intro
this is probably the cheapest way to watch every DVD in the world. this DVD player is cheap and has tons of features.

step 1 - buy the DVD player
simply go to Best Buy and buy it. it should be about $40. i payed $37 for mine. my purchase included an extra 2025 button cell battery and some Senior Volto AAA batteries for the TV and VCR remotes. the particular player i got was made in May of 2004. this hack should work on every model up to this one, probably later ones, too.
**note: they say there are 2 versions: with and without an i/o power switch on the back. they also say that the hack does NOT work with the version with the switch. i can't confirm this, but my player doesn't have the switch, so we know this works.**

step 2 - open the box
when you open up the box, this is what you should see. take off the first styrofoam thing and hey, the player! the front. the back. notice the RCA, S-Video and Component Video out ports.
the remote. back of the remote. don't forget to pull out the battery tab. the remote takes a 2025 button cell battery.

step 3 - set up and R1 test
plug in whatever cables you have. i have RCA cables, so i plugged in the RCA cable to the player and the tv.
now turn it on. hey, no disk! ok, now put one in. cool, region 1 DVDs work! let's try a region 2 DVD. oops, no bread. now for the fun part.

step 4 - the hack
this is so much easier than you may think. with the DVD player on, press menu, 1, 9. that will bring up this menu. now you can press the enter button to change the region! the choices are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 0. then press the open/close button on the remote. wasn't that easy? in that menu, you can also override the parental password and rating level.

step 5 - R2 NTSC test
ok, i've got an R2 DVD from Japan. let's test it out. Sen to Chihiro DVD front. back. look! it's going! the menu... yep, it works! complete with the red tint!

step 6 - bootleg Chinese VCD test
my roommate in college, who is Japanese, gave me some bootleg Chinese VCDs of some random Japanese drama show (soap opera). let's put it in! hey, it works! the transfer is terrible, but it's a bootleg. i don't even know what the show is. well, whatever it is, i can watch it!

step 7 - R2 PAL test
i bought an R2 PAL DVD, specifically Code Lyoko. back. now, people were saying that this wouldn't work because PAL and NTSC are incompatable. let's see if they're right. hmm, i put it in... oh hey! look! it works! naysayers! ha! take that! PAL works!

conclusion
simply astonishing. they say you get what you pay for, but as far as this DVD player is concerned, i must have ripped someone off. either that, or by buying any other DVD player, YOU are getting ripped off. even if it doesn't last long, you can just buy another. kinda like a Kia. anyway, i recommend the CyberHome CH-DVD300 to anyone, especially if you need a region-free DVD player.