All-Region DVD and Blu-ray Player Advice

[Alphonse Doinel]

Is that the same as the Seiki BD660 Blu-ray player available at my local Walmart?

Yep.

[wllm995]

Is that the same as the Seiki BD660 Blu-ray player available at my local Walmart?

Yep.

OK - mine states inside the manual that it only plays Region A Blu-rays... 8-[

How do I make it Region-free?

[mfunk9786]

Is it still safe to get a Sherwood 5004? They're not shipping with the new firmware at this point, are they?

[Alphonse Doinel]

Go to Setup and punch in 8502. For Dvd's just change the region to 0. You shouldn't have to change it again. Blu's aren't quite as easy, since there's no 'region free' setting available. Your only choices are A, B, and C, so you have to change it every time you change regions.

Enjoy!

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

I have a Momitsu/ Limit clone. By entering the region code 973501 or 2 I have hardly any problems with dedicated Region B or A discs( bfi and Criterion play fine for example). It is however the devil of a job with any multi region A,B and C discs particularly french sourced. I have tried 973503 for these but no matter what code I try I get about a 1% success rate of even getting through to the menu and have managed just once to view some of the films. I have never downloaded/upgraded firmware so region re-locking doesn't appear to be an issue. Any ideas anyone?

[Mr Booth]

Help!

I've just received a Momitsu 799 player and by keying in the code have easily managed to get it to read a UK DVD (BFI Tokyo Story).

However, it seems stuck on some kind of zoomed-in mode that means I am only able to see the upper part of the picture. I am missing the lower half of the BFI logo and all the options on the menu screen. It's difficult to explore the options in the machine's set-up menu, as only the upper part of the menu is visible. I've been able to change some of the display settings but have had no success in resolving this problem.

I am connected by HDMI cable to a Panasonic projector. The projector's aspect ratio settings do nothing to help.

I would very much appreciate any advice from anybody that might have run into a similar problem.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Help!

I've just received a Momitsu 799 player and by keying in the code have easily managed to get it to read a UK DVD (BFI Tokyo Story).

However, it seems stuck on some kind of zoomed-in mode that means I am only able to see the upper part of the picture. I am missing the lower half of the BFI logo and all the options on the menu screen. It's difficult to explore the options in the machine's set-up menu, as only the upper part of the menu is visible. I've been able to change some of the display settings but have had no success in resolving this problem.

I am connected by HDMI cable to a Panasonic projector. The projector's aspect ratio settings do nothing to help.

I would very much appreciate any advice from anybody that might have run into a similar problem.

It might be as simple as changing the display settings from 16:9 Wide to 16:9 pillarbox for non-widescreen films in 1.33 : 1.

[Mr Booth]

Many thanks for the suggestion. That was the first thing I tried, but switching to the pillarbox setting seemed to have no effect. Any options beneath pillarbox in the aspect ratio section of the display menu are not visible to me. I tried selecting them blindly but nothing changed.

I will have another go tonight. In the meantime, any other ideas?

[aox]

So, after 6 years, my Oppo DVD player died. The discs just spin indefinitely and it no longer reads them along with some clunky noises. There really is nothing to do with the machine at this point right? Once they die, they are finished, right?

Not really complaining though. This was the best DVD player I ever owned, and I don't think it was shut off in 6 years of use (I used it constantly and it was on overnight as I fell asleep to movies/episodes). Additionally, this gives me an excuse to buy a Blu Ray player for the bed room.

[fdm]

So, after 6 years, my Oppo DVD player died. The discs just spin indefinitely and it no longer reads them along with some clunky noises. There really is nothing to do with the machine at this point right? Once they die, they are finished, right?

Contact Oppo?

[Ahti]

Many thanks for the suggestion. That was the first thing I tried, but switching to the pillarbox setting seemed to have no effect. Any options beneath pillarbox in the aspect ratio section of the display menu are not visible to me. I tried selecting them blindly but nothing changed.

I will have another go tonight. In the meantime, any other ideas?

Try one of the other connections (e.g. component video) while setting it up. It's saved me when the HDMI settings got borked.

[matrixschmatrix]

I'm looking into getting a blu-ray drive for my computer- does anyone have any recommendations for software that will let me go region free?

[matrixschmatrix]

That looks good, thanks.

[perkizitore]

AnyDVD doesn't work with hardware locked players (Matsushita, Panasonic). This tool is your best bet.
The bad thing, it won't help you with region locked DVDs!!!

[mikkelmark]

Anydvd HD is good, but it costs money. If you use Powerdvd then the Blu-ray tray region tool is a better choice since it is free. The tray tool does not unlock blu-rays but it lets you change the region with a button click an unlimited amount of times.

