I bought this unit new a few years ago. The VCR works fine. The DVD part never worked. When I load a disc, any kind of disc, it ejects it after a few seconds. And it says "this disc cannot be played" . The label on the back does say region 1 and I do use dvd recorded in NTSC

It seems laser optical block is not working thus unit ejects the disc with "this disc cannot be played" message.
Please clean optical lens with cleaning disc and if unit still does not play, use good quality cotton swab/ q-tip to clean optical lens manually and check.
Unit will take apart for lens cleaning manually.
If problem still not solved then optical laser block is defective and need to be replaced that would cost you more than unit worth.
hope these info will help.
Thanks.

You can try a cleaner disk, but I've had to remove the cover and clean the "eye" manually.
You unplug and remove the Player cover taking out 5 screws.
The cover lifts at back and slides out to the rear.
Then remove the cover that holds in the dvd disk.
You remove the that releasing the tabs on either side that hold it in, lifting at the back.
Remove the disk if there.
I use alcohol and a cotton swab to gently "caress" the "eye".

While there look for dust. Blow it out with air and notice if there's buildup on the left side vents.
I taped mine shut near the front because they direct dust to the eye.
Regards