Blu-Ray Region Free Question

paraletic · 23-02-2008, 18:34

Hi there
Can anyone please help me. I'm looking to purchace a Blu-Ray player (either stand alone or a playstation 3).
I understand from reading posts on here that Blu-Rays are in 3 different regions A,B and C and that currently there is no way to bypass a region code. This does not bother me.
What I am interested in however is the upscaling of standard DVDs and cannot seem to find if the Blu-Ray player will play any region standard dvds or only a specific region. I hope that makes sense!!!
The reason I ask is because I currently have a region free DVD player and plenty of region 1 DVDs, was looking to get an upscaler DVD but then decided to go for a Blu-Ray as this seems to be the way the market is shifting, and I don't want to be left with a pile of useless region 1 dvds.
I hope I'm not totally wrong with any comments I've made above, I'm sure you will correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks in advance.

BallroomBear · 23-02-2008, 18:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by paraletic

Hi there
Can anyone please help me. I'm looking to purchace a Blu-Ray player (either stand alone or a playstation 3).
I understand from reading posts on here that Blu-Rays are in 3 different regions A,B and C and that currently there is no way to bypass a region code. This does not bother me.
What I am interested in however is the upscaling of standard DVDs and cannot seem to find if the Blu-Ray player will play any region standard dvds or only a specific region. I hope that makes sense!!!
The reason I ask is because I currently have a region free DVD player and plenty of region 1 DVDs, was looking to get an upscaler DVD but then decided to go for a Blu-Ray as this seems to be the way the market is shifting, and I don't want to be left with a pile of useless region 1 dvds.
I hope I'm not totally wrong with any comments I've made above, I'm sure you will correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks in advance.

Blu-ray players are region locked for both HD and SD DVD, so your R1 standard def discs will not play on a European Blu-ray machine. This was also the same for HD DVD players.

Your best bet is to rip your R1 discs to blank dual layer so they become region free. It's hassle, but that's the only current way around the problem until some South Korean or Chinese company starts making crackable Blu-ray players.

Deacon1972 · 23-02-2008, 18:54

I wouldn't let the SD region coding affect your purchase of Bluray.

I have kept my old dvd player just for all the region 1 dvd's I have.

The upscaling is neither here or there really as your TV will be upscaling your SD dvd's anyway, depending on the scaler in the tv you may find the difference between the tv and the ps3 doing the upscaling to be minimal.

Jumbo_Holden · 23-02-2008, 19:13

I've thought about the 'copying to remove region settings' idea already, but didn't want to risk playing 'counterfeat' media in my PS3. It's connected to the web they could be 'watching' us

atvmidlands · 23-02-2008, 21:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by BallroomBear

Blu-ray players are region locked for both HD and SD DVD, so your R1 standard def discs will not play on a European Blu-ray machine. This was also the same for HD DVD players.

Your best bet is to rip your R1 discs to blank dual layer so they become region free. It's hassle, but that's the only current way around the problem until some South Korean or Chinese company starts making crackable Blu-ray players.

Little point in losing 50% of the quality by copying a dual layer disc onto a single layer blank.

You'll lose far more than you will playing the R1 on a non upscaling player.

Unless you want to use dual layer blanks and waste one for every title- unfortunately you cant get DL RW discs

CLL Dodge · 23-02-2008, 21:31

Region free players will be along soon. There are already sellers claiming to have them, though I haven't seen one that can do Blu Ray and standard DVD discs.

Jumbo_Holden · 23-02-2008, 21:42

Where does this all stand? How safe is it playing 'copied' disks on a PS3? because if I'm worrying over nothing I may go out and buy some dual layered disks* and make copies of all my R1 titles, (with removed region coding) so I can play them upscaled on the PS3.

*It would be a total of 30 disks I'd need to do, but 10 of those are only on single layed disks anyway. So 20 dual laayed discs are needed and I can get 20 for £13 which I don't think is that much money really. It will then give me 100% playback of my entire collection on my PS3.

But I'm too scared to risk putting copied media into it at this stage.

ßeta · 23-02-2008, 22:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jumbo_Holden

Where does this all stand? How safe is it playing 'copied' disks on a PS3? because if I'm worrying over nothing I may go out and buy some dual layered disks* and make copies of all my R1 titles, (with removed region coding) so I can play them upscaled on the PS3.

