Well, we bought a multi-region Samsung player online about 18 months ago (I think... my memory of the exact date is a bit vague), for under 200 quid. It's lasted well and nowt has gone wrong but in retrospect I would have bought one with an easier to use remote as it has a weird joystick for navigating menus which is a bit poo. It also isn't keen on the layer changes on some discs and can skip, but this may be because it's an early model.

I'd say that, unless you're planning on buying DVDs from abroad or have loads of mates with region 1 discs that you'd like to watch, there's no real need to go multi-region as the release dates are coming forward all the time. As I have only had one player, I don't know what to recommend as far as brands go, but I reckon I would stick with big names, personally.

I'm so excited for you... DVD rules!

Have a look on www.homecinemaheaven.com/

whole stack of multi-region dvd players

I personally recommend either Pioneer or Sony

I've got a Toshiba one and it's great. You tend to find these days that the well known brands are pretty cheap these days. You can probably get a good reliable player for around £120-£140. I'd recommend Richer Sounds or John Lewis

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by Lori
there's no real need to go multi-region as the release dates are coming forward all the time.

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I bought "Changing Lanes" from a Canandian based website months before it came out at the cinema over here. I couldn't wait for all that Ben Affleck goodness

My DVD player was a region 1 but the ex downloaded a code from somewhere and changed it to multi-region, mainly 'cos imported DVDs are so much cheaper. I bought mine 'cos it was silver, small and pretty, LOL

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by Teresa
(quotes)

I bought "Changing Lanes" from a Canandian based website months before it came out at the cinema over here.

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Wow! That's impressive. I suppose I forget that not everyone likes to see stuff on the big screen first, like I do. So yeah... go for multi-region

I agree with DJ Billy about where to buy... John Lewis do great (and free) warranties on their electrical products and the prices are good too.

Well it totally depends on your budget on what you really want

There are some really nice (cheap) dvd players out there that are region free, play mp3's, (s)vcd's, support cdr and cdrw etc etc and come with a set of 5.1 speakers.

You can get dvdplayers for under 70 quid now. Yes they don't come with fancy digital / fiberoptic sound connectors which you can plug into an even more expensive amplifier etc.

It really depends, if you don't have a really big fancy TV and you thought that the quality of your vcr was "alright" don't go with any of the major (expensive) brands like sony and pioneer. Yes they have the better product quality wise but if you can't exploit that quality because you have a really nice tv and a dito soundsystem why bother?

We've got two DVD's Len likes his electrical gadgets

One is a multi-region normal play only DVD and the other is a dvd-recorder that we got for less than £300

I got a TV with a DVD player built in for christmas 2001 and I've found it really good, but it's prob not big enough for a main room or whatever (I have it for my bedroom, so quite small), I think it was around 250 pounds (can't find the pound sign, 'cause I've set my keyboard to American by accident, and can't change it back). I dunno about the region thing, mine's just region 2, and I have never felt the need to buy and region 1 DVDs. But I dunno, up to you!
You can prob get some really good deals these days, 'cause I've noticed the prices have gone down quite a bit recently. Good luck!

Thanks everyone for all the advice, it was very helpful! Knowing what I'm like, I'll now spend about a year thinking it over!

BTW, I don't have a brilliant TV set-up, no widescreen or mega home-cinema type affair, just a normal TV, so the advice about not going for a spiffy sound set-up with my DVD was useful too.

Then again, if a little way down the line you decide to get a nice tv and sound system...

One thing I would stress, if you do buy Sony or Toshiba multi-region models...

Make sure your TV can output in NTSC format. I know the cheao Alba model from Argos works a treat. It plays all regios straight out of the box, ie no hacking or chipping required. Will play mp3's etc and all for under £80

I originally bought a multi-region 'cause you can buy the disks from canada a lot cheaper than the UK.

But will woolies & smiths are now doing buy one get one free and the regular price has also come down.
Then again you can buy the disks from outside the UK before the film reaches UK cinema screens, I bought 'Cruel Intentions' before the Uk cinema release.
Also find that the US version is not cut as much as the UK version.

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by Vinnie
I originally bought a multi-region 'cause you can buy the disks from canada a lot cheaper than the UK.

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More or less what I said 8 posts up - hee hee. Got "Lilo & Stitch" the other day for the kids

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by Vinnie
Also find that the US version is not cut as much as the UK version.

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Strange, I have heard the opposite is true.

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by Lori
(quotes)

Strange, I have heard the opposite is true.

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Example: Buffy Series 3
Cuts
R1 - No cuts
R2 - 0m 8s - Cuts to scenes depicting the hotwiring of a car and the second is of a headbutt
R4 - No cuts