Hi all - has anyone made this model region free? I have been searching for a hack with little luck. If anyone can offer any suggestions, it would be much appreciated. Thanks!!

No known region hack, but there's little point since it doesn't play PAL discs. If you got a disc from another region it would be easier to convert it on your computer.

I understand the difference between the European PAL system and the US NTSC system. I also understand how region codes work. But how do TV standards affect DVD players?

I have a region 2 DVD purchased in the UK it will play on my region free NTSC DVD player (a Sampo) in the USA with no problems.

I see from the manual of the Philips recorder that it does say it only records in NTSC - what does that really mean - how is it different from a DVD purchased in Europe? Is there a difference between conmmercial DVDs and homemade DVDs? I have never seen PAL or NTSC mentioned on a commercially bought DVD.

If I record a DVD on the Philips and send it to the UK will it not play there even if it is region free? Are there DVD recorders that are not affected by this NTSC/PAL difference?

Thank You
Richard Phillips

Thera are several variations:

- Some players and recorders will not play PAL discs at all (like the Phillips 3575)

- Some players and recorders will play a PAL disc and produce PAL video, so you need a PAL-compatible TV to display the output (like my older Citizen DVD recorder)

- Some players and recorders will play a PAL disc and convert to NTSC video output (like my Citizen DVD player)

It depends on which video chipset they are using.

This is independent of the Region coding of course - some regions are always NTSC, others are always PAL, and some can be either.

In other parts of the world it is common to have PAL DVD players that also play NTSC discs, and PAL TVs that have an NTSC mode - just because people like to get the latest videos from the USA before they are released in other regions.

Besides being region free the DVD player / recorder needs to incorporate a video converter or the playback TV must be multi-system. The video converter converts PAL to NTSC and vice versa. Standard definition PAL contains 625 scan lines versus 525 for NTSC. PAL and NTSC are not compatible.

For economic reasons many of the new LCD's are multi-system TV's. The Pioneer HD recorders I own are region free but do not include a video converter. When I hooked up the Pioneer recorder to my Westinghouse and Konka LCD's both were able to display the PAL DVD's. When I tried the same experiment with my Philips LCOS HD TV the PAL DVD's would not display on the screen. The LCOS displayed a blue screen.

All commercial DVD's that I have purchased will state NTSC region 1 or PAL region 2, whatever applies. In other words commercial DVD's will always be labeled to show the electronic (video) system and the region.

Region free DVD players incorporating video converters are very cheap. The larger the video converter the better the picture on big screen TV's. I have two RJ Tech region free players with MB video converters and they play really nice on my 55" Philips LCOS.

Yes, go to Walmart and buy a $39 Philips 3960 Upconverting DVD Player, set it region free and play all PAL and NTSC DVDs and don't bother with making 3575 region 0 at all.

Sorry to revive an old thread!

1. Turn on the player from the front panel (without a disc inserted)
2. Press HDD List on remote and ensure Hard Disk is highlighted
3. Press PLAY
4. Enter 159 121 212 005 255
5. Press PLAY
6. Turn the player off

1. Turn on the player from the front panel (without a disc inserted)
2. Press HDD List on remote and ensure Hard Disk is highlighted
3. Press PLAY
4. Enter 159 121 212 005 255
5. Press PLAY
6. Turn the player off


Can anyone confirm that this works - Region free and PAL discs will play?

I've tried it several times and can't get it to work- is it supposed to be playing recorded content off the hard drive while you're entering the numbers?

I only use this machine for recording to DVD anyways, but you can never have too many region-free players. I've found the HDMI output on this is useless since you can't properly display any 4x3 content- it's always stretched to 16x9. Since 99.9% of stuff transferred on this machine is old analog tapes or discs, that's unacceptable. My TV and receiver won't let me 'squash' the picture back to its correct proportions when the HDMI is used, so I have it hooked up with component instead. Hooked up that way, my receiver defaults to 4x3 and changes to 16x9 if such a disc is played on it.

1. Turn on the player from the front panel (without a disc inserted)
2. Press HDD List on remote and ensure Hard Disk is highlighted
3. Press PLAY
4. Enter 159 121 212 005 255
5. Press PLAY
6. Turn the player off

This worked for me. Some detail might be missing in the steps above.

I did a full power off and on from the power socket before starting - make sure no DVD in the unit also. You've got to turn it on from the front, go to HDD list (back yourself to the root HDD menu from the control), press PLAY, enter the code, press PLAY and then turn it off from the front. When I turned on the player and inserted the disk it worked perfect.

Best of luck,
zz