*It would be a total of 30 disks I'd need to do, but 10 of those are only on single layed disks anyway. So 20 dual laayed discs are needed and I can get 20 for £13 which I don't think is that much money really. It will then give me 100% playback of my entire collection on my PS3.

But I'm too scared to risk putting copied media into it at this stage.

Don't worry. I have been sticking in backed up Blu-ray titles in my PS3 and watching them. I also import Region A Blu-ray's and remove the region coding to play on my UK PS3, no knock on the door.

Jumbo_Holden · 23-02-2008, 22:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by ßeta

Don't worry. I have been sticking in backed up Blu-ray titles in my PS3 and watching them. I also import Region A Blu-ray's and remove the region coding to play on my UK PS3, no knock on the door.

Mind these R1 disks I speak of, are nearly all animation. Namely 'South Park' 'Fairly Odd Parents' and 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (original 1987) and its only because I can't rebuy these as R2 I need to do this. Anyway given these are just cartoons anyway. It's thinking that my PS3 won't give any better upscale for them than my other £60 samsung HDMI (region free) player anyway.

BallroomBear · 23-02-2008, 22:34

A question occured to me the other day, and I'm not sure of the answer.

If you were to (from the usual sources) download a blu-ray or HD-DVD movie which had been uploaded at full size ie around 25GB file size, could you them compress the downloaded file using DVD Shrink or similar and copy the compressed file to a blank dual layer (8.5GB) and get a visual improvement over the uncompressed SD DVD equivalent?

I've found that when converted to SD DVD, HD downloads such as movie trailers at 1080i and the Knight Rider pilot I downloaded at 720p give a far superior picture quality to usual SD DVD through my upscaler.

The only problem would be is I that I don't know if there are any updated versions of DVD Shrink which would compress blu-ray due to it's different file structure.

ßeta · 23-02-2008, 22:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by BallroomBear

A question occured to me the other day, and I'm not sure of the answer.

If you were to (from the usual sources) download a blu-ray or HD-DVD movie which had been uploaded at full size ie around 25GB file size, could you them compress the downloaded file using DVD Shrink or similar and copy the compressed file to a blank dual layer (8.5GB) and get a visual improvement over the uncompressed SD DVD equivalent?

I've found that when converted to SD DVD, HD downloads such as movie trailers at 1080i and the Knight Rider pilot I downloaded at 720p give a far superior picture quality to usual SD DVD through my upscaler.

The only problem would be is I that I don't know if there are any updated versions of DVD Shrink which would compress blu-ray due to it's different file structure.

Search for TSRemux.

atvmidlands · 23-02-2008, 22:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBDodge

Region free players will be along soon. There are already sellers claiming to have them, though I haven't seen one that can do Blu Ray and standard DVD discs.

There was a link on this very site yesterday somewhere from a retailer with a full line up of multi region players for both dvd and bd - but the players were about £150 -£200 dearer than the standard model so time to wait a bit I think.

No PS3 hack yet though.

Come on Action Replay

Netgem · 13-03-2008, 19:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by BallroomBear

Blu-ray players are region locked for both HD and SD DVD, so your R1 standard def discs will not play on a European Blu-ray machine. This was also the same for HD DVD players.

Your best bet is to rip your R1 discs to blank dual layer so they become region free. It's hassle, but that's the only current way around the problem until some South Korean or Chinese company starts making crackable Blu-ray players.

Wrong. All HD DVDs were completely region free.

atvmidlands · 13-03-2008, 22:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Netgem

Wrong. All HD DVDs were completely region free.

I think what he meant was that although HD DVD players were region free for the HD discs - they aren't for standard dvd's.

So if you buy a Toshiba HD DVD player from a UK source it wont play your R1 discs - which is correct

spanglysteve · 16-03-2008, 20:57

I was always slightly confused over the region coding thing on DVD. While it was possible to buy region free DVD players, you couldnt (i dont think) buy them from retailers such as Dixons.

