And if not, how could I acquire one that would work on the European curcuit?

I've never been that familiar with the region rules and the DVD player compatibility, import and export. I have DVDs I watch on my laptop but once I move I might want to watch them on the TV screen.

Any help would be appreciated.

Lots of electronics stores such as MElectronics, Interdiscount etc have in their selection, "code free" players which means that discs from any region should work in them. I regularly play US region discs in my player as well as region 2 types.

HTH

I will take note of that. Thanks for the clear answer.

Often, you can find ways to flash DVD players to allow them to become region free. If you Google "Region free DVD player" you will find info on this.

I bought a Panasonic player, but can't seem to find a way to flash this one, so YMMV.

fduvall

There's nothing 'legal' about the region codes... it was just a ploy by the movie studios to 'control' the movie releases. The hardware manufacturers played along, for a while at least...

Well, the last time (ages ago to be specific) I read something about the region issue and import/export business they closed several markets that sold region-free players at the time.

I'm just wondering these days.

Be careful and don't confuse "code free"-"zone free" with "multi zone"-"multi region". It isn't the same.

A lot of the DVD players sold in Switzerland are region free. Like Flashman said, check out the players at Migros, as you can see here.

I bought a Philips DVD/VHS Combi unit locally a couple of weeks ago. The salesman provided a "hack" sheet that would allegedly convert the Region 2 unit into multi region. Spent ages on it but couldn't get the hack to work. Then discovered that the model number on the sheet did not match the unit's. Was and about to go back to the shop, but spent 5 minutes on Google and I had the correct procedure! Works fine now regions 1 and 2.

I have a Shinco player from China, which is a region-free. it also plays a bunch of other formats incl. avi and mpeg, and has a processor that corrects errors in burnt discs. unfortunately, i am not aware if one can get that over here

Australia is the only place that has got this right. I heard that they passed a law several years ago stating that all DVDs and DVD players sold should be region free.

Although it is now quite easy to buy a multi-region DVD player, this is not always the case with computers. You're especially restricted if you have an Apple, with which you don't get much choice in components or ability to change them yourself. We've now used all of our FIVE region changes on the iMac, and so can only use it to watch North American DVDs now! This is appalling. We are a Canadian and British couple, why should we have to restrict whose DVDs we watch - they are our DVDs and our computer. No-one forced Apple to make this restriction, so why do they have to be such ***holes? Thanks Mr Jobs, you've given me one more reason to never buy a Mac again.

Sorry about that. My slightly off-topic rant is now over.

My PC was also region coded and allowed 5 changes. I guess at least I could buy another DVD player and stick it into a free slot in the deskstop, which did not cost very much.

Also, with a PC, I believe you can by a region-free DVD drive. Mac computers and OS X are certainly prettier than generic PCs and the Windows OS, and arguably each work better, but they take away a lot of freedom in terms of hardware and software, respectively. In the future, I'll take freedom of choice over pretty design when it comes to both hardware and operating system.

we got a software for our mac that allows us to play all regions...

The inbuilt DVD player starts up automatically, then you force quit and use the alternative software..

it musn't be that complicated, I just showed my 6 year old how to do it once (including opening everything using the apple-O buttons, and how to find the special software in the applications folder...

The software we are using is called 'VLC'...

All DVD players are manufactured Region Free. They are then coded to allow you to only play certain regions.

Many of the older DVD Players can be unlocked by simply entering a certain code on the Remote control. But beware of Sony one's. They are much more difficult to crack, and sometimes require getting a Laptop with an IR communication port which can not just receive, but also send signals. Tis then has to be set up to send a certain signal to the unit to unlock it.

I bought a Samsung HT250 DVD player and surround sound system last year. It works perfectly, with great sound, picture quality and HDMI output, and also has a USB port so you can hook up a Harddrive or memory stick and play .avi files directly from that.
To unlock it took 8 steps, using only the remote.

Before you buy, check out if there is a crack available online
Check VideoHelp
DVDHacks
Or one of the Forums like AV

Search for the player you want to buy, then if it has a simple hack, eg, for Samsung HT-250, you can go ahead and buy it , safe in the knowledge that any DVD you buy from any region will play...

Hope this helps

VLC player is a great little program thats also available for Windows. I use it for playing almost all video files, as is is a much more robust player (in terms of Codecs) than Media Player, and isn't riddled with Copyright protection. But it will not work with all DVD players in PC's. PC players are often backed up with specific software (ie. the hardware drivers) that will not allow this sort of thing.

There are programs available which can run the DVD as an image, saving all the details, and running it in a Virtual DVD Drive (ie, software) so you can then remove the DVD. This can circumvent some of the saftware bars, as it is no longer running directly fro the DVD Drive...

There is free software that can be downloaded (DVD region + CSS lite) that will enable you to watch any region on a PC or laptop after you have used up the region changes. It doesn't work on Vista as of yet. I just bought an external drive to watch on the laptop until I can get the software to work with Vista.
Most DVD players can be "Hacked" easily to make then multi region players.

In all honesty, I've been using Windows based computers all my life, but I've recently started playing around with my friends Mac. It's much more intuitive, and is of far better design, hardware wise than most PC's. The software allows in depth control of fan speeds and many other functions which, though they may sound daunting, are actually esay to understand and tune to suit how you use your computer.

In terms of Software, most things are developed for PC's, but more and more major applications are now being developed in tandem for use on OS X and Linux. Also with newer Macs, you can partition the HardDrive, and install your choice of windows versions, allowing you to use the same computer with 2, or even 3 different Operating Systems.

And lets not forget that theres a huge movement going on at the moment dealing with Open Source software, which is free, and often jsut as good if not better than the products that will cost you 100CHF....

Is this why I can't watch my American Simpsons and Boston Legal DVDs on my new "code free" DVD player?

Have a code-fee DVD player too, but so far it has played all movies/zones.

Was it advertised as code-free, or (as was in my case) would you have had to pay an additional fee? Do any of the other DVDs from other regions work on the player?