All-Region DVD and Blu-ray Player Advice

[triodelover]

For those of you who have the Momitsu or Sherwood or one of its clones:

I've been unable to get the machine to recognize PAL DVDs without selecting "1080p" as my display. Now this is fine, since I have a 1080p display, except that whenever I eject a DVD the machine defaults back to "HDMI Auto," which for some reason will not output PAL. This is annoying, because it means that every time I want to play a PAL DVD I have to go into the setup menu and select "1080p."

Is there a way to get the machine to keep the HDMI output selected?

I bought my son a 799 for Christmas. Initially, it wouldn't recognize PAL DVDs either. I don't recall the 1080p/HDMI auto problem, but what solved it was downloading the most recent firmware on the Momitsu site and updating the machine. Output was HDMI.

I don't have mine online. Can I burn a CD or DVD with the firmware to update? Where is the latest firmware?

EDIT: FUCK! I just loaded the firmware for what I thought was the 5004. Turns out it was for the 5003, and now I can't get the player to eject or display anything.

Not sure what to offer here, denti. Don't know if the Sherwood will accept the Momitsu firmware, but the 799 is here. This suggests you can flash the 5004 with the Momitsu firmware. You'll need a flash drive. Copy the firmware to the drive and insert the drive in the front panel USB port. If it's like the Momitsu, when you power up, the software will take over. Good luck.

[TMDaines]

Sounds bricked to me. I know one person used the Limit firmware on something else and it worked... but yeh, I wouldn't be the one to try until dozens of people had had success.

[TheGodfather]

So this week I ordered the Oppo BDP-80 (region free of course)
Anyone who owns it? what are the experiences with it?

[zedz]

An excellent machine. Region changing is a breeze (not that I've had to do much of it - I leave it set to A and have only had to shift it for a few Region B discs released by BFI & MoC). The really impressive thing about it has been its upscaling of DVDs - it seems to be able to squeeze the most out of a good SD transfer.

[artfilmfan]

Where can one order a region-free Oppo BDP-80? I thought that it is Region 1/Region A locked.

Edit: I've found it after some searching...

[NilbogSavant]

An excellent machine. Region changing is a breeze (not that I've had to do much of it - I leave it set to A and have only had to shift it for a few Region B discs released by BFI & MoC). The really impressive thing about it has been its upscaling of DVDs - it seems to be able to squeeze the most out of a good SD transfer.

I second these comments. I had an Oppo DVD player and was always impressed with its speed, performance and functionality (played just about anything I threw at it). The BDP-83 is an improvement in every regard and the region switching is painless. I do wish I had more RB titles to play on it (just the MOCs, some BFI titles, and Elephant) but it has handled each one just fine.

[TheGodfather]

Where can one order a region-free Oppo BDP-80? I thought that it is Region 1/Region A locked.

Edit: I've found it after some searching...

I ordered mine on http://www.livingcinema.nl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, wich is quite convienent concidering I am from The Netherlands: I don`t have to deal with additional cutoms fees
The site offers you the option to buy it region A/region 1 or to have it modified by them. Chose for the last one.
So finally I`m region free on blu-ray`s
I already got a region locked panasonic bd player and an old region free dvd player (that still has a scart connection!) but the latter seems to be dying on me in recent weeks. So I had to buy another one and went for the Oppo machine

An excellent machine. Region changing is a breeze (not that I've had to do much of it - I leave it set to A and have only had to shift it for a few Region B discs released by BFI & MoC). The really impressive thing about it has been its upscaling of DVDs - it seems to be able to squeeze the most out of a good SD transfer.

I second these comments. I had an Oppo DVD player and was always impressed with its speed, performance and functionality (played just about anything I threw at it). The BDP-83 is an improvement in every regard and the region switching is painless. I do wish I had more RB titles to play on it (just the MOCs, some BFI titles, and Elephant) but it has handled each one just fine.

Well considering the BDP-83 was more than € 200,- more expensive than the BDP-80, I went for that one
Thanks for the answers!

[TheGodfather]

So I`ve received my Oppo player today. Hooked it up and tested it. The upscale quality is just amazing, compared to my old dvd player (wich had still a scart connection so no wonder there that it has a better PQ ).
After a first test I have to say that it looks like a great machine. Have to live with it for a while though before I can really make a judgement.
But all things considered, it is a great day: finally, thanks to this machine, I`m region free for blu-ray`s as well!!

