All-Region DVD and Blu-ray Player Advice

[manicsounds]

I'm now looking to get a Blu-ray Disc Recorder to record TV shows, but can't find much information on region free capabilities. Are there no region free standalone BD-recorders out there?

[manicsounds]

I'm also looking for reviews of Blu-ray Recorders, checked Cnet, AVSforum, etc, and there are no review sections for BD recorders.... why not?

Does anyone know a good website for BD recorder reviews?

[filmyfan]

Has anyone used Multi Region magic to purchase a MR BR player ?

[tojoed]

Has anyone used Multi Region magic to purchase a MR BR player ?

Yes, they are a top company, you can't go wrong. I believe Peerpee will bear me out on this.

[perkizitore]

UK folks, here is a 3D multi-region blu-ray player for £70 delivered.

[Bill Thompson]

Stupid question I know, but is the PS3 a region free player? I thought I heard it was for BD's, but I'm not sure if that's the case for DVDs.

[matrixschmatrix]

The US PS3 is absolutely not region free for anything. It won't even play region 0 DVDs if they're PAL encoded.

[Drucker]

The US PS3 is absolutely not region free for anything. It won't even play region 0 DVDs if they're PAL encoded.

I heard once actually that it was region free for VIDEO GAMES, but that only. I could be wrong.

Also, the XBOX 360 I've discovered is region free DVD (and even has played PAL), but there are only 3 display settings and none of them are the correct aspect ratio, so a lot of good that does!

[matrixschmatrix]

Yeah, I think that's true about games on the ps3, not that it helps much.

My Xbox will play PAL stuff, but it won't let me play anything region locked. Maybe it differs by model.

[mfunk9786]

The US PS3 is absolutely not region free for anything. It won't even play region 0 DVDs if they're PAL encoded.

I heard once actually that it was region free for VIDEO GAMES, but that only. I could be wrong.

Also, the XBOX 360 I've discovered is region free DVD (and even has played PAL), but there are only 3 display settings and none of them are the correct aspect ratio, so a lot of good that does!

Huh? I never had an issue with the Xbox 360's DVD playback.

[Drucker]

When I play a film on my XBOX 360, it only will show it full screen. It has three settings: native, stretch, and something else. Though two of them appear the same way.
Oddly, my video games (namely Halo, pretty much all I play...) play in a 1.33 aspect ratio with black bars on the sides and everything. So I don't know how to fix this.

[knives]

I forget how, but it does have a widescreen setting.

[swo17]

When I play a film on my XBOX 360, it only will show it full screen. It has three settings: native, stretch, and something else. Though two of them appear the same way.
Oddly, my video games (namely Halo, pretty much all I play...) play in a 1.33 aspect ratio with black bars on the sides and everything. So I don't know how to fix this.

Your TV will also have settings that adjust how the image is displayed. Try playing something you know is in widescreen under every possible combination of TV/player settings until you get one that works.

[David M.]

Also, the XBOX 360 I've discovered is region free DVD

No it isn't - unless it's changed with the new firmware update (and if that's the case, enjoy it before they notice!)

[Drucker]

My TV definitely plays things correctly (i'm currently watching my old Graduate DVD that's non-anamorphic and has the centered letterboxing and everything) but the XBOX definitely stretches out stuff full screen.

My buddy gave me his player last year before we moved out of living with each other. I haven't updated any sort of firmware since then...so I don't know how to explain it. But I assure you, Toni, Nosferatu, Faust...all those MoC's I own will play in my XBOX 360 but none of the picture settings I can achieve through the controller get it to display in the correct aspect ratio. (this isn't a big deal personally, as I just got my Oppo and my region free thing is in the mail)...but that's where it stands with my 360

[BigMack3000]

I use to have the same problem, but one of my games, I believe it was COD: MW2, had an option for fullscreen or widescreen. I chose widescreen and it fixed all my other games and dvds.

[manicsounds]

UK folks, here is a 3D multi-region blu-ray player for £70 delivered.

Where does it say multi-region?

[perkizitore]

It doesn't, but there is firmware for it on AVforums.

[MichaelB]

Presumably it's a similar situation to the BDX-1200 player (the fact that it's named BDX-3200 is a bit of a giveaway)...

...but it might be worth investigating to see if it has the same issues with occasional picture judder. Given that I only paid £50 for mine, I can live with it, especially as only a handful of discs are affected (and if they're Region B or region-free I can simply switch to my PS3), but if it has exactly the same software aside from the 3-D element there's a passing possibility that it may have the same problems.

[perkizitore]

My thoughts exactly, but I am willing to part with an extra £20 to make the player 'future-proof'. Also, maybe Toshiba provides a fix quicker for this player than the cheaper 2D player.

[manicsounds]

For those in Japan looking for a cheap region free player



From this unknown company 'Lookeast', this compact player is region free for blus and dvds. To change regions, press 'setup' on the remote, enter '8520' and you'll get the region change menu. DVD is already at '0' so it is region free already, but if you want to change the BD region, enter '1' for region A, '2' for region B, and '4' for region C.

I bought it for 7000 yen, using it as a spare.

[Gregory]

I usually find that it makes me nervous to buy Region B blu-rays, especially when there's a Region A alternative, because all-region blu-ray players have never been anywhere near as affordable or reliable as their DVD counterparts, so I worry about the impossibility (or at least major hassle) of playing Region B-locked discs in the future after the format goes extinct, unless I stockpile modified players in my basement new in their boxes. Does anyone else have this concern or am I being ridiculous?

[mfunk9786]

You could always ultimately have one shipped from the UK. There may be fewer and fewer Region Free players, but Region B players exist by the millions elsewhere.

[domino harvey]

Well, in general I always prefer R1/A versions when the difference is negligible for compatibility reasons-- hard to bring a movie over when your friend's system won't read it! But I wouldn't say I spend undue time fretting about the future of any given R2/B title

[mfunk9786]

Can I give a quick nod once more to the hardware modded players at http://www.bombayelectronics.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;? It's so nice to have a player I can connect to the internet and update the firmware on without fretting over losing Region Free capability.