Just a quick one to answer everyone's questions and provide the answers where possible.
(A) No, Friends is not available on VHS in the US. And it probably won't be until the show ends.
(B) Yes, Friends is available on PAL VHS and region 2 DVD in Europe.
(C) American televisions and video recorders use the NTSC video system, which is not compatible with the European PAL system.
(D) Your only practical way of watching pre-recorded Friends videos in the US is to buy a DVD player. You need one you can have modified so that it is Region Free. Then you can buy DVDs from Europe and watch them on your NTSC DVD player.
(E) Buying a PAL TV/Video recorder is not an option open to you. Even if you built/found a convertor to create 230V from your 110V power supply, the 60Hz rate used in the US power grid would completely confuse the switch-mode power supplies in modern video recorders. The result would be a spikey power supply ruining your picture. Plus it'll cost you a lot more.
My husband just told me that the DVD writers are going down already. He said they are about 2000$ (Canadian, I guess), which isn't too bad considering that CD Rom re-writable drives were about 1000$ (Canadian) about 3-4 years ago....Give it 2-3 years and DVD writers will be *very* affordable... JRP
On Sun, 30 Apr 2000, JRP stated this considered view. Waking from my doze, I hastily scrawled -
You obviously missed that I said *RE*-writable DVD players. The one you refer to above can only be written to ONCE, like a CD-R. Not particularly useful if you want to use DVD's in the same way you use VCR's.
What?! We have a DVD player and we only buy DVD movies since we've had it. Is it really not popular in the US yet? I'm in Canada and its been popular for awhile...Kind of like Interac I guess. Canadians don't carry cash anymore, but if we go to the US, we have too, because Interac (immediate withdrawal from your bank account) is not in practically every store like over here. :) JRP
It's pretty popular here, too. Only, they can't phase out VHS because *every* house has a Video player. The original rub was that there wasn't a great selection of movies, the big movies weren't being released, and big rental chains like Blockbuster weren't renting the DVD's.
Now, though, the selection is huge. Every new movie is released on DVD, as well as Video...well, not every, but the big one's are. And the prices are very comparable. And, Spielberg has decided to go ahead with releases like Jaws, Jurassic Park, etc, and Lucas has plans for Star Wars now. NOt to mention Disney is releasing everything now. Also, all of the rental chains are renting out DVD's. So, I think that DVD player sales are going to boom this year, and it'll be a huge seller this Xmas.
I'm not saying you can live without video. I use my VCR to record all the time. But, just like most people have a CD player and a cassette player, in a few years, most people will have a DVD player as well as a Video player.
Personally, if I'm gong to rent, or buy, I'll go for DVD. It's just a better picture quality, and you usually get more for your buck.
Hellooooo!!! After getting drunk in Vegas, Vishal Ailawadhi doodled cat whiskers on his/her face and miaowed this little lot at a statue...
I'd agree here. I've only got three DVDs (owing to lack of funds due to attempts to save for a bit of travelling next year), but on the majority of them you do get more for your money. There is still the occasional bad apple, where a company puts practically no extras on a DVD (there's a recent example, but I can't remember the name), but any good DVD these days will at least have a directors' commentary, which usually runs alongside the movie as an alternative soundtrack [1], and often some scenes which were cut from the final cut of the movie but are special in their own little way. :)
Tina
[1] If you get a DVD and it has a directors' commentary on there, I highly recommend you check it out - you can gain all sorts of insights into the movie that weren't there before. Not to mention they can be very entertaining in their own right (the one for "Cruel Intentions" is one example of this). :)
I think the director's commentary, or any commentary for that matter, is probably the best asset of a DVD. Watching unfinished scenes, cut scenes, or alternate endings are normally a let down. You mention Cruel Intentions. I thought the deleted scenes portion was crap. Usually, they were cut because they didn't add anything to the movie. Now, if you look at a movie like the Abyss, it has both the director's cut, and the theatrical release, but of which are VERY different. The disc is also made well as it uses a type of branching which only adds the scenes if you select "Director's Cut."
Hellooooo!!! After getting drunk in Vegas, Vishal Ailawadhi doodled cat whiskers on his/her face and miaowed this little lot at a statue...
I thought the Cruel Intentions cut scenes were crap as well, but at least they were an interesting insight into how the movie could have gone. I've never seen Abyss all the way through, would you believe - not really my kind of movie.
Hellooooo!!! After getting drunk in Vegas, Tennant Stuart doodled cat whiskers on his/her face and miaowed this little lot at a statue...