[Perkins Cobb]

Worse, if I pause the disc during playback and shut off my TV (to avoid burn-in), once the Sherwood loses the signal it automatically goes into standby mode, and then defaults back to the menu screen when I fire up the TV again. And then I can only resume playback from the beginning of the movie. Has anybody found a way around this?

I too would like to know if there is a way around this. I don't have the Sherwood but I do have the Momitsu.

Finally found the answer to this on the AVS Forum. Under system, switch the "CEC Support" to Off. That'll keep the Sherwood from going automatically into Standby mode if it loses the HDMI signal.

[denti alligator]

So am I the only one whose Sherwood makes an annoyingly loud humming while playing?

[Minkin]

So am I the only one whose Sherwood makes an annoyingly loud humming while playing?

They all have their fun noises and whirling. Don't feel too bad though- it's apparently a lot quieter than many Bluray players, including (according to The Tooze) the Momitsu 799. I've only had a problem with the sound when I'm within a foot of the player- otherwise it hasn't been a bother.

[Svevan]

Yet another question on the Sherwood, this one very specific: does anyone who has this player also have a copy of MoC's Asphalt or Spione? These discs are notable for having funky jaggies and a subtitle placement issue, but only on certain players (the problems are recorded in their respective threads in the MoC forum); I would like to obtain both discs and I'm soon to receive this player, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Perkins Cobb]

As for the Sherwood noise, yes, I have found it to be bothersome. It's actually a high-pitched whine, and it only does it intermittently -- more often with DVDs, but sometimes with BRs, too. I'm usually seated about 7-8 feet from the player, and I can hear it quite clearly from that distance.

I've had to move the player to the very top shelf of the entertainment center to minimize this, and still have to throw a blanket over the top of it to muffle the whine during quiet movies.

I like the image quality on the Sherwood, but its features are SO wonky that I'd hate to have it as my primary DVD & BR player. Sure wish I had $600 to blow on a modified Oppo.

[denti alligator]

Spione is still full of jaggies.

The noise on my first Sherwood wasn't as bad. The one I have now is very annoying. I'm thinking of moving it and my entire system to a back closet, but that would involve lots of work (in-wall wiring).

[fdm]

Spione is still full of jaggies.

This one if I'm not mistaken was mastered to DVD non-progressively (MoC spines 2-4 and 7-9 are this way, according to something I ran across a while back somewhere or other (probably on one of the MoC threads here)).

If you look at dvdbeaver and note when he mentions DVDs that haven't been mastered progressively, and shows a shot of a messy screen showing interlacing artifacts and says that it may look ok on analog sets (tube TVs) but otherwise may not look very good (like you are seeing), that's what he's been talking about.

Haven't had a chance to confirm/deny one way or the other, but my guess is that better video processors may take care of this mess. That could be what a decent player vs a cheapie player may get you. (Or perhaps a TV with a decent processor built-in (more likely to get a player with a decent processor than a TV with one in my experience).) Recall that my Malata could handle this if I changed from one video processing setting to another (and then back for certain other titles). Think Oppo might take care of this automatically (no evidence one way or the other, just that I haven't run across any yet in my limited usage of their last DVD player).

[Svevan]

Thanks Denti - any word on subtitles? I'm fine with jaggies if I can read the onscreen text.

[denti alligator]

I've never checked the subs on this one, but I don't see how they would be a problem.

Back to the Sherwood and its annoyingness. So I ask again: how does one get the machine to stay at the "1080p" setting (needed to play PAL discs), instead of constantly reverting to "HDMI Auto," on which setting it refuses to play PAL?

[nick]

Back to the Sherwood and its annoyingness. So I ask again: how does one get the machine to stay at the "1080p" setting (needed to play PAL discs), instead of constantly reverting to "HDMI Auto," on which setting it refuses to play PAL?

Mine stays set to 1080p but I didn't do anything special, just changed the setting from HDMI Auto to 1080p the first time. I'm not sure if this makes a difference but my Samsung TV does connect to the Sherwood via HDMI and I have it set to allow CEC, which allows me to control most functions of the player with my Samsung remote. I can take a look when I get home and list my settings to see if that helps you at all.

As far as noise, I have a Momitsu BDP-799 and the fan is very loud (it also gets really hot while it's running), but other than an occasional high pitched noise when I initially load a disc, the Sherwood is fairly quiet (it also stays very cool which surprised me seeing as there is no fan in it).

