I regret throwing out my DVDs.

Fortunately, everyone else threw theirs out, too, and now I can buy them at the thrift store for from between 50 cents and $3 each.

Ikr, thrifting and eBay is the way to go. Also a region free DVD player.

Arrrgh, matey.

Where do you live? I'm region 1 and have never run across things I can't play. A region-free player wouldn't be worth the hassle for me.

Alternately, I've never come across a region-locked .mkv.

I am also region 1. I have a few DVDS from random places, so I purchased a region free one a couple of years ago from Amazon.

I looked into them and they all seemed kinda hacked together and blackmarket... like I think it's technically illegal to sell, and there is a premium on them. I did decide I would do if I ever get onto a particular language's DVDs, I would just get a that-region player, but ultimately, it's really unlikely I'd be sourcing hard-to-get physical media when other formats are more available.

I do happily have a disc from Germany, but it's a blu-ray and it seems the stopped that region nonsense for blu-ray.