How to decipher which "region free" works in 'Merica?

[polarisn1]

Hey everybody.

I quickly searched this forum, but couldn't come up with the information I needed.

Im looking at buying boxed blu ray sets in the UK for use in America. I am doing this because I went to school in the UK, and sold my textbooks for Amazon.co.uk credit. I am going back for graduation next week ( I live in Minnesota) and I recently purchased the sony BDP-S390 blu ray player and a samsung UN46EH6000 TV, and I thought I could use up the Amazon credit to buy blu ray movies over there and just bring them home with me.

I am looking at the "region free" videos of Transformers 1 and 3, X-men quadrilogy, American Pie 4 disk set, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 box set, Fast and Furious 5 disk set, and Harry Potter 8 film collection. All of these say region free, but over on the AVS forums people said that I need to look out for the discs being coded in 50fps instead of the 60fps that american technology uses.

Anyone experience this difference when buying region free discs from the UK for use in region A players? Some people cite that extras could be coded in the 50fps and therefore wont play on my american player.

How can I tell if I am truly buying a disc that everything will play on my player?

This sure is confusing if manufacturers are allowed to put "region free" on the disc if not all content will work in all areas?

Im sorry if this is a really noob question, but like I said, I tried to search with no luck.

Thanks!

[MifuneFan]

It's not 50fp and 60fps, but 50Hz and 60Hz. This is in relation to whether something is encoded in PAL (UK) or NTSC (N.A.) . I believe most, if not all region free movies from the major studios that are sold in the UK are not encoded in the PAL format and will play perfectly mine in US Blu-ray players (special features usually too I believe). TV shows are where most people run into problems, so the best thing to do is to ask about the individual titles, or check the region coding section in the database entries. All the movies and sets you mentioned should play fine on a US player.

I'm not super knowledgeable about this, so please correct me if I'm wrong about any/all of this.

[polarisn1]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It's not 50fp and 60fps, but 50Hz and 60Hz. This is in relation to whether something is encoded in NTSC (N.A.) or PAL (UK). I believe most, if not all region free movies from the major studios that are sold in the UK are not encoded in the PAL format and will play perfectly mine in US Blu-ray players (special features usually too I believe). TV shows are where most people run into problems, so the best thing to do is to ask about the individual titles, or check the region coding section in the database entries. All the movies and sets you mentioned should play fine on a US player.

I'm not super knowledgeable about this, so please correct me if I'm wrong about any/all of this.

ahh ok. It is all about the Hz. Makes sense. I too have heard that it is the BBC TV shows and such that are in the 50Hz and therefore a problem for the USA players.

What is the database entries you are talking about?

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by polarisn1

ahh ok. It is all about the Hz. Makes sense. I too have heard that it is the BBC TV shows and such that are in the 50Hz and therefore a problem for the USA players.

What is the database entries you are talking about?

This site's database. Like if you look at the first season of Sherlock (BBC), and go over to the region coding tab you'll see that it mentions member's playback issues because of the formatting:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Sherl.../#RegionCoding

Region coding

Region A (confirmed)
Region B (confirmed)
Region C (confirmed)

Comment: The set is region free, however the player must be able to handle 1080i/50Hz video to play the discs.

Comment: Region free, but as previous post states: 1080i/50Hz. This means that if you have a US model Sony flat panel or blu-ray player it will not play. It worked fine with my Panasonic plasma and I ended up have to use my region free player since my primary BD player is a North American Sony BDP-S570.

Comment: Region-free, but your player must be able to handle with the 50i spec.

That wont always be the case, but it may prove useful.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

It's probably safest to buy Disney, Sony, and Warner movies released within the past two years. That way, the Bonus Features tend to be in high def, too. Old Bonus Features encoded in PAL might not work here in the U.S.

[polarisn1]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

This site's database. Like if you look at the first season of Sherlock (BBC), and go over to the region coding tab you'll see that it mentions member's playback issues because of the formatting:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Sherl.../#RegionCoding



That wont always be the case, but it may prove useful.

Thank you. I finally found this database. But some of the titles I am looking at purchasing are not in this database. IS there any other way to check to make sure it is compatible?

[Nisei]

Originally Posted by polarisn1

I too have heard that it is the BBC TV shows and such that are in the 50Hz and therefore a problem for the USA players.

Well, actually it's not a problem for the players at all. It's American TVs that can't handle 50Hz signals. TVs for the European market can handle both 50 and 60Hz which is why it's way less trouble to play foreign titles. As long as they're region free (or you've got a region free player) you can be sure any disc will be playable.

[polarisn1]

Originally Posted by Nisei

Well, actually it's not a problem for the players at all. It's American TVs that can't handle 50Hz signals. TVs for the European market can handle both 50 and 60Hz which is why it's way less trouble to play foreign titles. As long as they're region free (or you've got a region free player) you can be sure any disc will be playable.

Perfect! That was what I was looking for... any region free blu ray will play in my US sony player. Thanks everyone!

[HyperRealist]

Originally Posted by polarisn1

Perfect! That was what I was looking for... any region free blu ray will play in my US sony player. Thanks everyone!

Well he is wrong. You probably can't play 1080i/50 discs even if they are region free. You are right to be concerned about 50hz but I doubt you have to worry about it with any of the titles you've listed.

[Rhoq]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It's not 50fp and 60fps, but 50Hz and 60Hz. This is in relation to whether something is encoded in PAL (UK) or NTSC (N.A.) . I believe most, if not all region free movies from the major studios that are sold in the UK are not encoded in the PAL format and will play perfectly mine in US Blu-ray players (special features usually too I believe). TV shows are where most people run into problems, so the best thing to do is to ask about the individual titles, or check the region coding section in the database entries. All the movies and sets you mentioned should play fine on a US player.

I'm not super knowledgeable about this, so please correct me if I'm wrong about any/all of this.

About a month ago I bought a Samsung BD-E5700 specifically for the region-free 50Hz Blu-ray discs from the UK.

Originally Posted by polarisn1

muchas gracias. Now Im trying to find a player that supports the 50hz internal conversion to 60hz, smart enabled, and can hack it to make it a region free DVD and blu ray player.

Looks like maybe the samsung BD-E5700ZA fits the bill?

reviews say that the samsung has "smart problems."

So which ones should I be looking at?

It plays 50Hz content without any problems (and they look great). The "Smart Features" are slow to start-up, but perform fine once they finally get going.