In September 2009, the Real Canadian Superstore gave away free DVD players with the purchase of at least $250 in groceries. The DVD player they gave away was a Citizen CDVD667 – 1080p Up-Converting Compact DVD Player and retailed for $40.
At the time, it didn’t seem like anything special. Just a cheap DVD player. Not the best of quality, but functional and more importantly – free. One interesting thing about this DVD player was that in the User’s Guide, on the Technical Specifications page, it would mention the following for Video: NTSC/PAL/AUTO.
So unlike some of its big name brand counterparts, this one actually specifically mentions it can play both NTSC and PAL DVDs (multisystem)? Yes. But! Only discs that are made for Region 1, which is roughly the USA and Canada. I’m not aware of the PAL format normally being used in this region, but whatever.
A lot of DVD players can be made region-free just by pressing a certain key combination on the remote control, or, on a programmable universal remote. For this DVD player in particular, I found the answer on the Video Help web site. By following the steps below you can turn this DVD player into a region-free multisystem player:
1) Turn on DVD
2) Open tray
3) Press “Title” button, then you’ll get the “Invalid key” error on the screen.
4) While the “Invalid key” error is still appearing on the screen, enter “9735”.
5) Then you’ll get the secret menu, at that point select zone 0.