Yeah, I think that's when deleted scenes work best. I must now pull out all stops to get that Pleasantville DVD...
Tina - or I could pull an Act, and sneakily order it... :)... oh, agh, it costs twice as much over here than in America, and there's more features on the R1 version! Damn this stupid region crap... :(
It's worth buying Canadian Region Ones if you can - more likely to be anamorphic & have more features. For example, Buena Vista is crap, but in Canada their movies are DVDed by Alliance who are very good. We did this for Good Will Hunting, which was cheaper than the USA as well.
And don't forget Region 4 which often has more complete versions than Region 2 but is usually anamorphic. Apparently they have the most complete version of Pulp Fiction, if ever we can track it down.
Does anyone know where we can get an anamorphic L�on VI in English?
If a 100 monkeys each could get their own show (alt.tv.friends), perhaps one day (Mon, 1 May 2000 20:00:11 +0100) a chimp ("Jacqui" ) might say:
#when I look around me, #I can't believe what I see, #it seems as if this country has lost it's will to live. #The economy is lousy, #we barely have an army, #but we can still stand proudly 'cause Canada's really big...
["Canada's Really Big" by the Arrogant Worms (a Canadian band) if you get the chance check it out, it's darn funny :)]
Yepyep :)
Hmm, and there seems to be a large amount of Canadian musicians around too (and I'm not just talking about BNL).. it's really quite nice :)
#we're the second, largest country, on this planet earth, #and if Russia, keeps on shrinking, then soon we'll be first (as long as we keep Quebec!)
He basically grew up Canadian. He also won many tennis championships in Canada. And Ottawa is a very beautiful town....(no that's not where I live, but I do live in Ontario :) Ottawa is the capitol of Canada, too.
If a 100 monkeys each could get their own show (alt.tv.friends), perhaps one day (Tue, 02 May 2000 21:28:06 +0100) a chimp (Tina ) might say:
I coulda been a pro tennis player except:
1. I'm lazy :) Walking the 15 minutes to the tennis club.. ehh <g> 2. I don't have any self-discipline (no way would I be able to go to practise *every* day, heh) 3. I only really got interested in tennis in the past 3 years.. I didn't take the opportunity while I had it. Which is a shame.
Quite frankly, as a former PE teacher said, I have the skill but not the discipline.
But doesn't he have Canadian and American status (visas)? I don't know the rules in America, and not much about the ones in Canada <grin>, but I do believe he would have Canadian status. JRP
and sometimes or maybe always? they make you go back to your country for a little while until you get your green card after you worked here for 5 or 10 years and have proof. But I am not sure what u have to do to get a working permit in the first place.
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Tennant Stuart claimed:
I wonder how long those rent discs last though. If I see how people treat CD's that can be rent at the library, and figuring that DVD discs are more sensitive to abuse.. In Holland DVD is only starting to come off the ground, but already the rent dvd's show scratches.
Hellooooo!!! After getting drunk in Vegas, Bram doodled cat whiskers on his/her face and miaowed this little lot at a statue...
I think what Tennant may be getting at is that the picture and sound quality doesn't get progressively worse with each viewing; I rented out Cruel Intentions on VHS before buying it on DVD, and compared to the DVD, the VHS was fuzzier than the windscreen of a car caught in a snowstorm. Basically, a DVD plays either perfectly or not at all, and it takes a hell of a lot of damage for a disc to get to the stage where it won't play.
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Tina claimed:
I know; but I'd rather have a tape with lower quality than a DVD disc that doesn't play ;-)
Back in ye good olde days when I used to rent VHS tapes, it wasn't *that* bad :) I too fancy DVD way over VHS tapes, but my renting experience at the library makes me shiver.. many CD"s that I rent there had skips in them that couldn't be corrected. I think DVD's are even more sensitive (tho I haven't bothered to find out!).
Hellooooo!!! After getting drunk in Vegas, Bram doodled cat whiskers on his/her face and miaowed this little lot at a statue...
The point is that that it is likely to be a *very* long time before a DVD conks out altogether, whereas with VHS the quality starts decreasing right from the first time you watch it.
This VHS tape actually *was* that bad, and it hadn't even been out a month at the time I got it out. Then again, I've never had much luck with VHS tapes, and I enjoy getting a look at the way films are made and such, so DVDs are definitely for me. :)
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Tina claimed:
That's exactly what I'm wondering about..how many times before the DVD won't play? I think one good scratch will render at least a piece of it unplayable.
