Universal DVD Players

I have a Marantz DV8400 which plays fine with PAL or NTSC discs but will only output the signal in its native form ie PAL discs -> PAL o/p, NTSC discs -> NTSC o/p.
I didn't know this when I was in Singapore (which is PAL) as my televsion was multi-standard. However when I moved to Japan (NTSC) non of my PAL discs displayed properly.

Rwwear is correct concerning good outboard converters, these can be expensive!

I finally bought a second 'cheap' DVD player for my PAL discs with an in-built PAL/NTSC converter set up to output only NTSC. Usually the unbranded made in China products can do this. Some have a switch or the menus and others have a special sequence to be entered using the remote control (which allows the DVD player to play all zones!!)

Chipman, what did you pick up for your DVD player, built in PAL>NTSC converter?

I have a JVC XA-SA602, no longer available. It got a good review from Absolute Sound. I purchased mine from these guys; www.220-electronics.com/

Fatparrot,
The DVD player I ended up with is a Pioneer DV270. Besides playing NTSC/PAL and all zones, it is compatible with WMA/MP3/photoviewer and has a progressive output - all for around 150$ !!!

Before this I did try a cheap (60$!!!) made in China with all the bells and whistles including PAL/NTSC converter/progressive o/p etc. This was OK for well mastered discs but on some, motion artifacts were very obvious and annoying.
The Pioneer does not suffer from this problem but in terms of pure picture quality, the Marantz DVD8400 ( at nearly 10 times the price !) is clearly better.
Whenever I can, I now buy zone 1 NTSC discs so that I can use my Marantz.