Multi-region & Blu-ray

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Rob · #1 Post by **Rob** » Fri May 30, 2008 8:28 am

Hi,
Apologies, I'm not sure if this is the right list in which to post this message, but here goes anyway.
Now that the format wars are pretty much over (and especially given Criterion's announced Blu-rays) I'm in the market for a Blu-ray player. I'm in the UK (and have lots of R1 SD-DVDs), but does anyone know what the deal is regarding region coding of Blu-ray discs and the capability of UK BR players to play back R1 SD-DVDs.
Cheers,
Rob.

Andrian Film Revival · Fri May 30, 2008 9:21 am

I dion't think that there are currently any region-free blu-ray players. Hopefully they'll surface at some point (as I'm sure the Criterions will be region-encoded)...

I've found these two websites that provide information about which blu-rays are region-locked...

Hope that helps

ellipsis7 · #3 Post by **ellipsis7** » Fri May 30, 2008 12:03 pm

Stegen Electronics have five models of modified multiregion Blu-Ray players available here

Stegen were previously pioneers of 'chipped' multiregion DVD Players, hardware modification, before 'coding', software modification became common....

My gear is made by Arcam, and they are just starting R&D of a BluRay Player, for the market at earliest late 2009, aiming to build a new model from scratch, rather than buying in components.... Founder and President John Dawson...

It may not be "HD Everywhere" immediately never-the-less as developments are still going on to perfect Blu-ray..., with more to come this summer. He puts into perspective the quality of standard DVD and what the market professionals need to do to get potential consumers to truly appreciate the difference.

Sanjuro · #4 Post by **Sanjuro** » Fri May 30, 2008 11:20 pm

davidhare wrote:IN Australia the two Panasonic models including the 30 are SD Region Free out of the box. The Samsng BDP1400 is also OOTB or RF thru a remote hack. The Sony 300 is also RF outa the box.

The PIoneer L70 is able to be hacked by Pio Service on request.

Will they also play PAL & NTSC SD?

subliminac · #5 Post by **subliminac** » Fri May 30, 2008 11:43 pm

davidhare wrote:HTPC and AnyDVD/Slysoft or the ultra expensive modded players from Switzerland are so far the only solutions.

I would highly recommend the HTPC + AnyDVD route (especially given the cost of these players). Not only does it give you a work around for region codes, now and in the future, but the upscaling capabilities are really stunning. I've been playing around with the free AVIsynth and ffdshow utitlities and am amazed at how good an anomorphic SD disk can look. Much better than my Oppo 971 although I keep that around for interlaced disks (Kino), as the ffdshow does not handle them well at all.

denti alligator · #6 Post by **denti alligator** » Sat May 31, 2008 12:05 am

Really? I find that Zoom Play + ffdshow makes interlaced discs look fantastic. What settings are you using?

I agree that HTPC is the way to go. As soon as there's a non-region A Blu-ray released that really catches my attention I'll be getting a Blu-ray drive and upgrading AnyDVD to the HD version.

subliminac · #7 Post by **subliminac** » Sat May 31, 2008 12:17 am

I'm using TheaterTek. Do you alter your ffdshow settings when playing an interlaced disk? I was only going off recommendations on AVS forum to find another player when it comes to de-interlacing. WMC is adequate but much softer than my Oppo.

petoluk · #8 Post by **petoluk** » Sat May 31, 2008 8:14 am

Hi all!

I just finished building my 1st HTPC - I equipped it with an LG Blu-ray/HD DVD combo drive, and I'm wondering now which SW player to get to be able to play both HD formats. I planned to buy CyberLink's PowerDVD, but they dropped HD DVD support in version 8, and it seems it's not possible anymore to buy v7.3 which supported both formats.

I know HD DVD is dead, but the existing discs are so darn cheap at the moment (e.g. the French Terminator 2 for EUR 10), so why not get some...?

For SD DVD, I plan to keep my Oppo 981. I used MPC + ffdshow on my regular PC to play DVDs before I got the Oppo, and the quality was really awesome, but I find a standalone DVD player more comfortable to use...

(A friend of mine got Oppo's latest model - 983 - a few weeks back, and he cannot stop praising it (he used 981 before)! And there are rumors Oppo are working on a Blu-ray player - might be something to look forward to...)

Cheers!

Peto

thomega · #9 Post by **thomega** » Sat May 31, 2008 6:21 pm

Andrian Film Revival wrote:I don't think that there are currently any region-free blu-ray players.

There's a company in Germany that claims to sell a modified Sony BDP-S300 (in German), that can play BRs from zones A and B and DVDs from regions 1 and 2.

From their description (the zone must been selected when switching on), it appears that they have found a way to load two different versions of the official firmware: US and EU. That's not as convenient as a region free DVD player, but should be good enough. Disclaimer: I haven't tested one of their machines myself (still unsure which display to get).

denti alligator · #10 Post by **denti alligator** » Sat May 31, 2008 6:24 pm

subliminac wrote:I'm using TheaterTek. Do you alter your ffdshow settings when playing an interlaced disk?

No, I don't. I use the same settings. Do you use AviSynth with ffdshow? Maybe we could compare settings.

Tommaso · #11 Post by **Tommaso** » Sat May 31, 2008 8:38 pm

thomega wrote: Disclaimer: I haven't tested one of their machines myself (still unsure which display to get).