This leads me to the question of legality, was a region free DVD player actually legal, or was it illegal, but no one really cared about it. Were players manufactured region free, or were they all hacked?

atvmidlands · 16-03-2008, 21:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by spanglysteve

I was always slightly confused over the region coding thing on DVD. While it was possible to buy region free DVD players, you couldnt (i dont think) buy them from retailers such as Dixons.

This leads me to the question of legality, was a region free DVD player actually legal, or was it illegal, but no one really cared about it. Were players manufactured region free, or were they all hacked?

There was nothing illegal about hacking region coding.

You can buy multi region players from virtually anywhere including Dixons,Comet and Curry's.

But if you want to buy a player thats either MR off the shelf or hackable with the supplied remote you need to buy non big brand names.

The cheapie and own brands of those retailers will be hackable.

The quality brands like Panasonic ,Pioneer,Toshiba etc dont supply hackable machines and if you want one of those MR you need to visit a specialist retailer like Richer Sounds or some of the online stores who will tinker with the machines themselves and provide a guarantee that the manufacturer wont.

There are also some sites that will supply you with a special remote for about £25 that will alter the firmware of a branded player - these remotes only work once

16-03-2008, 22:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by atvmidlands

I think what he meant was that although HD DVD players were region free for the HD discs - they aren't for standard dvd's.

So if you buy a Toshiba HD DVD player from a UK source it wont play your R1 discs - which is correct

From standard no, but there is a hack for one if not two of the Toshiba models now.

david rees · 21-03-2008, 16:38

There are lots of Blu-ray dvds that are not coded, even tho they state so on the packaging..here is a great website for such info: http://bluray.liesinc.net/
Im sure its only a matter of time before region free players will be available...

GET HIGH DEFINITION BARGAINS HERE!!

23-02-2008, 18:34	#1
paraletic Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 8	Blu-Ray Region Free Question Hi there Can anyone please help me. I'm looking to purchace a Blu-Ray player (either stand alone or a playstation 3). I understand from reading posts on here that Blu-Rays are in 3 different regions A,B and C and that currently there is no way to bypass a region code. This does not bother me. What I am interested in however is the upscaling of standard DVDs and cannot seem to find if the Blu-Ray player will play any region standard dvds or only a specific region. I hope that makes sense!!! The reason I ask is because I currently have a region free DVD player and plenty of region 1 DVDs, was looking to get an upscaler DVD but then decided to go for a Blu-Ray as this seems to be the way the market is shifting, and I don't want to be left with a pile of useless region 1 dvds. I hope I'm not totally wrong with any comments I've made above, I'm sure you will correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks in advance.

23-02-2008, 18:40	#2
BallroomBear Banned User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 539	Quote: Originally Posted by paraletic Hi there Can anyone please help me. I'm looking to purchace a Blu-Ray player (either stand alone or a playstation 3). I understand from reading posts on here that Blu-Rays are in 3 different regions A,B and C and that currently there is no way to bypass a region code. This does not bother me. What I am interested in however is the upscaling of standard DVDs and cannot seem to find if the Blu-Ray player will play any region standard dvds or only a specific region. I hope that makes sense!!! The reason I ask is because I currently have a region free DVD player and plenty of region 1 DVDs, was looking to get an upscaler DVD but then decided to go for a Blu-Ray as this seems to be the way the market is shifting, and I don't want to be left with a pile of useless region 1 dvds. I hope I'm not totally wrong with any comments I've made above, I'm sure you will correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks in advance. Blu-ray players are region locked for both HD and SD DVD, so your R1 standard def discs will not play on a European Blu-ray machine. This was also the same for HD DVD players. Your best bet is to rip your R1 discs to blank dual layer so they become region free. It's hassle, but that's the only current way around the problem until some South Korean or Chinese company starts making crackable Blu-ray players.

23-02-2008, 18:54	#3
Deacon1972 Guest Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 8,103	I wouldn't let the SD region coding affect your purchase of Bluray. I have kept my old dvd player just for all the region 1 dvd's I have. The upscaling is neither here or there really as your TV will be upscaling your SD dvd's anyway, depending on the scaler in the tv you may find the difference between the tv and the ps3 doing the upscaling to be minimal.

