[mcfly1313]

so..... now that the war is over how long before someone sorts out a multi region player?.

[Quackers]

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/pi/4-10...n-Product-Info

[captainkremmen]

They are already available but at the moment, they are expensive because the guys doing the engineering to make them multiregion are concentrating on the top end players. Same thing happened with DVD originally.

Once the budget manufacturers really come on board you'll see cheaper and cheapper machines, then once the Chinese get in on the act expect players that can be made multiregion by simple handset hacks too.

[Jelite]

There are a over 200 region free blu rays, good prices too,here

[BallroomBear]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jelite

There are a over 200 region free blu rays, good prices too,here

Are you sure this site's correct? This is the first I've seen about blu-ray discs supposedly being region free.

[paulr2006]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BallroomBear

Are you sure this site's correct? This is the first I've seen about blu-ray discs supposedly being region free.

Around 70% of Blu ray discs are region free currently but this of course may alter in the future! & yes this site acualy check them to ensure they are.

[Chris Frost]

Be careful here guys, some of the info floating around on web sites is misleading.

Some companies are modding UK BR players so they can play any region (1-6) of standard DVD. That doesn't mean the machine will play an American BR disc though!

regards

[paulr2006]

Here's a couple of sites that gives info on which discs will play on uk players i.e. region free.
http://www.dvdworldusa.com/bdregion.asp

http://www.blurayregioncodes.com/

they may not have all discs listed but it's a good starting point

[johnsteed1]

At the moment only Fox add region coding to all their US BD releases.

Sony,Columbia and Disney also release certain titles region free.

Warner do not add coding to any titles.

There are various sites around that test each and every disc.

Lets hope it increases so we can get away from the ripoff UK prices

[MarkElkington]

What makes you think the UK prices are a rip off? Granted, high street HMV is expensive, but play.com charge around £17 per blu-ray, as do their international store for region one versions. And Amazon charge about £12.50 per disc, but by the time you've paid to get them over here it'd be much the same.

[johnsteed1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkElkington

What makes you think the UK prices are a rip off? Granted, high street HMV is expensive, but play.com charge around £17 per blu-ray, as do their international store for region one versions. And Amazon charge about £12.50 per disc, but by the time you've paid to get them over here it'd be much the same.

You have difficulty finding many UK BD for under £18 new.

PLAY sell many titles for £23.99.

Depending on how recent the release is you can get US BD from Amazon UK very cheap aswell as other retailers.

I just got T2 for £9 delivered.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) for just over £11 delivered ,same with Superman Returns(£9.99) ,Superman 2 .

If you order on the Amazon UK site from a US seller the postage is still the standard £1.24.
I only order direct from the Amazon US site in exceptional circumstances - and then you have to pay increased postage but I only do that for hard to get or deleted titles

The US 5 disc set of the Blade Runner directors cut was £21.99 on Bluray - just a few pounds more than the dvd - and the 5 discer is not even out in the UK on BD.

I think the most I've paid for a US BD title is £11.99 and that was for a brand new release.

In the US BD prices drop after a while similar to dvd- the UK market is not at that stage yet so apart from Buy 2 Get One Free type promotions the UK prices remain high

[Dave_Herts]

The main reasons apart from cost of buying from outside the UK is the release dates are usually earlier & certainly in the case of DVD and probably BD some titles are only available in the USA/Canada

[Keefy-boy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave_Herts

The main reasons apart from cost of buying from outside the UK is the release dates are usually earlier & certainly in the case of DVD and probably BD some titles are only available in the USA/Canada

with DVD there was often a difference of 6 months in release dates between R1 and R2, but it's not really the case anymore in my experience.

i've got dozens of R1 DVDs, but now maybe only buy one or two a year as we tend now to get them at pretty much the same time. not sure there's much of a price differential either nowadays.

