I'm trying to find a commercially available DVD player which will play Region 0 NTSC DVDs without having to do the "One-for-all" remote control hacks

does anyone know of any good ones (ideally not too expensive) which are available, or are they all region locked still?

Have a look on the Richersounds website. They very often unlock DVD and Blu Ray players (the latter for DVD playback only) for sale.

I suspect most players come out of the factory region locked but at least Richersounds could save you the faff of doing it yourself.

ah ok cool! I'll check them out ta

I thought region 0 would play on any dvd player. It's whether or not the tv can cope with the NTSC output which is the problem.

I don't know if it's worth saying but you might struggle to find NTSC Region 0 mentioned on any websites for multi region players. I only mention it because NTSC is region 1. Region 0 discs are universal play. They'll work on any player even locked ones.

this is the thing, I thought Region 0 would work, but it seems they're coded as Region 0 NTSC according to the production company

Region 0 means they are Region Free, NTSC means the content is 720 x 486 at 29.97fps rather than 720 x 576 at 25fps. A region 0 PAL disc would have the latter parameters.

These days any modern DVD player and TV will play the disc, it doesn't have to be region free though many of the el cheapo ones already are.

If that's the case and it looks to be when you search for region 0 NTSC, does the player accept the disc? Could it be the TV, is it an old TV and is it NTSC compatible?

Will the disc play on a PC ?

OP region coding and pal/NTSC output are two different things.

The Region coding determines what market the disc is designed to be playable in, with Region 1 being the US and Canada and Region 2 being Europe and Japan. As you may know Japan also uses Region 1 coding, but their discs are NTSC. Region 0 means it is designed to be playable Worldwide. This is a separate issue from the disc being NTSC.

If the DVD is Region 0 NTSC then your DVD player will happily play it, but will output (normally) an NTSC signal instead of a PAL signal. Some DVD players can output what is known as Pal/60, basically a PAL signal but at 60Hz instead of a standard PAL/50 signal from NTSC DVDs, one or two can even convert to a standard Pal/50 signal which any UK TV will display while most modern DVD players will just output the NTSC signal from the disc. Some TVs not designed to accept NTSC can display a Pal/60 signal. However, pretty much every TV in the last 5 or 10 years will happily accept an NTSC signal, but sometimes only via one of the scart sockets. Best bet is to check your TV's manual.

So if the disc is Region 0 your DVD player will recognise and play it.
If your TV accepts an NTSC signal, it will happily display a picture but if it doesn't, it may accept Pal/60 if the DVD player can output it.

I have Region 0 Pal and Region 0 NTSC discs. They play in any UK (Region 2) DVD player and the TV gets either an NTSC or a PAL signal depending on which disc is playing.

So, as I and others here have said, as long as the disc is truly Region 0 then pretty much every DVD player and almost any TV sold in the last 15-20 years will play along quite happily.

If you're looking for a player and need to play region 1 locked DVDs then the Toshiba SD2010 might be worth a look. This can be de-regionalised just by using the player's own remote control.

hmmmmm I've looked at an SR750 which seems to be multi-region out of the box, but I'm guessing going off the info above that these DVDs aren't coded as Region 0, unless my shitty Sony player is really limited because they just show up with "Cannot play due to region restrictions"

By the way, that should read Japan also uses Region 2 coding, not Region 1

With Australia in mind - I could never understand why some R4 were/are NTSC, considering PAL is their television broadcasting system.

Region 4 is also South America and Brazil, Argentina + others use 525 lines even though they are PAL of different variations. Since the NTSC/PAL on DVDs is incorrectly named and they should really be labelled 525/625 (or 60/50) that probably explains it.

Yes, South America, Brazil etc use the PAL system.

Didn't know there was another variation of PAL.

I vaguely remember Overclockers starting a petition early 2000 against Warner for using NTSC on Australian discs, I would have thought their equipment was NTSC compatible just like ours, no idea Warner listened.

afaik Sony are one of very few makes of dvd player that don't support multi-region, many others do & some of them don't advertise the fact they can play have the multi region ability -- but they can. (as regulations go they shouldn't) My old yamada dvd player is multi region and switches automatically between ntsc & pal

EDIT: seems you can now get multi-region sony -- for sale on amazon

Sony do multiregion players, they may not be multiregion out the box but they do exist. They normally get modified by a third party.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-DVPNS30.../dp/B0009FJMJ6

AFAIK Panasonic are another make they don't come multiregion out the box, but you can get mods for it.

Some are remote hackable, some, like the Panasonic need need to be modified via the port on the back.

Yes Brazil for example uses PAL-M which is 525 line 60 Hz the same as the US but PAL rather than NTSC. So since the colour modulation is irrelevant for DVDs the "NTSC" discs match the TV system rather than the "PAL" discs. (The quotes are because DVDs can't really be either NTSC or PAL).

Some of the cheaper ones/ lesser brand names I.E from supermarkets etc are multi region, got a "pacific"one from asda a while back plays copy's and is multi region

As another option, Philips 3000 Blu Ray players can be made region free for DVD playback using a simple hack.

Last week bought a Toshiba SD3005KB hdmi DVD player from Argos for £34:99 .Did a quick google and got the instructions how to hack using the remote .

turn on,
open tray,
press 98790 ok on the remote,
tray closes,
now plays region 1 discs.

delighted with this buy and so far has played all my USA dvd's with no problem .
I also have an argos value range dvd player (scart only) and it's multiregion out of the box .Only problem is the unit is pig ugly toploading and the picture quality is average but hey it was only £19:99 this is now used a bedroom unit.

I easily modified my Sony blu-ray player (BDP-S350) for multi-region for DVD using a standard One For All remote, I think the later players can also be modded the same.