I currently have a CyberHome CH-DVD 300 player.  I know it's a cheap player, but I got it for free for opening a bank account and it seemed to work okay for the time that I had it.

Unfortunately my fiancee left it on over the Christmas break and I think it over-heated to the point of breaking.  I can put DVD's in it, but it will not read them.  The most I get is a little icon of a disk with a question mark next to it at the top right of the screen.

Now, according to what I have read on the internet, the CyberHome DVD players can be made to be "region free".  What exactly does this mean, and how much does it matter if I have a DVD player suited to all regions or not?  

I really want to fix this problem because from what I gather "region-free" is good.  What should I do?

"Region free" means that the DVD player is capable of playing non-US discs... so you'll be able to watch those rare Monty Python DVDs that you got on ebay from someone in England.

While it's definitely a good thing to have, it's also completely unrelated to the problem you're having with the player.  The good news is that you can probably get an identical one for less than $30... just type the model number into Google or Amazon or something.

check and see if you can download a newer or region-free FIRMWARE for your DVD player. The likelyhood of finding one for a cheap player is greater than one of the mainstream brands....

Oddly, the cheaper the DVD player, the more formats it will support. I have a CyberHome player (a $35 dollar value) as it will support all the formats that the DVD burner in my laptop will burn. As well as any discs I get from agencies out of the USA.

So if I output my still photos from my laptop on DVR+ or DVR-, that little player will handle it just fine. As well as any REALLY offbeat discs.

REgion free will allow you to play discs from anywhere in the world, including those Chinese bootlegs.

The question mark may mean that it can't read the disc. :Leaving it on for a long time shouldn't hurt it at all. I've left mine on for weeks. The issue MAY be condensation. If teh laser read head is damp, it will cause all sorts of issues. Unplug it overnight and leave it open if you can, and try it again in the morning.

efxguy

Quoted: Quoted: ---snip--- REgion free will allow you to play discs from anywhere in the world, including those Chinese bootlegs. ---snip--- With subtitles in Indonesian and Japanese and dialog in Mandrin!

5 bucks says those bootlegs are already region 0.

Quoted: 5 bucks says those bootlegs are already region 0.

That's true from what I've seen. Most of those discs are Region Free, so it wouldn't matter what kind of dvd player you have.

If you end up getting another player, check out the Phillips DVP642, Walmart has them for like $55.  Just snagged one for Christmas myself.  Main plus is it plays Divx and Xvid files from the computer with no reencoding, plus all the VCD//SVCD discs etc.  If you have alot of divx/xvid avi and/or mpeg movies, TV episodes, etc on your computer you can burn then directly to a DVD and the player plays em, with so far no problems.  Pretty sweet for me, I've got a crapload of Battlestar Galactica eps, Firefly eps, and lots of downloaded movies etc and playing them directly on the DVD player is sweet...

Quoted: Quoted: ---snip--- REgion free will allow you to play discs from anywhere in the world, including those Chinese bootlegs. hr With subtitles in Indonesian and Japanese and dialog in Mandrin! hr

really like the ones that only play puotonghua on the player i have in luoyang, but play in english at home. drives me crazy.

the russian nude female circus acrobat and nude romanian olympic gymnast ones are cool, too.

Quoted: I currently have a CyberHome CH-DVD 300 player.  I know it's a cheap player, but I got it for free for opening a bank account and it seemed to work okay for the time that I had it. Unfortunately my fiancee left it on over the Christmas break and I think it over-heated to the point of breaking.  I can put DVD's in it, but it will not read them.  The most I get is a little icon of a disk with a question mark next to it at the top right of the screen. Now, according to what I have read on the internet, the CyberHome DVD players can be made to be "region free".  What exactly does this mean, and how much does it matter if I have a DVD player suited to all regions or not?   I really want to fix this problem because from what I gather "region-free" is good.  What should I do?

Here's your RF hack:
www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.php?select=Cyberhome+CH-DVD+300

Quoted: the russian nude female circus acrobat and nude romanian olympic gymnast ones are cool, too.

Er . . . got any titles that I can look up?

www.regionfreedvd.net

Quoted: Main plus is it plays Divx and Xvid files from the computer with no reencoding, plus all the VCD//SVCD discs etc.

Somebody has a porn collection on the PC....

Av.

Quoted: If you end up getting another player, check out the Phillips DVP642, Walmart has them for like $55.  Just snagged one for Christmas myself.  Main plus is it plays Divx and Xvid files from the computer with no reencoding, plus all the VCD//SVCD discs etc.  If you have alot of divx/xvid avi and/or mpeg movies, TV episodes, etc on your computer you can burn then directly to a DVD and the player plays em, with so far no problems.  Pretty sweet for me, I've got a crapload of Battlestar Galactica eps, Firefly eps, and lots of downloaded movies etc and playing them directly on the DVD player is sweet...

This can be made into region free by pushing about 3-4 buttons on the remote. I just bought one myself bacause of the easy region free hack. I will look for the exact details need to convert.