[Jarrak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keefy-boy

with DVD there was often a difference of 6 months in release dates between R1 and R2, but it's not really the case anymore in my experience.

i've got dozens of R1 DVDs, but now maybe only buy one or two a year as we tend now to get them at pretty much the same time. not sure there's much of a price differential either nowadays.

True, it's no where near as bad as it used to be and the theatrical/dvd window continues to shrink even further. Price wise you are still looking at imported US content being very competitive but UK prices gets slashed after little more than a couple of months.



It's disappointing that the whole release issue is starting to creep back in even with some catalogue re-releases on HD but at this stage it's too early to tell if this will become the norm or not.
Regardless of region coding the advent of HD has started the whole importing craze all over again and until some very major UK online dealers start to ignore the RRP the better for the Region B market.

[atvmidlands]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keefy-boy

with DVD there was often a difference of 6 months in release dates between R1 and R2, but it's not really the case anymore in my experience.

i've got dozens of R1 DVDs, but now maybe only buy one or two a year as we tend now to get them at pretty much the same time. not sure there's much of a price differential either nowadays.

Thats true regarding mainstream stuff although films like Ratatouille and Click were both on R1 dvd as they played in UK cinemas.

Main problem is UK censorship - sometimes films are cut or banned in the UK and not the US.

Many older films and rarities have been on R1 for years and have never been out in the UK.

Rights issues cause problems.

Right now I want the Die Hard trilogy uncut on Bluray.

If I could buy the US set - no problem.

However in the UK Disney own Die Hard 3 so not only is it unavailable - if it does come out will they cock it up and release an edited version like they did on dvd.

Region coding above all else reduces consumer choice so the EU anti competition people should ban it

[Jarrak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by atvmidlands

Region coding above all else reduces consumer choice so the EU anti competition people should ban it

They did prevent region coding within the EU but I don't think they have the muscle or will to take on the global corporations that control media.

[Jumbo_Holden]

My two cents.

Ok I say to the film/TV companies, ok fine if you've got me over a barrel than I'll be prepared to wait for stuff if I have to, but some stuff only ever gets a 'Region 1' release (never gets released here). I have to by-pass your region settings because I want to own these titles. Isn't that in your interests???

I did have a handful of R1 disks that you can now buy as R2 (at the time I bought them you couldn't) but I have recently re-bought every one of them as R2 (so I can play them in my PS3 and get the best upscale).

Two of the biggest examples for me now. Bewitched; now I never speak about it normally unless I'm talking with other fans but the first 2 seasons made were in black & white. These were later (in the 80's) colourised. In the US you can buy these seasons in BOTH Colour or Black & White, however in Europe we got screwed and only offered Colourised. It's not fair I have am fan and what to own both so I have no choice but to import it. In fact Id much rather have it in black & white.

Recently, Futurama has been bought back from the dead in the form of straight-to-DVD movies. These will be getting released R1 6 whole months before R2. I would like to point out Futurama only has a tiny cult following in the US. It was more popular 'on the whole' in Europe/Australia. It is one of my top 10 all-time-fave TV shows though so I have to see these new movies ASAP. So what I shall be doing here is simply buying the R1 releases (when released) watching them, then when the R2 release comes 6 months later buy it again (and resell the R1 copy on ebay) just so I can then view them on PS3 (with the best upscale).


Region settings were nothing, but now I am buying into blu-ray much more constricted by them, but just finding small ways round and learning to live with it more.

[atvmidlands]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jumbo_Holden

My two cents.

Ok I say to the film/TV companies, ok fine if you've got me over a barrel than I'll be prepared to wait for stuff if I have to, but some stuff only ever gets a 'Region 1' release (never gets released here). I have to by-pass your region settings because I want to own these titles. Isn't that in your interests???

I did have a handful of R1 disks that you can now buy as R2 (at the time I bought them you couldn't) but I have recently re-bought every one of them as R2 (so I can play them in my PS3 and get the best upscale).

