Well looks like I will need to buy a region 2 DVD player to view some PAL DVDs, thing is I heard that current DVD players can be legally hacked to view region 2 DVDs, Is that true?

I have a PS2, PS3, Xbox & a Xbox 360, any chance any of them can be easily modified to play PAL DVDs?

I been looking around & the cheapest region free players are going for around $100 & only upconvert to 1080i (I'm looking specifically for 1080p support).

On the Oppo players it's like a 4 button push on the remote to go region free. They may be above your price point. And there's nothing illegal about region code changing.

larry

Well looks like I will need to buy a region 2 DVD player to view some PAL DVDs, thing is I heard that current DVD players can be legally hacked to view region 2 DVDs, Is that true?

I have a PS2, PS3, Xbox & a Xbox 360, any chance any of them can be easily modified to play PAL DVDs?

I been looking around & the cheapest region free players are going for around $100 & only upconvert to 1080i (I'm looking specifically for 1080p support).

The Phillips players are the cheapest option. However, if high-quality upscaling is your desire then the Oppo 980 is really the only choice. Your monitor upscales to 1080p, and probably does as good or better than the average DVD player. So there's really no benefit to seeking a "cheap" upscaling player.

As well as the Oppo and Philips mentioned above, the Yamaha players are also good for playing PAL DVDs (I have one for that) and are easy to unlock using a few numbers on the remote control. You can pick one up on eBay for < $100. Look for the 5950 (= 659) and 6160 (=661). The latter has USB support.