I bought my last two normal dvd players from that company and they seem to be very reliable, so I'd say you can trust their words. Still the way they found with the Sony is inconvenient, as you say, and even more inconvenient is that the regions for normal dvds are only 1 and 2. Not a big deal, but it means you still have to keep a normal player for discs from regions 3-6. Perhaps not a bad decision, anyway, provided you have enough AV inputs on your set...

subliminac · #12 Post by **subliminac** » Sat May 31, 2008 11:16 pm

denti alligator wrote:
subliminac wrote:I'm using TheaterTek. Do you alter your ffdshow settings when playing an interlaced disk?
No, I don't. I use the same settings. Do you use AviSynth with ffdshow? Maybe we could compare settings.

I'll explore it a bit more over the next few days. I've only had a stable set-up for about a week now (after several days of fiddling around with Media Player Classic, which seemed a very tempramental piece of software). Perhaps I don't have the TheatreTek internal settings configured quite right. If I remain at a loss, expect a PM sometime soon, please.

And in regards to the region-free stand alone BD players, isn't it possible that Sony will periodically update the region coding, which will be applied via firmware upgrades over the internet? Could new disks be configured in such a way that they won't play unless the player has accepted the latest profile? I know that on the warning screen that introduces each BD disk it is always recommended that one check to make sure their player has downloaded and installed the latest firmware, or else it may not play. Unless I'm missing something here, it seems that the modifications this company has made on their players run the risk of being erased when Sony requires you to update the firmware.

If true, and I believe davidhare has suggested as much in another thread, this would probably leave AnyDVD as the safest long term bet. It certainly influenced my thinking when deciding how best to work around this nonsense.

unclehulot · #13 Post by **unclehulot** » Sat May 31, 2008 11:46 pm

That's interesting news that Oppo might be working on a Blu Ray player! If so, I can't imagine that it wouldn't have a simple region code buster code like all of their SD players to date, even though they all ship with it set to region 1 only.

subliminac · #14 Post by **subliminac** » Sat May 31, 2008 11:51 pm

unclehulot wrote:That's interesting news that Oppo might be working on a Blu Ray player! If so, I can't imagine that it wouldn't have a simple region code buster code like all of their SD players to date, even though they all ship with it set to region 1 only.

Plus Oppo offers regular firmware upgrades of their own. Really a top notch business in all aspects, their customer service is truly excellent and the price to performance ratio can't be beat.

perkizitore · #15 Post by **perkizitore** » Sun May 24, 2009 2:35 am

The new OPPO bd player will be region-free only for DVDs.
Your best chance is to get a quality player directly or have it modified by dealers like this:
http://www.bluray-upgrades.com/main/start.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

gyorgys · #16 Post by **gyorgys** » Sun May 24, 2009 10:36 am

perkizitore wrote:The new OPPO bd player will be region-free only for DVDs.
Your best chance is to get a quality player directly or have it modified by dealers like this:
http://www.bluray-upgrades.com/main/start.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The DVD side of the new Oppo BDP-83 is actually hardware locked (see my post on an other thread).
I.e. not hackable via remote/software/firmware, but as the blu-ray option probably only via a hardware modification.

perkizitore · #17 Post by **perkizitore** » Sun May 24, 2009 1:10 pm

gyorgys wrote:
perkizitore wrote:The new OPPO bd player will be region-free only for DVDs.
Your best chance is to get a quality player directly or have it modified by dealers like this:
http://www.bluray-upgrades.com/main/start.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The DVD side of the new Oppo BDP-83 is actually hardware locked (see my post on an other thread).
I.e. not hackable via remote/software/firmware, but as the blu-ray option probably only via a hardware modification.

I am aware of that, but i can't actually believe they are going backwards. Maybe it will be hackable via remote/software/firmware, not that being multiregion was a unique feature of the Oppos. But with many other Blu-Ray players (not mentioning the majority of the dvd players) being at least region-free for DVDs, that will be a blow for their sales.

perkizitore · #18 Post by **perkizitore** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:41 am

A DIY kit can make your Oppo DVD & Blu-Ray region-free without needing any soldiering skills!

P.S. Also, hackable via firmware just make a search on the dedicated AVForums threads.

Cinetwist · #19 Post by **Cinetwist** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:07 pm

Good news for UK posters wanting to go multi-region for blu-ray without spending extortionate sums of money or invalidating warranties.

You can get a Tevion from Aldi with a 3 year warranty which can play all regions via remote hack. Costs about £120.

Or a Curtis from Curry's for about £50 (again, remote hackable).

For some reason these players have only been talked about in the last week on the AV forums despite having been out a while (it might be hard to get one!). Probably because nobody expected such cheap players to have such capabilities, and they don't advertise the fact that they are all region for Blu Ray.

They've got great reviews too. And besides, if your paying £50 for something with a warranty, who cares how long it lasts.

James · #20 Post by **James** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:27 am

I've read good things about this Momitsu clone. It's region-free Blu-ray and a little over $150... almost seems too good to be true...

http://www.amazon.com/VisionQuest-VQM-1 ... roduct_top" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EDIT: I'm also hearing these were manufactured by the same company and since Momitsu is an Asian company, perhaps this VisionQuest is the Momitsu of the United States?

DOUBLE EDIT: Then there's also Sherwood. All these players look the same, but I hesitate even considering buying something from a company I've never heard of called Sherwood or VisionQuest; still, they're region-free.

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