All-Region DVD and Blu-ray Player Advice

[fdm]

Yeah that was a pretty good price. Usually all they do is just stick in (add to the player) one of the same hardware mod kits you could buy elsewhere yourself (pretty cheaply). Fairly simple to install it yourself if you want to open the player up, really really simple if you install it externally instead, but either way they, or you, are not actually changing any of the player's original hardware.

My external mod can also be installed internally, so you'd never know the difference between the two, they behave the same. But why bother going through all that when you can just stick it on the back in a couple minutes.

No difference regarding there being any firmware upgrade etc risks either, never had a problem or heard of any (with the mods out there I've seen recently).

(Some of the older (different/more complicated) mods used to have issues where you (or maybe it was actually someone else) would have to update the mod's firmware sometimes when the player's firmware was updated, but those were different animals, probably extinct by now. Fortunately I never had those kinds.)

[Zinoviev]

Does anyone know whether the Oppo 203 or any other unlockable BD players will play audio while fast-forwarding? My old (region-locked) Panasonic would play audio (and, if I recall, display subtitles) while watching video at 1.5x speed, and I really embraced this technique as a means to get through two-guys-talking-on-a-couch supplements a bit more quickly. The all-region Seiki, for all its virtues, won't play audio while fast forwarding.

[Murdoch]

So I bought a Seiki SR4KP1 but it's stretching films shot in Academy to 16:9. Under the Display Setting in the Setup menu the TV screen is set to 16:9 full (I'm using a 28 inch 16:9 computer monitor) and it won't let me change the setting. Anyone have a fix to this?

[fdm]

So a quick follow-up to the Oppo 203 and being able to use the Oppo 103 region free kit with it. I just tried it and it does work, so I would suspect they all do. The one I have I got from ebay a couple years ago was from seller avsdigital, never had a problem with it through many firmware updates and probably a similar number of region changes. Just plugged it in to the back.

[jedgeco]

I bit the bullet and bought the UDP-203. Plugged the external mod from my 103 into it, and region free works exactly the same, no muss, no fuss.

[jorencain]

I have the Toshiba BDX3300 blu-ray player, which is region-free. It has worked fine for me for several years, but a month or so ago it stopped recognizing discs when they are inserted. DVD or blu-ray, R1 or R2...it doesn't matter. I don't know whether a firmware update is the answer; all I can find online are firmware updates for BDX3300KU. Has anybody else encountered this issue? I don't have the money right now to buy another player, so I'm hoping this is fixable.

[MichaelB]

My Toshiba BDX1200 gave up the ghost in a similar fashion. I’d had it for years, so I assumed that I’d just worn it down.

[jorencain]

My Toshiba BDX1200 gave up the ghost in a similar fashion. I’d had it for years, so I assumed that I’d just worn it down.

Thanks. That’s probably the case for mine too, unfortunately.

[Michael Kerpan]

Different lasers for Blu-Ray and DVD (and yet another for CDs), I believe. So something fundamental would seem to have died.

[artfilmfan]

Different lasers for Blu-Ray and DVD (and yet another for CDs), I believe. So something fundamental would seem to have died.

... as time goes by.

[Askew]

I have the Toshiba BDX3300 blu-ray player, which is region-free. It has worked fine for me for several years, but a month or so ago it stopped recognizing discs when they are inserted. DVD or blu-ray, R1 or R2...it doesn't matter. I don't know whether a firmware update is the answer; all I can find online are firmware updates for BDX3300KU. Has anybody else encountered this issue? I don't have the money right now to buy another player, so I'm hoping this is fixable.

Have you tried cleaning the lens?

[jorencain]

I have the Toshiba BDX3300 blu-ray player, which is region-free. It has worked fine for me for several years, but a month or so ago it stopped recognizing discs when they are inserted. DVD or blu-ray, R1 or R2...it doesn't matter. I don't know whether a firmware update is the answer; all I can find online are firmware updates for BDX3300KU. Has anybody else encountered this issue? I don't have the money right now to buy another player, so I'm hoping this is fixable.

Have you tried cleaning the lens?

You mean...like blowing inside the tray opening, like I used to do with my Atari as a kid?

After trying that I took the top off of the player and cleaned what I could. It seems that the disc isn’t even spinning when I put it in. I don’t know if that’s the cause of the player not reading a disc, or a result of it not having read the disc. I think the diagnosis is that it’s just time for that big junkyard in the sky for the ol’ BDX3300.

[Askew]

You mean...like blowing inside the tray opening, like I used to do with my Atari as a kid?

After trying that I took the top off of the player and cleaned what I could. It seems that the disc isn’t even spinning when I put it in. I don’t know if that’s the cause of the player not reading a disc, or a result of it not having read the disc. I think the diagnosis is that it’s just time for that big junkyard in the sky for the ol’ BDX3300.

Chance are the reason why the player is not spinning, is because it cannot read the discs. Personally this happens about every six months to my Seiki player that I've had for the past eight years. When it starts acting up, I open the player and clean the lens with isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip. After cleaning the lens the player reads the discs just like when the player was brand new.

[Minkin]

Thanks Mfunk,

After all the bad press on the Insignia players and my fears over what firmware a new sherwood would have, I bought the LG that you linked - as a gift for my family. Should be a good Christmas.

So, my Sherwood finally died a while ago, and I've just gone without any region-free capability for about a year or so. Then I realized that my family never uses any Region B/2 discs, so I offered to trade them my working Region A blu player in exchange for the "hardware-unlocked LG BD630" that I bought them as a gift from Bombay Electronics.