23-02-2008, 19:13	#4
Jumbo_Holden Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Telford, Shropshire Posts: 3,362	I've thought about the 'copying to remove region settings' idea already, but didn't want to risk playing 'counterfeat' media in my PS3. It's connected to the web they could be 'watching' us

23-02-2008, 21:21	#5
atvmidlands Banned User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bedfordshire Posts: 1,274	Quote: Originally Posted by BallroomBear Blu-ray players are region locked for both HD and SD DVD, so your R1 standard def discs will not play on a European Blu-ray machine. This was also the same for HD DVD players. Your best bet is to rip your R1 discs to blank dual layer so they become region free. It's hassle, but that's the only current way around the problem until some South Korean or Chinese company starts making crackable Blu-ray players. Little point in losing 50% of the quality by copying a dual layer disc onto a single layer blank. You'll lose far more than you will playing the R1 on a non upscaling player. Unless you want to use dual layer blanks and waste one for every title- unfortunately you cant get DL RW discs

23-02-2008, 21:31	#6
CLL Dodge Forum Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: The Green Hills of Earth Posts: 80,448	Region free players will be along soon. There are already sellers claiming to have them, though I haven't seen one that can do Blu Ray and standard DVD discs.

23-02-2008, 21:42	#7
Jumbo_Holden Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Telford, Shropshire Posts: 3,362	Where does this all stand? How safe is it playing 'copied' disks on a PS3? because if I'm worrying over nothing I may go out and buy some dual layered disks* and make copies of all my R1 titles, (with removed region coding) so I can play them upscaled on the PS3. *It would be a total of 30 disks I'd need to do, but 10 of those are only on single layed disks anyway. So 20 dual laayed discs are needed and I can get 20 for £13 which I don't think is that much money really. It will then give me 100% playback of my entire collection on my PS3. But I'm too scared to risk putting copied media into it at this stage.

23-02-2008, 22:09	#8
ßeta Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: 127.0.0.1 Posts: 86	Quote: Originally Posted by Jumbo_Holden Where does this all stand? How safe is it playing 'copied' disks on a PS3? because if I'm worrying over nothing I may go out and buy some dual layered disks* and make copies of all my R1 titles, (with removed region coding) so I can play them upscaled on the PS3. *It would be a total of 30 disks I'd need to do, but 10 of those are only on single layed disks anyway. So 20 dual laayed discs are needed and I can get 20 for £13 which I don't think is that much money really. It will then give me 100% playback of my entire collection on my PS3. But I'm too scared to risk putting copied media into it at this stage. Don't worry. I have been sticking in backed up Blu-ray titles in my PS3 and watching them. I also import Region A Blu-ray's and remove the region coding to play on my UK PS3, no knock on the door.

23-02-2008, 22:21	#9
Jumbo_Holden Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Telford, Shropshire Posts: 3,362	Quote: Originally Posted by ßeta Don't worry. I have been sticking in backed up Blu-ray titles in my PS3 and watching them. I also import Region A Blu-ray's and remove the region coding to play on my UK PS3, no knock on the door. Mind these R1 disks I speak of, are nearly all animation. Namely 'South Park' 'Fairly Odd Parents' and 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (original 1987) and its only because I can't rebuy these as R2 I need to do this. Anyway given these are just cartoons anyway. It's thinking that my PS3 won't give any better upscale for them than my other £60 samsung HDMI (region free) player anyway.

23-02-2008, 22:34	#10
BallroomBear Banned User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 539	A question occured to me the other day, and I'm not sure of the answer. If you were to (from the usual sources) download a blu-ray or HD-DVD movie which had been uploaded at full size ie around 25GB file size, could you them compress the downloaded file using DVD Shrink or similar and copy the compressed file to a blank dual layer (8.5GB) and get a visual improvement over the uncompressed SD DVD equivalent? I've found that when converted to SD DVD, HD downloads such as movie trailers at 1080i and the Knight Rider pilot I downloaded at 720p give a far superior picture quality to usual SD DVD through my upscaler. The only problem would be is I that I don't know if there are any updated versions of DVD Shrink which would compress blu-ray due to it's different file structure.