I agree with you! Too bad that the friends dvd's hardly have any extra's on them. I have both series 4 and 5 on DVD, and they *all* (6 DVD's) have the very same little extra's: the videoclip from the Rembrandts, and 2 'the making of''s about the Londeon episodes. Plus, the picture quality isn't that great either. But honestly I don't care much about that; they don't get any worse and being Friends episodes makes up for this!
Hellooooo!!! After getting drunk in Vegas, Bram doodled cat whiskers on his/her face and miaowed this little lot at a statue...
Ah, yes, but you won't get a "good" scratch unless you're really not taking care of the discs. Trust me on this; my dad is absolutely notorious for "borrowing" my CDs so as he can test out the two CD drives on my computer, and then leaving them lying around not even in their cases. Of course, when it's one of *his* CDs, it's a different matter... (he gets *me* to put them away!)
In any case, I believe it's something to do with the filing system which affects how the DVDs are read, not the actual physical disc itself. Like I said, you'd have to be really not taking care of the discs for there to be a chance you could damage the disc beyond watchability.
Actually, I can't say I much care for the Friends DVDs; they'll need to make them better if they're going to be successful.
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Tina claimed:
Grin...such is life ;-) Just wait until _you_ are a parent! (not that I can speak out of own experience tho)
I hope so..so far I've not run into discs that didn't play so I'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt ;)
The reason I bought them is to be able to watch any episode whenever I like to while the quality remains good. And without having to dig through a pile of tapes to find the correct one (because I never put lables on them in time..). A few more extra's would've been nice though, so I wonder what the series 1-3 and 6 are gonna be like on DVD..just one more month until they are available, woo!
Well, one scratch won't make it unplayable, but it might make it jump a small scene. You can watch the rest of the movie, but at the scratch it will sort of pause and them start at the next frame. JRP
reallY? It's free here. You get charged late fees though, except at our dinky library in town. IT's free because the town pays for it. A video store is a private buisness thats why there is a fee.
Loan is either a bank gives you money and you promise to give it back, or when a friend loans you a book, video, shirt, socks, and you give it back later. But then we say that we take books out of the library,.. I have never heard that Libraries loan or give books. HMM you get books from the library so the library must ..I guess loan? but have never actually heard it.
Including me, because when I think of Hire I think of when someone gives you the job. "He hired me for the position" which is ironic because when they take away the job its called "fire" so hire and fire.. hehe
Public (and shop-based, if anyone knows about them!) libraries were known as "lending libraries" for years, to distinguish them from a) reference-only reading rooms and b) people's own libraries (i.e. rooms filled with books). The in-out signs on ours do still say "loans" and "returns". I think the whole "rent/hire/lend" thing is a big transatlantic difference, we had this conversation very recently over "hire".
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Activia claimed:
Argh ;-) In Holland we have just one word for all these things ;-) If one writes it between ` and ', it usually means steal (it's a form of borrowing/renting/loaning/taking out/whatever, you just skip the asking bit *evil grin*)
Don't Dutch stores check the discs? You only have to hold them up to let the light reflect off them and any scratches show up. There's a brisk trade in Britain for second-hand DVDs & CD-ROMs.
I have bought "used" DVDs and have never had a problem. The movie store cleaned it all up for me, then let me check for scratches, and guaranteed that it was good or I got a refund. Imagine, my friends, the "Plesantville" movie on DVD for 9.99$ (Canadian!)... JRP
Are we talking about movies here, where someone buys a DVD and watches it once then decides they don't need to see it again, or Friends where anyone who buys the discs is building a private library to keep & treasure?
What you mean is for someone to buy the whole of Friends on DVD then change their minds, go to one of these markets and trade them in for something else, then I just happen to come along and notice them, buy them for you, send them to you, and you pay me back?
Weekend at Bernie's maybe, but unlikely with Friends, sorry.
If a 100 monkeys each could get their own show (alt.tv.friends), perhaps one day (Fri, 28 Apr 2000 13:51:27 -0700) a chimp ("Vishal Ailawadhi" ) might say:
Here, the Blair Witch Project is out to buy and rent on DVD, but it's not out yet for VHS (I dont think) as my friend was complaining about it last night over a plate of [my] maple syrup pancakes :)) I wasn't aware it wasn't out for VHS, as I normally rent stuff on DVD nowadays anyway. You get much better picture quality, you never have to rewind it before you take it back (yey!) and there's a whole other bunch of extra stuff that's normally quite interesting :)
Hmm, my Friends DVD was �24, but I do think I was ripped off a bit (I think they're cheaper now) It's cheaper than buying the episodes on tape (unless the tapes were on the buy one get one free, or half price offer) Still, I can watch Friends on my computer in a little window if other people are using the other TVs or the downstairs DVD player.
