All-Region DVD and Blu-ray Player Advice

[Dadapass]

has anyone here used a Colby DVD-755

I bought one because it was cheap and only to play the DVDs I have, which are all Region 1, and didn't even know it was region free. I would look into buying Region 2 DVDs but because the player was so cheap I'm having second thoughts.

[PimpPanda]

Anyone know of the best DVD player that is region free or that can be made region free for around one hundred dollars Canadian?

[HerrSchreck]

Order this from J&R NYC. They carry Aussie Pios which are all-region PAL/NTSC players. My old lady has a PAL/NTSC Pio DV-383 which is on its last legs, and for a no-frills replacement, you can't go wrong. Never encountered a disc it couldn't play.

For a wider selection, check here.

The advantage of going with these aussie players is the power supply is normal, and there's no hacking involved. You simply play vids like a European, where the region encoding situation is far more relaxed vs here.

[PimpPanda]

Thanks, those look good, but I've been looking at trying to find ones that upscale, play DivX and etc. The Toshiba XD-E500 looked great (found an easy code too) but then I read that it stretches 4:3 to 16:9!

I guess the Oppo would be the best but that's a bit out of my price range, and I've heard about some DivX subtitle problems.

[markhax]

Order this from J&R NYC. They carry Aussie Pios which are all-region PAL/NTSC players. My old lady has a PAL/NTSC Pio DV-383 which is on its last legs, and for a no-frills replacement, you can't go wrong. Never encountered a disc it couldn't play.

Do you know, Schreck, whether these presumably more recent models show the subtitles on 16:9 films above the bottom edge, or do they place them as if the aspect ratio were 4:3? This is an annoyance on my all-region PIO DV-383. If I want to see the DVD with the subtitles visible above the bottom edge I have to hook up my laptop to my TV. Can anyone say whether this is also true of the PIO DV310-B?

[HerrSchreck]

I'll be able to answer that after the delivery arrives from J&R, presumably next week.

[Particle Zoo]

Anyone in the UK wanting a region free Blu ray player, I suggest checking these guys out.

I got a panasonic from them, it only took three days to arrive and plays A B or C region discs. You change the region setting on the player by selecting a number on the remote's keypad when the machine is in standby mode.

I just wish I'd known about them before I imported a player from the USA and paid a heavy customs charge to do it!

[tojoed]

Thanks Particle. Great find and only half an hour's drive away from me, I'm in.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Is this Pioneer DV300 sold from Amazon any good?

[lodger]

I've been watching my non-R1 movies on a Daewoo for some time, and it seems to have given up the ghost. So I'm looking for a new multi-region player, but I'd like to take advantage of the advances made since 2002. Specifically, I'd like to find a multi-region DVD/VCR combo, but also one that incorporates a USB slot to watch videos in other formats-- Divx, WMV, etc.

I've found multi-regions with VCR or USB, but haven't yet found one with both.

Can anyone offer recommendations?

[James]

I'm thinking of getting a Philips DVP5990/37. Has anyone here had one of these or seen them playing PAL DVDs? I know that they do, I'm just wondering because I've heard mixed reports: some say Philips simply takes off parts of the top and bottom of the screen and calls it PAL conversion and some say that Philips is surprisingly one of the best companies for PAL conversion.

[kinjitsu]

I have the Philips DVP5982 and it does not cut off anything if HDMI is set to 576p.

[Cinetwist]

However, in terms of 'discussion'.. What exactly is there to discuss at this point? Blu is going to look better than DVD. That is pretty much a constant at this point. So, technology-wise, there isn't much to discuss, unless we have twenty people in one thread making one line posts like, "I can't believe how wonderful this looks.", "I have never seen this film this clearly", etc... or pretty much any other obvious post you can think of. And I believe there is a thread about companies that have dropped the ball on their Blu presentation (e.g. Patton).

People on this board tend to talk about the film itself.

I disagree completely. I think there's still loads to talk about concerning technology. I was shocked to see no discussion concerning mutli-region possibilities and the fact that the one 'legit' all region player, the momitsu, has seemingly been pulled from sale (at least to international customers). I was going to buy one at the weekend but the shop doesn't work and I still haven't got a response from customer support.

And as for affordability, I agree that the titles themselves are unbelievably well priced, far more so than dvds were at this point. But come on, a format where you have to replace your display can hardly be called cheap to adopt into. Especially if you want full HD at a big enough size to make it noticeable.

