Bluray players and DVD regions

ilikedthecore

ilikedthecore

ilikedthecore

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Joined
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Location
Lincoln, UK
I know that Bluray players have their own region encoding system (A, B, C etc.) but are they also locked to the old DVD regions (1-6)? I still have quite a few region 1 dvd's in my collection so would I need to get a multiregion/chipped bluray player to play them? Thanks.
 
Yes they are, although it is possible to get hold of ones which are multi-region DVD (and single region BD) or multi-region both ... although the latter tends to add quite a price premium (like with the early days of multi-region DVDs).
 
Yes, they're still locked - pretty much across the board.

Before purchasing a player, check online as to whether your chosen model can be unlocked.

Mine can be made region free for DVDs (but not Blu-rays) using a specific model of the All-in-One remotes.
 
Mine is locked for Blu-Ray but the DVD has been unlocked (online retailer advertising the player as having the DVD unlock). For the former I just check which releases are region-free, as some things (Bug's Life, Watchmen: Ultimate Cut, Fifth Element) I don't think you can get in the UK.
 
I'd suggest checking out www.avforums.com and looking in the Blu-Ray player section. Most blu-Ray players can be unlocked in some way for DVD but region free Blu-ray usually needs a hardware hack (£££'s) or an oddball machine from a smaller supplier but is usually more expensive than a Sony, Samsung, Panasonic or equivalent. my Sony S350 is about two years old now, still does the business and can be unlocked for region free DVD playback using a 1-4-all remote or even a Nokia N95 but is hardware locked for Blu-Ray playback which I'm happy with.
 
ilikedthecore said:
I know that Bluray players have their own region encoding system (A, B, C etc.) but are they also locked to the old DVD regions (1-6)? I still have quite a few region 1 dvd's in my collection so would I need to get a multiregion/chipped bluray player to play them? Thanks.
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There's a place in Peterborough that have online sales! and not bad prices!!... Email in trust!!.. :)
 
Some places in the UK sell US BR players, i.e. LG 550 for £120, just get a step down convertor and you're sorted :) So basically you can have multi-region BR for £250 or less. Yes there's 2 boxes but it's still cheaper than getting most players modded.
 
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Do you really need multi-region blu-ray playback? There are very few region locked and only available in America discs out there. The main reason others get a player for multi-region Blu playback is because the features and cases often differ between the US and RotW releases and soem people like extras or steelbooks.
 
MissChief said:
Do you really need multi-region blu-ray playback? There are very few region locked and only available in America discs out there. The main reason others get a player for multi-region Blu playback is because the features and cases often differ between the US and RotW releases and soem people like extras or steelbooks.
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Define 'very few'. I see rather a lot of red on this site: http://www.blurayregioncodes.com/
 
Simian said:
There's a place in Peterborough that have online sales! and not bad prices!!... Email in trust!!.. :)
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That's probably the place where I got my players from :) Had my original multi-region DVD player (Pioneer 717) from them back when players needed to be hardware modded even for multi-region DVD playback.

MissChief said:
Do you really need multi-region blu-ray playback? There are very few region locked and only available in America discs out there. The main reason others get a player for multi-region Blu playback is because the features and cases often differ between the US and RotW releases and soem people like extras or steelbooks.
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American is not the only source of Region A disks though. I have Region A (and locked) Japanese disks, with English subs, in my collection as well and the site given above does not even list some of the locked US disks I have, (which are not available over here). So yes I need multi-region blu-ray playback.

Yes I could have got a separate Region A player ... but that would mean having four blu-ray players instead of two, plus two step-down transformers.
 
MissChief said:
yes there may be a lot of Red on that list, but the majority of films in red have also been released in the UK and are available. The number of Region locked discs that aren't also available in the UK is relatively low.
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But not necessarily with the same transfer, same sound, same extras etc.

...and as memyselfandi said, the US isn't the only Region A area.
 
That's also true. I guess you have to weigh up paying more for your player and then possibly paying more for your discs just to get some extras not on the Uk disc (which often has extras not on the US disc) compared to the Uk price. If you think it's worth it then there's very little I can do to change that!
 
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