Until cheap re-recordable DVDs and recorders/players come out, people will still use VCRs, as they're very easy to use and relatively cheap.
I actually think pre-recorded cassette tapes are going out of 'style' (for lack of a better word) now. Go into any music store now and you can see rack after rack after rack of CDs, and a few shelves of tapes (if you're lucky). Cassettes are good because they and the walkmans which play 'em are small and portable (I know you can get portable CD players but they're not as compact as casettes or MD players... try getting one of them into a pocket <g>), but with MiniDiscs coming in in a big way then pre-recorded cassettes are being edged out of the market. Quite a few people now will buy the CDs, because you can easily put them onto a recordable cassette (If you dont have a MD player) or MiniDisc. The only think I use the tape deck on my stereo for now is to put things that I formerly had on tape onto MiniDisc.
Indeed, as I said earlier. I think I spent more time watching all the extra bits on the Blair Witch Project DVD than I did watching the actual film :)
[I know I keep using BWP as an example but it's the last thing I rented out on DVD, sowwy :)]
More than a bit - �15 soon became the going rate, equivalent to $7.50 for a VHS tape. Having said that, Woolies were doing two tapes for �9.99 a few months ago, which is much cheaper again.
There is no question that DVD is best for our American friends though.
Tennant, it sounds like a pretty good bet for our island friends as well. I mean, here's are 3 dvds to 6 tapes, right? And the picture quality won't degrade like the tapes. Unfortunately, before the DVD's came, you probably bought all of the tapes :P
I do like DVD, but if Friends was only available as NTSC tapes then we in Britain (and other countries) would have no difficulty at all in playing them. It's just the USA that is denied this freedom.
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Tennant Stuart claimed:
Probably because there's much higher demand for US import stuff in Europe than European import in the US. Us Europeans are just a bunch of weirdo's in a continuing struggle to claim each other's countries, aren't we ? ;-) Where do we find time to produce quality movies that our US friends want to see :)
Not to mention the differences in the style of humor; how many US residents enjoy Brittish humor (less absurd than Monty Python) ? I seriously wonder that; I for one love it.
I am American and a big fan of "Britcoms." (Favorites: To The Manor Born, Good Neighbors--that's the title we saw it by here--Chef! and Waiting for God--just off the top of my head). There are quite a number of us here: I belong to several newsgroups. This is not to mention the numbers of fans of Doctor Who, Hitchhiker's Guide..., and the British dramas that air on Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery. The trouble is, the major US networks have never dared to try to air import television, for whatever reason, although in the late 70s and early 80s several dramas like Upstairs, Downstairs, Jewel in the Crown and Poldark were relatively popular here on Public Television. British television airs on PBS stations, where the scheduling is capricious and the advertising nil, so audience numbers are small.
These things are cyclic: there was nothing particularly good about US comedy in the 80s: however, the 90s saw a number of quality US comedies with somewhat universal appeal (a trend which seems to be fading).
Shows don't seem to become available here on tape or DVD until the last drop of syndication monies is squeezed out of the US audience.
MP3 Players are getting popular over here (Canada) and in the US too, from what I hear. The machine is smaller than a cassette tape, and all the songs can be changed from the computer at any time without a tape or device of any kind to buy....We don't have one but I know people who do and really like it. :) JRP
Hellooooo!!! After getting drunk in Vegas, JRP doodled cat whiskers on his/her face and miaowed this little lot at a statue...
I like my MD player... v. good for free lessons at school. I think I want to wait a little while before getting an mp3 player - if I get one next month, I don't want to have to get another one in six months time because the capacity is three times of my original one; I'd rather wait until the standard's settled a little.
There are also MP3 discs in Britain, basically CD-ROMS with about eight ordinary audio CDs recorded onto them, costing a few pounds. These play quite happily on newer DVD players as well as computers.