Right now I am using a program called DVDFab Passkey 7 which also unlocks dvd's and blu-rays. It is free since it is a beta. I use it because I do not want to pay for either Powerdvd or Anydvd HD, and instead uses Media Player Home Cinema Classic, for both dvd and blu-ray playback. Media Player Home Cinema Classic is not really the best option for blu-rays yet since as of now it will only play the main feature (only problem on blu-ray) and without subtitles.

Also I think that VLC media player which is very popular sucks (best about VLC is that it can decode dvd's). I have tried in on atleast five different occasions, the last was a couple of weeks ago, and each time VLC gives me a digitalized/pixelated/computerish picture quality compared to Media Player Classic Home Cinema.

[perkizitore]

VLC is exceptional, its only problem is the playback of large 720p MKV files (your computer must be very powerful).

[matrixschmatrix]

Anydvd HD is good, but it costs money. If you use Powerdvd then the Blu-ray tray region tool is a better choice since it is free. The tray tool does not unlock blu-rays but it lets you change the region with a button click an unlimited amount of times.

Right now I am using a program called DVDFab Passkey 7 which also unlocks dvd's and blu-rays. It is free since it is a beta. I use it because I do not want to pay for either Powerdvd or Anydvd HD, and instead uses Media Player Home Cinema Classic, for both dvd and blu-ray playback. Media Player Home Cinema Classic is not really the best option for blu-rays yet since as of now it will only play the main feature (only problem on blu-ray) and without subtitles.

Also I think that VLC media player which is very popular sucks (best about VLC is that it can decode dvd's). I have tried in on atleast five different occasions, the last was a couple of weeks ago, and each time VLC gives me a digitalized/pixelated/computerish picture quality compared to Media Player Classic Home Cinema.

I've had trouble using VLC for region 2 dvds- it has a tendency to read them as individual video files and not make menu connections properly.

It does seem like a blu-ray drive is far and away the cheapest way to go region free for blus, given that I can hook my computer up to my projector. NewEgg has some in the $50 range.

[karmajuice]

These past few posts have been helpful. I have AnyDVD but got it without realizing it didn't work with Matsushita drives. . . so I've had it (and several Region 2 DVDs) for almost two years now, without being able to use it. I've been holding off on getting an external DVD drive because I thought it might be better to get an external blu-ray drive, but if that PowerDVD blu-ray tray tool works with my Matsushita drive I can just go with a regular DVD drive.

I presume AnyDVD (or DVDFab Passkey, which also doesn't work now) will function if I have an external DVD drive of a compatible brand?

[manicsounds]

Anyone with a Momitsu (or Sherwood/VisionQUest/TMY etc etc) BD player,
has anyone been able to access any of Warner Brothers discs' "Maximum Movie Mode" yet?

So far, 2 discs that I have just stay on a blank screen when I push play, and it just stays at that. Can't forward, press menu, nothing. Only the STOP button works...

[mfunk9786]

I know that on my Insignia, to access a picture-in-picture commentary I had to go into the settings and manually change to the "secondary audio." I don't remember exactly how, but hopefully that helps.

[manicsounds]

I know that on my Insignia, to access a picture-in-picture commentary I had to go into the settings and manually change to the "secondary audio." I don't remember exactly how, but hopefully that helps.

This ain't about the audio. On my previous non-HD receiver, yes, I remember I had problems with PiP Audio, but with an HD-receiver, that problem was solved.

For Maximum Movie Mode on Warner discs, the video and audio are both stalled...
But for some reason, "Book Of Eli" Maximum Movie Mode was no problem, just 2 other titles.

[Lino]

Excuse the following question but it's just that I don't want to go back 23 pages of this thread to find out just what is currently the best all region Blu-Ray player for someone living in Europe? I've just bought an LG HD Tv and am looking to take the best advantage I can get from it (meanwhile, I've already compiled a quite long list of to-buy Blus! Oh, the addiction starts all over again!).

Can someone indulge my sloth?

[MichaelB]

I'd normally have gone for a modded Oppo like a shot, since I'm a huge fan of their DVD players, but I can't help noticing that Oppo players seem to get mentioned quite a bit whenever glitches on individual discs are reported.

So the one I've got my eye on is a modded Cambridge Audio player - does anyone have experience with those?

[perkizitore]

Cambridge Audio 650BD is a rebranded Oppo BDP-80 with some tweaks, although i don't know if Cambridge Audio issues firmware updates more often than Oppo.

["membrillo"]

I'd normally have gone for a modded Oppo like a shot, since I'm a huge fan of their DVD players, but I can't help noticing that Oppo players seem to get mentioned quite a bit whenever glitches on individual discs are reported.

So the one I've got my eye on is a modded Cambridge Audio player - does anyone have experience with those?

I have not but it is also my understanding that they are OPPO's.

Ive had a modded Panasonic BD60 for over a year and have not had one problem yet. Its played every disc I have thrown at it, just does not load as fast as a PS3.