Two of the biggest examples for me now. Bewitched; now I never speak about it normally unless I'm talking with other fans but the first 2 seasons made were in black & white. These were later (in the 80's) colourised. In the US you can buy these seasons in BOTH Colour or Black & White, however in Europe we got screwed and only offered Colourised. It's not fair I have am fan and what to own both so I have no choice but to import it. In fact Id much rather have it in black & white.

Recently, Futurama has been bought back from the dead in the form of straight-to-DVD movies. These will be getting released R1 6 whole months before R2. I would like to point out Futurama only has a tiny cult following in the US. It was more popular 'on the whole' in Europe/Australia. It is one of my top 10 all-time-fave TV shows though so I have to see these new movies ASAP. So what I shall be doing here is simply buying the R1 releases (when released) watching them, then when the R2 release comes 6 months later buy it again (and resell the R1 copy on ebay) just so I can then view them on PS3 (with the best upscale).


Region settings were nothing, but now I am buying into blu-ray much more constricted by them, but just finding small ways round and learning to live with it more.

Just to correct your point about the Bewitched colorisations.

The standard of the process in the 80's was abysmal and the current dvd's are in no way related to 80's colorisations.

In the last few years colorisation techniques have improved dramatically and Legend Films are the main company I know of who are performing the process where the end result is being approved by the likes of Ray Harryhausen who has supervised the process on his 3 B&W 50's films.

Coinicidentally a boxset of all 3 is released on R2 Monday and 20 Million Miles to Earth is out on a region free US BD.

You only have to look at their colorisation of Laurel and Hardy's Babes In Toyland and Its A Wonderful Life and sit them next to the 80's colorisations present on the Laurel and Hardy dvd's to see why the process was so hated in the 80's.

With Bewitched its impossible watching the colour dvd's to tell they were made in B&W.

I split the difference and got season 1 in B&W and season 2 in colour.
That way I was able to watch the reused Xmas episode in both formats.

But back on topic it is a good example of how UK punters are shortchanged again

[Jumbo_Holden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by atvmidlands

Just to correct your point about the Bewitched colorisations.

The standard of the process in the 80's was abysmal and the current dvd's are in no way related to 80's colorisations.


With Bewitched its impossible watching the colour dvd's to tell they were made in B&W.

I split the difference and got season 1 in B&W and season 2 in colour.
That way I was able to watch the reused Xmas episode in both formats.

But back on topic it is a good example of how UK punters are shortchanged again

Late reply:
Actually you are talking to 'quite' a fan of the show here and yes you are right. The 'original' colourising was done in the 80's but has been done again since, but it is possible for me to know it's been colourised for inaccurate details in stuff. EG, Endora's costume is Purple/Green in the colourised prints (This is done to match up with the later episodes) but they actually filmed Seasons 1&2 it was just green. It's quite a well known fact amongst the fans. (I have archive 'colour' photograps from the set in various books). They make other mess ups as well but that just really obsessive stuff. I just like them in black & white because it’s how they were made and the colourised ones just look too bright and fake.

[atvmidlands]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jumbo_Holden

Late reply:
Actually you are talking to 'quite' a fan of the show here and yes you are right. The 'original' colourising was done in the 80's but has been done again since, but it is possible for me to know it's been colourised for inaccurate details in stuff. EG, Endora's costume is Purple/Green in the colourised prints (This is done to match up with the later episodes) but they actually filmed Seasons 1&2 it was just green. It's quite a well known fact amongst the fans. (I have archive 'colour' photograps from the set in various books). They make other mess ups as well but that just really obsessive stuff. I just like them in black & white because it’s how they were made and the colourised ones just look too bright and fake.

I dont think any 80's versions were shown in the UK.

But Granada+ aired all of Bewitched in colour a few years ago which is where I saw how the process had improved so much.

The recent jobs done on Its A Wonderful Life ,Babes In Toyland and the 3 Ray Harryhausen films are great and should go some way to removing the snobbery that some have towards the process.

Of course there are many films where the process is unsuitable

BTW did you get the Bewitched "making of" book?