Hi

. . . . Once I burnded using AVCHD - when I put that in my Sony DVD player us says "CAN"T PLAY" . . . .

AVCHD is Blu-Ray format which a DVD player cannot read - note: it is possible to burn Blu-Ray video to a standard DVD disc

. . . . Once I burnded using DVD and that was even weirder " Playback Prohibited by area limitations" . . . .

The error message means the player cannot play the disc because the disc is set to a country region or the player is not set correctly for the region you are in - see this article for more information.

Has the DVD player been 'hacked' to play discs from all regions?

You need to check the player is set to the correct region - you will have to consult the manual or search the Internet for how to do this.

However - Photostory should create region free discs ie region 0 or region 9.

. . . . BOTH disks work in my compter. . . . .

This would suggest that your DVD burner is set to the wrong region - you can check by using Windows Device Manager as shown below - I am in region 2 as you can see.

If necessary you can change the region here, however note that you can only change the setting for a limited number of times and after the final change the burner is locked to that country region.

Note: making changes to the player or DVD burner are at your own risk.

HTH

John EB