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Region lock screens for Antonioni's:
La signora senza camelie
Le amiche

Sad to see that 11 out of 18 Blus are locked.

For people with PCs and Blu-ray drives. If you are using PowerDVD or TotalMedia Theatre I suggest using Blu-ray Region Tray Tool. It makes switching between regions very easy.

I can confirm eerik's recommendation for the above - I've tested my computers Blu-ray drive running PowerDVD out with the software and it plays everything fine (most recently Criterion's Insignificance and the Park Circus disc of the Pillow Book) with just a selection of the chosen region before playing the disc.

It seems the question is no longer "why aren't the releases region-free anymore," but rather "how did Eureka manage to release the Fox Murnau titles in region-free in the first place?"

eerik wrote:For people with PCs and Blu-ray drives. If you are using PowerDVD or TotalMedia Theatre I suggest using Blu-ray Region Tray Tool. It makes switching between regions very easy.

Unfortunately it doesn't support PowerDVD 11, i have to downgrade to the previous version until they fix this.

I recommend Any DVD, it works with 11.

http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Man Vanishes DVD - Region 0 NTSC
Ballad Of Narayama DVD - Region 2 NTSC

Two more for the good pile:

PUNISHMENT PARK BD - region free
LE SILENCE DE LA MER BD - region free

--

But:

TWO-LANE BLACKTOP BD - Region B
REPO MAN BD - Region B
THE INSECT WOMAN BD - Region B

Der Spieler wrote:Region free:
A Time to Love and a Time to Die

Sorry to bring this old quote up, but is this PAL or can I play it on a U.S. player being region free?

*CG* wrote:

Der Spieler wrote:Region free:
A Time to Love and a Time to Die

Sorry to bring this old quote up, but is this PAL or can I play it on a U.S. player being region free?

You'll need a player that converts PAL to NTSC or a TV that supports PAL playback.

A lot of players can convert a PAL signal to NTSC.

*CG* wrote:

Der Spieler wrote:Region free:
A Time to Love and a Time to Die

Sorry to bring this old quote up, but is this PAL or can I play it on a U.S. player being region free?

It's definitely PAL (I've just checked my copy).

Which means that you can definitely play it on a PC or Mac, but it's not guaranteed that it will play OK on a domestic DVD player and TV setup.

PAL will surely play through any region free unlockable Blu player though, without need of a PAL compatible TV as it upscales the signal through HDMI right?

Thanks guys.

peerpee wrote:Two more for the good pile:
TWO-LANE BLACKTOP BD - Region B
REPO MAN BD - Region B
THE INSECT WOMAN BD - Region B

Can we assume all the Universal blu-only ones are going to be region B locked?

Probably a very safe bet - especially if they're covered by the same blanket agreement.

Peacock wrote:PAL will surely play through any region free unlockable Blu player though, without need of a PAL compatible TV as it upscales the signal through HDMI right?

I'm pretty sure this is the case, yes.

Is it? I certainly recall hearing that some US players had problems with 576p material. And indeed 1080i50.

MichaelB wrote:Is it? I certainly recall hearing that some US players had problems with 576p material. And indeed 1080i50.

Yep, the US PS3 is one such player, no?

Yes, the PS3 cannot playback PAL, even though there is no reason for it not to.

Although to be fair the PS3 isn't a region free unlockable Blu player.

But European PS3s have no problem playing 480p (NTSC)...

MichaelB wrote:But European PS3s have no problem playing 480p (NTSC)...

Peacock wrote:PAL will surely play through any region free unlockable Blu player though, without need of a PAL compatible TV as it upscales the signal through HDMI right?

That doesn't address my point - which is that despite being region-lockable, European PS3s can play a greater variety of material than their American cousins, despite ostensibly being the same machine.

As Chris says, there's no technical reason for this, which suggests that American PS3s have been deliberately crippled by Sony. But why weren't European ones?

It's definitely a very, very cynical move to keep PAL product out of the US, and to let NTSC product flood out of the USA. Hollywood protection racket.