Just usually? :) I found that every movie I have rented on DVD (or bought) has theatrical trailers, or behind the scenes featurettes, or interviews, or deleted scenes, or director's commentary,....etc....I don't rent a movie on anything *but* DVD, because it costs the same as for tapes, and I love the extra features. The only problem with all this is that when I rent a movie, I usually end up staying up till 2-3 in the morning to make sure that I've seen the movie and all of its features. This in itself wouldn't be so bad if my kids didn't get up at 7 AM the next morning! LOL! JRP
The machine is used at the cashier's counter? If you are just talking about the actual bank machines where you withdraw the money, its not the same thing. I think that they are getting more popular in the US, but this "trend" has been very popular for quite some time in Canada (about 8 years ago, I was working in a very small-town hardware store and we had an Interac machine...).It was just really weird after getting used to using it here in practically every store, then going to the US and having to carry cash. :) I was getting very plastic-oriented (thankfully not for credit cards though). <grin> JRP
I think this is NOT an option!!! European region 2 DVD's are also in PAL, and therefore can NOT be played back with a conventional DVD player.
Most European DVD players can playback NTSC and convert it to a PAL signal, but it is not possible to playback PAL discs converted to NTSC, at least not with mine.
Check if there are DVD players in the US that can playback PAL discs on an NTSC TV set.
In the previous post, the mostly harmless [email] claimed:
However, if you have a computer, you can buy a DVD-Rom drive which can play both PAL and NTSC movies. Mine does, and I frequently watch US NTSC-recorded DVD movies with it. The only requirement you need is to find a dvd-rom player that can easily be turned into a region-free one.
If anyone's interested in this solution, I'll look up the URL that points to a website listing all the region-free dvd-rom players.
adn a computer that can handle this, which mine can not. I tried downloading episodes and it would cut them off and the sound would be behind the picture.
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Activia claimed:
They often sell dvd drives with an add-on card that fits in almost any less-than-3-years-old computer, which you can hook up to your television set so you can watch episodes on the tv instead. You need someone who's good with computers to install it though.
Ofcourse you can also buy a dvd player that doesn't require a computer, but it's usually a lot more expensive (well, at least in Europe they are).
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Activia claimed:
Well, judging from the posts in the group, I think the difference in price between a 'real' dvd player (US$ 179) and a dvd set for your computer isn't that big. In Europe, I'd have to pay about US$400 for a standa-alone dvd player (which I would really prefer over a computer dvd player if it's only for watching movies/friends!).
I guess a fellow American can enlighten you about the prices/places of computer dvd drives in the US :)
You can buy friends DVD's at www.amazon.co.uk, though they are quite expensive (about 35$ each, and there are 3 DVD's for each series!)
I bought mine (series 4 and 5) together for about 110US$ at discount in a Dutch store, so you can save a lot if you watch for discount offers.
Which one's, Tennant? In the discs for Series 4 and 5, I could have sworn that there were only 4 eps on each side of a disc (counting a two-parter as two eps.) I know that series 3 had 25 eps, but I thought 4 and 5 had 24. I could be wrong. You would probably know better. Like I said, though, I think my discs only have 8 eps per disc...
That's because Seasons 4 & 5 are 24 episodes long, which is a multiple of eight. The same will apply to Seasons 1 & 2 when you get them. However there are 25 episodes in Seasons 3 & 6, so one of the discs in each of these has a 9th episode, presumably instead of any extras.
yea I know!! so after everything this is going to cost me a good $600! I just let my mom borrow $500(after she borrowed $350 earlier in the month), and the bank I swear messed up and somehow $400 is missing.. But, anyway I am now down to $300.
~Act(who is paying 2 car insurance bills right now, and has many extra expenses)
It went through the wash. Yea I know, but the transactions are now gone. The bank(NMBT) just murged with Summit a month ago. So they havent transfered everything over and everything is on new computers and its all a big mess. I closed my account, so I dont need a new book. IT is much easier to have a bank across from my job then one taht is 20 minutes out of the way. Plus I needed a checking account.
A month is long enough. Get all the paperwork you do have, especially anything with the account number on, then front up at the bank looking cute but slightly desperate, and insist on seeing the branch manager.
I have a passbook account with my building society, and when I lost my book they gave me all this crap. But I persisted, annoyed them a lot, and got a new book with all the right figures in. They even gave me back �15 of charges as a goodwill gesture (I did owe them the money, but they waived it). It's impossible for them not to be able to give you a correct balance, Act, there are all sorts of banking laws about back-up computer records and so on. Try throwing a wobbly in the foyer and refusing to leave until they sort it out for you! ;)
You don't need proof of that, Activia, just proof of who you are. Believe me, banks are very good with your money, they *have* to be, and they even have every little transaction recorded on huge printouts in case the whole computer system goes down, or to prevent internal fraud.