[gordonovitch]

A couple years ago, as a Bostonian stuck in the NTSC, Region 1 of the US of A, I rather rashly, without seeking any advice, bought a region-free Toshiba DVD player for under 200 bucks, and it’s been a bumpy relationship playing, mostly, Region 2, PAL discs on this thing ever since.

It appears to be a bad case of what is commonly referred to as the jaggies, but I wonder if the Brits don’t have an even better word for it: the judders. To judder means to vibrate intensely, which are what the edges of sharply rendered images in PAL/Region 1 discs do when played in my Toshiba. The term jaggies seems to refer to diagonal lines, but my vibrational effect is pronounced with horizontal edges as well. The softer the image, however, the less the intensity. Many older films that lack resolution can look fine, but the result on finely detailed images is pretty egregious. Do people out there in NTSC Land just put up with this, or is this Toshiba the worst choice I could've made? I'm willing to try again, but only after some research.

Is it correct to assume the problem is in the PAL to NTSC conversion, i.e. the frames per second issue?
I notice listings of high-end region-free players—i.e. those selling $1,000+—advertised as having solutions to this problem, but must you spend that much to get a machine to smoothly convert multi-regions/PAL? Maybe I'm shortchanging my commitment to home theater, but, really, I'd like to fork out less than 200 dollars for a decent region free player.

Any advice out there?

Dangling,
Gordon Thomas

[nick]

gordonovitch, I have an old JVC region free DVD player and on certain PAL encoded discs I have to navigate the menu and change the source from Auto or Video to Film to get rid of judder. Do you have any source settings like this on your Toshiba?

[gordonovitch]

gordonovitch, I have an old JVC region free DVD player and on certain PAL encoded discs I have to navigate the menu and change the source from Auto or Video to Film to get rid of judder. Do you have any source settings like this on your Toshiba?

Hi Nick. Yes, the Toshiba has various settings, like "cinema" or whatever, and I've tried them all, but to no avial. An older Region-free player I bought through DVDBeaver, a Malata, had settings very similar to yours; when I put it on "film," like you did on the JVC, the jaggies were at least reduced. But not so the Toshiba, which, I suspect, is simply a piece of s--t.

I guess one thing I'm wary of, is that, whomever you buy these things from are the ones doing the hardware conversion that allows it to be region-free, not the original brand itself. None of these machines are actually manufactured this way, unless, I'm guessing, the ones that cost the big skins. Many of the Pioneers, which I've heard good things about, are, on Amazon anyway, apparently made for "Japanese tourists!?" (According to user reviews.) Therefore, Pioneers disavows any responsibility for them. What a bizarre consumer situation, making one feel that one's involved in something illegal when of course it isn't.

So, is "judder" a commonly used term for this phenomena? Doing research on this, I'm trying to get a grip on how to describe what goes on.

Thanks,
Gordon

[nick]

Back to the Sherwood and its annoyingness. So I ask again: how does one get the machine to stay at the "1080p" setting (needed to play PAL discs), instead of constantly reverting to "HDMI Auto," on which setting it refuses to play PAL?

My Display settings on the Sherwood are:

HDMI Status - Connected
HDMI Prefered Format - 1080p
TV Type - NTSC
Resolution - 1080p
TV Aspect - 16:9 Pillarbox
Film Mode - On

Hopefully you can see something in these settings that is helpful.

[manicsounds]

I wrote this far back in this thread too, as my old Pioneer DVD player had a jagged image when playing PAL material on an NTSC TV. And the subtitles got incredibly jagged errors at times. I have a Momitsu 899 (clone) player and PAL plays incredibly smoothly to the point that I can't even tell if it is a PAL disc or NTSC disc. Recommend upgrading, gordonovich!

[Oedipax]

I've heard rumblings that the latest revision of the Momitsu BDP899 firmware (released March 1, 2010) disables the region-free bluray portion while leaving region-free DVD intact. I haven't had any reason to upgrade my Momitsu clone, and apparently it's still possible to flash back to former versions and recover region-free BD playback, but something to watch out for. Has anyone here experienced that?

I'm a bit concerned that at some point the studios will begin using some new features added in a later firmware update and then we'll be stuck loading on the region-forced version again (or continually flashing back and forth depending).

[perkizitore]

You should have bought an Oppo or a modded player!