I finally took the plunge and replaced my old player with a region-free DVD player from Sampo. (Not that Sampo, MST3K fans!) It not only plays any disc from any DVD region, it has a built-in PAL-to-NTSC converter so I don’t have to buy a multistandard TV to watch them. Component, standard and S-video outputs, and a PCM coaxial output for digital sound.
So now I can watch my Futurama Season 1 set from Germany, my Buffy sets from the UK and Australia, and pretty much whatever I want. When the “Back to the Future” set is released in Region 4 in August, I can buy it then rather than waiting for the Region 1 release in December. I can get all the great cult horror stuff on DVD from Region 2.
Anyone else made the switch the region-free? Anyone have recommendations for good sites selling DVDs from other regions?