Hablamos Español Parliamo Italiano Nagsasalita ng Tagalog Region free DVD Players Featured Product Price: $79.95 more info Coby International Region-free DVD Player Built-In Video Converter This region-free DVD player includes a built-in video converter. This allows you to play DVD discs from anywhere in the world on your standard American television regardless of the DVD discs region or the video standard of the disc. Read our DVD Buyers Guide for more information on region-free DVD players. Contact us for WHOLESALE pricing! Click the manufacturer to view our selection!

What are DVD region codes?

DVDs have the ability to encode a specific region in the world the discs can be played. Regions were created by Hollywood producers and these regions have collectively divided the planet earth into zones which correspond to their distribution system.

Regions for you? For those out there that will only play DVDs from your own region don't worry about the information on this page. This really only affects people that collect DVDs from other parts of the world. For most DVD users you will want to play locally produced discs. When considering playing DVDs from other regions remember that the video output format is important. Please review our DVD FAQpage on PAL and NTSC for more details.

One more note on REGIONS: Just because a DVD is coded for a specific region doesn't mean it will play in all countries assigned that region. There is the added layer of incompatibility imposed by the great and wonderful powers that be. You also have to make sure the video formatting is the same. For example, both The UK and Japan are included in Region 2. Unfortunately, UK and all of Europe use the PAL video standard while Japan is NTSC. In order to play a disc intended for the UK in Japan you will also have to have equipment that recognizes the video system. There are converters that will permit the mixing of PAL and NTSC so if you plan on using discs from different countries consider investing in such an additional box. We sell them and the link is to the left in the column of products under Video Equipment - Video Converters

Technically speaking there is no such thing as region zero. This is a designation used to indicate that a DVD was not encoded with a region flag. This way, it will pass the testing of any DVD player and, that is, you can play it in any region. Although your DVD player can read a disc from another region you still have to be concerned with the video format used to create the DVD. For example, Region 1 discs are made with NTSC while Region 2 and some region 4 use PAL. You will also need either a video format convert or a DVD player with a converter built in to make sure you can play discs from other regions. We offer these on the page you are reading now. Please scroll to the top.

The COBY starts at $79.95. Click here

Now, as if this system of region encoding doesn't cause enough problems for the consumer not all discs of the same film with the same region are created equally. In region one discs intended for release in the United States are often not the same as those for Canada. The most infamous cases were with Pulp Fiction and Chasing Amy where the Canadian releases preceded the US release by a significant amount of time and the Canadian releases had a ton of extras while the US versions were fairly plain vanilla. The same can also hold true for region two where discs intended for Japan are often not the same as those released in the UK. So, when you buy a DVD you have to check the region code, the video format, the transfer specifics and the extras.

One new aspect of region coding is Region Code Enhancement (RCE) This is deigned by the studios to prevent viewing a Region One disc on a Region Free DVD player. It will not prevent watching the movie on a MultiRegion Player. The reason for this is to prevent people from the popular practice of hacking the player to be able to view all region discs. So far some Warner Bros, New Line, Columbia and now select MGM have this feature. For more information click on the links to the left.

A Region free DVD player is designed to allow you to play DVD discs in any region whether they're PAL or NSTC format. When a Region free DVD player is used with a multisystem television you get perfect image quality whether they're in PAL or NTSC format. If you already have a regular NTSC television you can also use a Tenlab video converter to convert any PAL DVD discs into NTSC format so they'll display on your television.

An exception to this are the codeless DVD Players from Sampo. With these DVD players, you can watch DVD discs from any region on any television set, thus saving the need for additional video components! To learn more about these unique DVD players, click here.

For greater convenience, check out our selection of Multisystem DVD/VCR combos! Combining the functionalities of a DVD player and a multisystem VCR in one, these units can offer ease of use and space savings for those who do not want to deal with the complexities of multiple audio/video component pieces.

Have more questions? Consult our Buyer's Guide for frequently asked questions. To compare features and specifications, check out our DVD Player Comparison Chart or contact us.

For DVD Player Modification Services, click here for details.