The only issue: I can't get it to play any region B blurays! I was under the impression that it didn't require any codes or one didn't have to change anything in order to get other region discs to play. Bombay Electronics indicates that it should be fine through any firmware update, so I have no idea what could've happened to cause this issue. Did my family somehow un-enable region free capability? Wanting to check with others who own this to make sure it isn't a code one has to type in (akin to the Sherwood) - before I contact Bombay. Ugh.

Just checked - Region 2 DVDs do indeed work without changing anything + Region 1/A DVDs/Blus work... its just not Region B Blu-rays. There's an "area code" section on the menu, that some online reports indicated changing it to "GB/FR/DE/ etc" -but none of those do anything. There's no other setting anywhere that looks like it could have any impact (lest I want to set it back to factory settings). Its just weird, and I'm not sure why this is being such a pain! Anybody have any input?

[theflirtydozen]

I forget exactly what type of player I have from Bombay Electronics, but I know that to switch from Region A to B the player has to be off and the blue (or second colored) button on the remote needs to be held/pressed and then the player will turn on in Region B. Likewise, to go from B to A, the yellow (or first colored) button is held and then it boots in Region A. And I guess to get into Region C (though I've never done it), one would hold the red (or third colored) button. So I guess if that's how Bombay mods all their stuff try that?

[swo17]

It's not possible to set a BD player to play all discs. You can only set it to A, B, or C as needed. There's no option like 0 for DVD.

[mfunk9786]

Well, not with that attitude.

[DeprongMori]

I have an LG player from Bombay Electronics and confirm what theflirtydozen says above. Not sure about color of buttons, but I use “1” while shut down for preset before booting in “Region A”, “2” for “Region B”. It does require a reboot with each region change.

[FrauBlucher]

I also have the LG and it is 2 and blue while player is off to switch to region B.

[jindianajonz]

To answer the question that nobody is asking, the reason Blu-rays need to be manual switched is because of a change in the way regions were checked compared to DVDs.

In the DVD era, discs were coded to a region, and the player would ask the disc what region it was. If it was on the list of approved regions, it would play properly. Therefore it was possible to build a player that listed all possible regions as being valid.

With blu-rays, the region is stored on the player, and its the disc that asks the player what region it is. If the player sends the correct response, the disc will play, but if it sends the wrong response, the disc stops on an error screen. In this situation, it's impossible for the player to know what the "right" region is, so the user needs to manually input it somehow.

[Minkin]

Thanks everybody for assuring me that its not my fault, but I still can't get it to play a Region B disc.....

For reference, my remote has the following colors at the bottom (in this order):
Red, Green, Yellow, Blue

Here's the order of operations the player goes through:

Disc is already in the player (I've also tried this without a disc)
Power button pressed
Screen on front of player quickly displays the text "Hello"
TV screen has LG logo + has a pink loading bar go across the screen (sometimes this happens twice)
Brings me to the player's Home Menu screen
Player recognizes the disc
Play the disc
Region B error warning
--------------------------------
I am unable to start (turn on) the player with any but the following three buttons: power, open/close (disc tray), play button (also can't turn the player on with any of those three buttons if I'm holding another button as well). None of the colored buttons do anything to turn the player on. By the sounds of it, I should just press one of the colored buttons when the player is off, and that will turn it on with the correct region - but that is not happening here. Is there something I'm missing? Should the Area Code be changed? This is driving me batty, and I'm just annoyed that my family threw away the instruction manual without ever thinking it might be important.
-----------------
I then found these instructions elsewhere online:

1. Turn Player ON and open the tray
2. Once the tray is completely open and not moving, press a button on the remote to select regions.
Zone A: YELLOW
Zone B: BLUE
Zone C: RED

You can now put the disc in the tray and then close the tray.

^^Didn't work.
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Also saw mention of "putting player into standby + disable "quick launch /power off" - none of those are options on the player. Also saw a "press 2 and then power on" - but if the player is off, how will it receive inputs? Didn't work anyway. Is there ever supposed to be any visual cue at some point? I'm just now wondering if my relatives updated the firmware or goofed something up - and whether I'll need to send in the player (I suppose I could try the "reinstate factory settings option on the player).

Can anyone help?

[theflirtydozen]

None of the colored buttons do anything to turn the player on. By the sounds of it, I should just press one of the colored buttons when the player is off, and that will turn it on with the correct region - but that is not happening here. Is there something I'm missing?

Only extra advice I have is that I know I have to hold the colored button for a few seconds (as opposed to a quick click) and sometimes it doesn't recognize this on the first try. Hope you get it figured out!

[lefeufollet]

I have the LG 630 as well. The color buttons themselves will not turn on the device – while the unit is powered down (with or without a disc inside), press (and release – don't hold) the blue button and then press power. There's no clear indication anything has changed when you press the blue button, but once the unit powers on you should be able to play region B discs.

Hope this helps!

[DeprongMori]

Try the “1” and “2” buttons on the LG remote while the unit is powered down to switch between Region A and Region B. I never use the colored buttons and it works flawlessly for me.

[FrauBlucher]

Minkin, I had a problem at one point where I couldn't get my LG player to switch to region b. It was very perplexing. I thought maybe the player was malfunctioning.

I have my LG player sitting on top of a Sony region A player. I wanted to compare a region A and B disc. I had powered up the Sony and then did the region coding on the LG. It wouldn't take. I couldn't understand. I kept trying over and over again. Different variations. Then I turned off the Sony and tried it again, not thinking that that was the problem. And presto the LG region coding switched to B. I guess someone with more knowledge on how the sensors on the players work can give an explaination.