Russian films: A very economical region-free DVD player

[Timothy D. Sergay]

I second everything Lynne says (hi, Lynne!), but for budget-conscious 
SEELANGERs, let me add that you can still buy a perfectly good "region free" 
DVD player that can play Russian (Region 5, PAL-formatted) DVDs on an 
American NTSC for as low as $26.95. I've had one for years and only recently 
discovered that it was always a region-free model. It's the Cyberhome CH300. 
For vendor information see 
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Cyberhome_CH-DVD_300_Standard_DVD. You just have 
to know how to instruct the unit to play a PAL disk; there are no 
instructions for doing so in the manufacturer's user manual. It's very very 
easy, though: no tools are needed. It's just a matter of pushing certain 
buttons on the remote control in the right sequence. I've done it: it works. 
I have cribbed a user review including the specific instructions and pasted 
it below. Best regards, --Tim Sergay

Don't be frightened by the small-name brand and tiny size. This player works 
just fine. Good picture and good performance. I bought mine primarily 
because it can be programmed to play discs from other regions than Region 1 
(North America's DVD region, for those who do not pay attention to such 
things.) It does this to perfection! I have had no problem with color shifts 
or distortion with PAL discs on my NTSC television, but be sure that you use 
the manual when you go through the "Setup" menu - you will need to make sure 
your player is set to NTSC, not PAL, if you live in North America and want 
PAL discs to play properly on your NTSC set.

Not familiar with the PAL/NTSC thing? It's like this - if an American buys a 
DVD from England, for example, he or she will find that it will not play in 
the average North American Region 1, NTSC DVD player because in England, 
DVDs and players are Region 2 and PAL TV format (North America has NTSC 
format TV broadcasts). They are incompatible and will not play. This player 
will play both PAL and NTSC DVDs, and will play them from any region!

There is one minor caveat - there are no instructions as to how to change 
regions included with the player (but can be found with an internet search).

Not to worry, though - this is how you do it:

1. With no disc in the tray, push "Menu" "1" "9" (ignoring the "No" symbol 
that appears on the upper left-hand corner of the screen).

2. A menu will appear that shows in highlight the region it is set to 
(almost certainly Region 1). Push the "Enter" button and the region number 
will change. You can set it to any region (1 through 6) or to Region 0, 
which means it will play PAL or NTSC DVDs from all 6 DVD regions!

3. Push the "Open/Close" button to close the menu, and you're done!

Hack details:

Power up, no disk in. Status says READ then INSERT DISC.

Press MENU (status reads invalid key icon)

Press 1 (status reads invalid key icon)

Press 9 Menu is displayed.

Press ENTER on the region, digit turns to "-"

Press 0

Press ENTER again

Press EJECT to clear the special menu.

PS If you're gagging to get at this and the remote doesn't work, pull out 
the tab that isolates the supplied button cell in the remote control :-)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "lynne debenedette" <lynne_debenedette at BROWN.EDU>


I got my multi-system player from russiandvd.com and it
> works fine with every DVD I have.
>
> Lynne
> -- 
> Lynne deBenedette
> Sr. Lecturer in Russian
> Dept. of Slavic Languages
> Brown University
> Providence RI 02912
> email: lynne_debenedette-at-brown.edu (replace -at- with @)

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