[aox]

I hope your right. But I was surprised to see just how little discussion there was of the Criterion blu-rays in their respective threads.

This statement led me to believe you were talking about the lack of discussion about individual releases of films on blu-ray which led to me saying that obviously Blu looks better than DVD 99.9% of the time; hence, no discussion. I didn't know you were referring to equipment.

As for region free, isn't Oppo releasing a region-free soon?

[Michael Kerpan]

As for region free, isn't Oppo releasing a region-free soon?

No. Its BR player is even region-locked for DVD playing.

[gyorgys]

As for region free, isn't Oppo releasing a region-free soon?

No. Its BR player is even region-locked for DVD playing

Hardware modification "Do It Yourself Region & Zone Kit" (Blu-ray & DVD) Oppo BDP-83.

[Cinetwist]

I hope your right. But I was surprised to see just how little discussion there was of the Criterion blu-rays in their respective threads.

This statement led me to believe you were talking about the lack of discussion about individual releases of films on blu-ray which led to me saying that obviously Blu looks better than DVD 99.9% of the time; hence, no discussion. I didn't know you were referring to equipment.

As for region free, isn't Oppo releasing a region-free soon?

I was talking about the lack of discussion about individual releases. I was talking about the whole gamut really. The international blu-ray thread was even more dead than this one until today. The New World on the format is phenomenal news though....

[Anthony]

As for region free, isn't Oppo releasing a region-free soon?

No. Its BR player is even region-locked for DVD playing

Hardware modification "Do It Yourself Region & Zone Kit" (Blu-ray & DVD) Oppo BDP-83.

I own the Oppo BDP-83 player and think it's a very good player... but wish it was region free. Has anyone here purchased the DIY kit? Is it easy to install? I know nothing about electronics. Would I be able to handle the install or does anyone know of a place that can install it for me?

Also, the player has one quirk that annoys me... When it loads a Criterion DVD, the player only recognizes the 4:3 aspect ratio menu. Criterion encodes both a 16:9 and 4:3 menu on their DVDs if the DVD contains a movie which has an aspect ratio of 1:66 or wider... so that the correct menu will display correctly on the TV it is connected to. The BDP-83 only recognizes the 4:3 menu, however it will display the movie correctly on my 16:9 HDTV. I've spoke to Oppo about it and they are aware of the problem, but haven't fixed it yet.

[gyorgys]

As for region free, isn't Oppo releasing a region-free soon?

No. Its BR player is even region-locked for DVD playing

Hardware modification "Do It Yourself Region & Zone Kit" (Blu-ray & DVD) Oppo BDP-83.

I own the Oppo BDP-83 player and think it's a very good player... but wish it was region free. Has anyone here purchased the DIY kit? Is it easy to install? I know nothing about electronics. Would I be able to handle the install or does anyone know of a place that can install it for me?

The install is a breeze!
Very clear instructions are included in the DIY package. Look for your insight to the region free mod kit instructions here.

gyorgys

[Arn777]

I need to get a blu-ray player that has been modified to paly all region blu-ray discs. out of the models sold by Stegen and Multiregionmagic, is there one in particualr I should consider? Also how robust are their modifications? I don't mind too much paying the premium price for the benefit of having a single player that can play A & B discs, but want to make sure it's going to last me more than one year.

[peerpee]

I've got the cheapest Panasonic multiregion Blu-ray player from here: http://www.mrmdvd.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=22_98" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and it's such a relief to be able to play all regions of Blu-ray... if it's set to play Region A, you turn the machine off and press "2" on the remote, then turn it on, and it will be locked to Region B. If you turn it off and press "1" on the remote, it goes back to Region A. A minor inconvenience when the discs actually play instead of getting that insane "There is a mismatch between the region of the..." arrrghh!

[Arn777]

Thank you, I'll go for that.

[Adam]

Sony cuts the PS-3 price by $100 to $299 shipping after September 1.
May be a boost to Blu-Ray.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technol ... model.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mikkelmark]

Sony cuts the PS-3 price by $100 to $299 shipping after September 1.
May be a boost to Blu-Ray.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technol ... model.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also theres rumours about a ps3 slim, to that price, that might be coming very soon.

[redbill]

Sony cuts the PS-3 price by $100 to $299 shipping after September 1.
May be a boost to Blu-Ray.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technol ... model.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also theres rumours about a ps3 slim, to that price, that might be coming very soon.

actually, all PS3 are currently dropped to $299. The slim comes out in September, also at $299.