23-02-2008, 22:39	#11
ßeta Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: 127.0.0.1 Posts: 86	Quote: Originally Posted by BallroomBear A question occured to me the other day, and I'm not sure of the answer. If you were to (from the usual sources) download a blu-ray or HD-DVD movie which had been uploaded at full size ie around 25GB file size, could you them compress the downloaded file using DVD Shrink or similar and copy the compressed file to a blank dual layer (8.5GB) and get a visual improvement over the uncompressed SD DVD equivalent? I've found that when converted to SD DVD, HD downloads such as movie trailers at 1080i and the Knight Rider pilot I downloaded at 720p give a far superior picture quality to usual SD DVD through my upscaler. The only problem would be is I that I don't know if there are any updated versions of DVD Shrink which would compress blu-ray due to it's different file structure. Search for TSRemux.

23-02-2008, 22:41	#12
atvmidlands Banned User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bedfordshire Posts: 1,274	Quote: Originally Posted by BBDodge Region free players will be along soon. There are already sellers claiming to have them, though I haven't seen one that can do Blu Ray and standard DVD discs. There was a link on this very site yesterday somewhere from a retailer with a full line up of multi region players for both dvd and bd - but the players were about £150 -£200 dearer than the standard model so time to wait a bit I think. No PS3 hack yet though. Come on Action Replay

13-03-2008, 19:21	#13
Netgem Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: East Anglia, UK Posts: 640	Quote: Originally Posted by BallroomBear Blu-ray players are region locked for both HD and SD DVD, so your R1 standard def discs will not play on a European Blu-ray machine. This was also the same for HD DVD players. Your best bet is to rip your R1 discs to blank dual layer so they become region free. It's hassle, but that's the only current way around the problem until some South Korean or Chinese company starts making crackable Blu-ray players. Wrong. All HD DVDs were completely region free.

13-03-2008, 22:22	#14
atvmidlands Banned User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bedfordshire Posts: 1,274	Quote: Originally Posted by Netgem Wrong. All HD DVDs were completely region free. I think what he meant was that although HD DVD players were region free for the HD discs - they aren't for standard dvd's. So if you buy a Toshiba HD DVD player from a UK source it wont play your R1 discs - which is correct

16-03-2008, 20:57	#15
spanglysteve Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,380	I was always slightly confused over the region coding thing on DVD. While it was possible to buy region free DVD players, you couldnt (i dont think) buy them from retailers such as Dixons. This leads me to the question of legality, was a region free DVD player actually legal, or was it illegal, but no one really cared about it. Were players manufactured region free, or were they all hacked?

16-03-2008, 21:34	#16
atvmidlands Banned User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bedfordshire Posts: 1,274	Quote: Originally Posted by spanglysteve I was always slightly confused over the region coding thing on DVD. While it was possible to buy region free DVD players, you couldnt (i dont think) buy them from retailers such as Dixons. This leads me to the question of legality, was a region free DVD player actually legal, or was it illegal, but no one really cared about it. Were players manufactured region free, or were they all hacked? There was nothing illegal about hacking region coding. You can buy multi region players from virtually anywhere including Dixons,Comet and Curry's. But if you want to buy a player thats either MR off the shelf or hackable with the supplied remote you need to buy non big brand names. The cheapie and own brands of those retailers will be hackable. The quality brands like Panasonic ,Pioneer,Toshiba etc dont supply hackable machines and if you want one of those MR you need to visit a specialist retailer like Richer Sounds or some of the online stores who will tinker with the machines themselves and provide a guarantee that the manufacturer wont. There are also some sites that will supply you with a special remote for about £25 that will alter the firmware of a branded player - these remotes only work once

16-03-2008, 22:20	#17
TommyW Posts: n/a	Quote: Originally Posted by atvmidlands I think what he meant was that although HD DVD players were region free for the HD discs - they aren't for standard dvd's. So if you buy a Toshiba HD DVD player from a UK source it wont play your R1 discs - which is correct From standard no, but there is a hack for one if not two of the Toshiba models now.

21-03-2008, 16:38	#18
david rees Inactive Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 28	There are lots of Blu-ray dvds that are not coded, even tho they state so on the packaging..here is a great website for such info: http://bluray.liesinc.net/ Im sure its only a matter of time before region free players will be available... GET HIGH DEFINITION BARGAINS HERE!!

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