multiple zones more many plays (some players learn one zone after a few plays and lock on that one)? I will appreciate any help in this area. Thanks RickF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovineye Posted September 27, 2003 Report Share Posted September 27, 2003 Forget the manuals. To get a true zone free DVD player, it must be modified. That is why the manual won't clue you in. I bought mine on a web site and it works great. Sort of skirts copy right issues or some such shit. A thread here went thru this about 6 months ago. I posted a FAQs link but have lost it now. A search will get it for you. Another link is here All region DVDs. But this is not the one I dealt with. The other link I had was much more informative but being inebriated and all right now...... It really doesn't add much to the cost for some reason. Mine was about 6000 baht. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted September 27, 2003 Report Share Posted September 27, 2003 Related note, aren't most or all ..."street purchased" DVDs more less region free anyway? I saw a small DVD/VCD player about the size of a paper back book, for 4-5,000THB last time, would supposedly play anything, but no idea...should buy a few street DVDs first, then try them maybe...as well as a USA purchased DVD... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovineye Posted September 27, 2003 Report Share Posted September 27, 2003 Says Old Hippie: Related note, aren't most or all ..."street purchased" DVDs more less region free anyway? Most gay porno is region free, so in your case, yes OH! Seriously tho, I have many many DVDs from Pantip that are from different regions. About half will not play on my region 1 player for that reason. All play on my all-region player. What you buy will be a copy of the orginal, so if it was all region, then no problem. BTW, pay no attention to the cover that tells you what region. They are frequently wrong (pirated ones I mean). Don't blame the seller tho. It is not in his control. I usually buy from the same sellers in Pantip. They have always taken back DVDs that didn't work, were poor quality (theater video), or wrong region before I had the all region player. Never a hastle for exchange even 8 months after I had bought it. I was never even sure if I was returning it to the right seller, and I never had the cover, which I don't keep. I have done this with about 8 movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted September 27, 2003 Report Share Posted September 27, 2003 Try DVD Genie or other software programs that break the DVD> Also you can sometimes update the firmwares so that they are DVD free.. Do a search there are tonnes of sites with advice on how to make the dvd zone free Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 27, 2003 Report Share Posted September 27, 2003 > Also you can sometimes update the firmwares so that they are DVD free.. To be fair, it should be mentioned, that some people successfully destroyed their dvd this way (ever tried to update with the wrong firmware?). Especially funny, if someone has a notebook with a build-in dvd ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 Yep agree. Know from experience. Updated a firmware on an old ASUS DVD and the thing played all zones but was slow and really lagged Good warning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratis Posted September 29, 2003 Report Share Posted September 29, 2003 A month or so ago I bought a 'Next Base' portable DVD player (not with a screen) from Panthip Plaza. This player is a mobile unit ie small and portable, with lots of functions, fully remote controllable. It will play discs from any region and cost somewhere in the region of 5000 baht. It was a glowing recommendation from an earlier thread on this board that persuaded me to try it and I am very happy with it. If you search in 'Shopping' for 'Next Base' you'll get some more info. Gratis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickfarang Posted September 29, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2003 My faith in Nanaplaza.comessage board participant's level of experience and willingness to share information has really paid off. Thank you for the info. I have passed this along to my friend in the U.S. - it looks he can buy something through http://www.dvdspecialty.com/index.html within the country. Thanks again. You guys came through! RickF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 30, 2003 Report Share Posted September 30, 2003 I own a Pioneer dvd-player (zone free, standard from factory:up:). Check out the following website for some suggestions: http://www.sinsiamelectronics.com/dvd.html Fredro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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