Evergreen is a Japanese company that sells a range of interesting gizmos and gadgets. For expatriates living in Japan, region coding on DVDs can sometimes make things a little tough. There are a couple of options, either shell out some big bucks on a multi-region DVD player, or get something simple, cheap and effective like the Evergreen EG-D2340X.

When you are paying around the $50 mark for a DVD player, you are going to need to make some compromises on quality. It loads rather slowly, the remote control feels lightweight and requires AAA batteries. There are, of course, no HDMI ports. I do not own a high definition TV yet, so I cannot comment in regards to the quality on higher end systems, but it looks great on either of my CRTs. Its low profile makes it easy to hide away and it is only twenty-two centimeters wide.

What it lacks, it more than makes up for with simple features. There are a few output options. For audio, there is either an optical out or an analog out. For video there are three options, video, S-video and component out. The best part about it though is that it is region free. It plays DVDs from absolutely anywhere, whether they are NTSC or PAL. The multi-voltage input means that it is suitable for use anywhere in the world and it is small enough to travel with, should you be so inclined. Where it gets interesting is with the range of formats that it supports. Any standard DVD/DVD±R (8cm – 12cm) or CD/CD-R/RW (8cm – 12cm) can be used to play the following formats: DVD-VIDEO, SV-CD, VCD, CD-DA (music CD), CD-G/CD+G, MPEG1/2, MPEG4, DivX, MP3 (32kbps – 320kbps), WMA (128kbps) JPEG. It is extremely versatile and has been so good to me that I actually went out and purchased a second one for my reading room.

If you need a reasonably good quality low-end DVD player, the Evergreen EG-D2340X is a great choice.

Price: About $50