Wow, even $100USD is expensive.
Just visit your local big box website (eg. Best Buy), browse the different models, and then visit http://www.videohelp.com to see if the player you are interested in has a hack. A lot of them (not including major namebrands) can be changed to Region 0 via remote control keypresses.
Most (even including namebrands) are fully capable of converting PAL to NTSC these days. I think all those Sound + Vision Deluxe releases by Universal are PAL/Region 0. I have the Siouxie one and it is for sure PAL/Region 0.