It's when you need some of *their* money that banks are a pain... :)
Your bank doesn't have internet banking? You could print out all your info...plus, don't you get a statement every month with all your transactions? The tellers can also go back and re-print your info...Anyway, see what you can do. Good luck. JRP
They never sent you any bank statements or anything?
Even if you have nothing, front up with proof of identity, and act as though you are about to get angry, but don't actually do so. It's the bank's responsibility to look after your money, they'll obey as long as they're sure you're the rightful owner. I've taken money out of my bank accounts with no written proof whatsoever. You must be persuasive.
Here's what I did. I got the Friends DVD's, but I could only watch them on my computer. There is actually a player available on the market that will convert the PAL disc to NTSC. Circuit City was selling an APEX DVD player for $179. Without the fix, it plays R1 discs, CD's, CD-R's, CD-RW's, and any CD with MP3's burned on them. Not bad for a $179 player. But the kicker is that with a four step process on the remote, you can change the region on the APEX player, as well as disable Macrovision all around. And, it has a selector for PAL, NTSC, or multi-system, so I'm assuming it converts from anything to anything. It runs only 110 Volts, but the benefit of the remote fix is that it doesn't void the warranty.
CC pulled the machines about a month ago, saying that the new shipment wouldn't have the "secret menu" feature, but sure enough, the new shipment had them as well. Buy one and try it out. Apparently, alot of stores are sold out again, but when they come in, try it. If it doesn't work, you can always just return it.
Cheers Vishal. Last time we discussed this, it turned out that some people went into the store, and instead of ordering the correct model, they asked for that DVD player that lets them play illegal DVDs from abroad. For some strange reason they were told that these weren't sold in the store.
Amazing how people will go into a store here and ask for an illegal player. When I was buying the Samsung 709 in Richer Sounds last month, I was amazed to see that the Region Free players were clearly advertised. Here, you couldn't be caught dead doing that. Hence, Circuit City had to send all of the players back for chip refitting. Yeah, like APEX is going to refit all of their machines. So, they just re-shipped them with a new manufacturing date. I assume the new machines this summer may be fixed, but for now, everyone should enjoy.
BTW, my experience when I went to buy the machine first went as follows. I read about the player on the Digital Bits (a great DVD review site in the US) and I went straight to CC after work. Well, I walked into the first one, and I didn't see the player on display. So, all I did was ask the salesman, "Hi, I was looking for a DVD player...", that's it. To which he responded, "The Apex? We're all sold out." I figure everyone and their mother was there looking for it.
So, for al of you who want to buy one, just ask for the APEX player. If you have to explain why you want to order it instead of buying a competing model for a similar price, just say you want it because it plays MP3's and CD-RW's. That's a good enough reason. But don't ever say you want it because it plays Region 2 discs in NTSC!
I know we've discussed this, but I have news. The coding on the disc does matter. Granted, the coding is niether NTSC or PAL, but the system type used in a particular region is encoded into the bitstream.
I picked up a Sumsung player which a fixed for multi region in the UK (it was 110-240 volts) and it worked there. Also, there was a switch in the back for output to NTSC/SECAM/PAL TV's. Unfortunately, when I brought it back to the states, it didn't work. The player wouldn't play a disc which had PAL encoding if the switch on the back was set to NTSC. So, the player does know what system the disc is encoded in. So, to play multi-region, the DVD player has to allow, not only the region change, but the system capabilities as well.
Consequently, I'm taking the Samsung back to Richer Sounds in June.
Precisely. There is a code on the DVD that says "I am PAL and if you are an NTSC player then you can't play me". However, it lies, there is no such thing as a PAL disc. PAL & NTSC are methods of broadcasting sound & vision using radio waves, while a DVD is a glorified collection of JPEGs.
Hollywood does not want you to see Friends on DVD so it puts obstacles in your way. However, a suitably programmed player sees this code, ignores the instruction to stop, sets up its parameters for the number of lines & the frame rate to match the DVD, reads the disc, converts this to match your TV set, and shows the programme.
There are lots of these players, see what Vishal has to say further on...
No, don't have Region Free, get Multi-Region. There's a difference.
What about PAL VCRs from other countries, maybe in Asia?
That is the option I'd recommend to any US fan - but although DVD players start around �180, Seasons 1-6 of Friends are another �270, a total of �450 or about $720 - rather a lot for someone on a budget.
I'm assuming you mean the US. In the UK, regoin free is readily available. In the US, go to Circuit City and buy the Apex DVD player for $179. There is a simple remote control trick to fix the region.