Blu-Ray rip off
[Deleted User]
Posts: 218
Forum Member
✭
I am sick of looking for movies, tv shows etc on Blu Ray to only find that they are only Region A (Only for US). I spent £350 for a player over a year ago, and still only have about 10 Blu Ray discs. Everything I want to buy on Blu Ray, are not being released here, but they are available in their abundance in the US. I know that the Blu Ray player can be sorted to play Region A, but I really don't want to go to the expense of that. When I bought it I was offered the choice of having the the facility of having it play multiregion (dvd only, not Blu Ray). I feel like us in the UK are being ripped off by this.
0
Comments
I've got about 1000 DVD's all of movies, tv shows and music concerts from the 80's till now, and I can't get them on Blu Ray. I think I must have different taste in entertainment than most other people and the most popular type of films are being released and others are forgotten about.
The only titles I have a little moan about the Blu-ray Criterions all RA encoded but my PC and Laptop are multi-region so I manage:)
My main problem is any tom dick and harry is now being released on blu ray with many substandard quality.
I seem to remember exactly the same argument when DVD's first came out. That's why we ended up hacking our DVD players and importing from the States. Until Blu-ray become mainstream in the UK you will always have this problem. My advice is to get your player chipped or buy a new multi-region player and import your discs as it isn't going to get any better for you anytime soon.
£309 would have got you a multiregion Panasonic or Sony player so you should have got one of those.
I'm interested in knowing what Region A discs you want .
I've been multiregion for Bluray for 2 years and although I have well over 100 Blurays I have less than 20 that are locked.
I do have other US Blurays but the majority are region free.
With more than 70% of US Blurays region free I'm interested in what titles you want as the number of titles that are only out in the US and not over here amounts to not very many.
I suspect most of the titles you find that are only out in the US are region free anyway.
I think you would have been ok had you done some research before spending £350 on a Region B player.
As for making it MR for dvd - that should set you back £15 max.
I have about 5000 dvd's and the vast majority are unavailable on Bluray but I'm not sure why you are surprised.
Do you really expect 13 years of dvd releases to be out on Bluray within its relatively short life ?
Music concerts from the 80's are unlikely ever to appear on Bluray because they were likely shot on video so are not suitable for HD.
Anything shot on film would be possible but in the 80's technology was expensive so shooting things like concerts whether it be pop groups or standup comedians would usually be done on tape
Region A does not always mean it wont work here.
See above Blog for details of Region A that are really Region Free.
It's a Panasonic DMP-80.
I did get the offer for it to be multi-region for DVD's, as one person has posted that people were buying Region 1 DVD's when they first came out. I am included in that, and that's the reason why I now only want Region B DVD's as if I was to ever upgrade my player, then once again, would have to pay extra to have it play Region A Blu Ray discs.
I can't list what I am looking for fully, but most of the stuff are recent things like tv shows, My Name is Earl, Modern Family etc. I know that I wouldn't get old tv shows, concerts and the like on Blu Ray, but would have thought that some of the DVD movies I have would be available now.
The tv shows on dvd or Bluray?
Do you want the player to be MR for dvd or Bluray?
If it's only dvd it's easy.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Panasonic-DVD-Blu-ray-player-multi-region-hack-remote-/120635963623?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_Video_DVDPlayers_Recorders&hash=item1c1676b8e7
The guy seems to offer a mod chip for Bluray too although I think a certain amount of soldering and / or electronics skill might be needed but it beats the £130 that is required for dealer to modify the player themselves.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Panasonic-BD60-BD80-Blu-ray-DVD-multi-region-upgrade-/120638187150?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_Video_DVDPlayers_Recorders&hash=item1c1698a68e
I don't want my Blu Ray player to be modified at all.
What I am saying is that we in the UK do not get the same range of Blu Rays as there are in the US, therefore, unless the player is ammended to allow for Region A discs to be played I can only buy the DVD version, which I do not want. I have got 5 DVD players, all Multi-Region, including my Blu Ray player. This however does not allow Region A discs from being played.
Why have a Blu Ray player when the majority of what you want is only available in the UK on DVD.
Because its not true.
There is not that much out in the US on Bluray that is not out in the UK.
A few tv shows and a handful of films.
As posted above you'll likely find that the discs you want are region free anyway.
What titles do you want ?
Just a few would be a good start to disprove your theory.
Also worth repeating that if you'd spent that £350 wisely you would have a mulitregion Panasonic Bluray player anyway.
My Panasonic is MR for dvd and bd and it was £269 (2 years ago)
You must require an awful lot of specialist titles because most movies are out here too , those that are not are usually region free and The Criterion Collection are the only company that lock all titles.
Everyone else releases a mix of locked and region free titles and Warner and Universal don't lock any and the number of locked Paramount titles can be counted on one hand