Are external BD Drives region free?

[SwaggerJagger]

If I purchase an external BD drive will I be able to watch locked BD on my player? If I use it on VLC player? Please help.

[rdodolak]

You won't be able to out of the box if the titles are region locked.

[lilboyblu]

Are you just looking to play Region locked titles, or are you in the market for a hard drive? Sounds like you're just looking for a way to play other region discs. If so, there are a couple threads in the Blu-ray Players and Recorders sub-forum about cheap region free players. That may be a better option in your case considering that external drives are around the same price as those players.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by SwaggerJagger

If I purchase an external BD drive will I be able to watch locked BD on my player? If I use it on VLC player? Please help.

I'm not sure about VLC Player but something like AnyDVD HD will let you play multi-region BD's. I remember with DVD drives that you had the chance to go back and forth between regions 4-5 times. I'm not sure if this is the case with Blu-ray drives but it would be cheaper to buy an external drive and lock it to one region and have another drive to play your local region. I think AnyDVD HD is a little bit expensive but it's probably cheaper than some of the hardware alternatives.

I haven't heard any one say that you can change regions on a drive, so whether you could buy a drive from another region and use that I'm not sure. It would be worth exploring as I've seen drives at around the the thirty pounds mark.

[Mansinthe]

the drives are not region locked but the software you choose to play will be.
VLC does not work for blurays.. same with other freeware players. you will need something like power dvd ultra or WinDVD...

now you could 2 software players for Region A and B or you get the software from slysoft (anyhd dvd) thats able to unlock all blurays (and rip them to your hdd. but thats illegal)

[SwaggerJagger]

Okay, thanks.
Why doesn't VLC play Blu-Rays if they have a Blu-Ray play option?
Thanks for all the responses.

[Mansinthe]

VLC (and media player classic home cinema) do only play blurays (m2ts) files without copy protection and that hdpc crap. for that you need anyhd dvd from slysoft or a iso image of the bluray. but i think these players are not able to play the bluray with there menue..

[FilmFanSam]

are blu-ray drives any region for dvd?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by FilmFanSam

are blu-ray drives any region for dvd?

If they're like DVD drives they're not. Or rather the software you use (Windows Media Player, PowerDVD) only gives you so many chances to switch between regions.

VLC player can be a bit temperamental but it can play region locked discs without switching back and forth.

[alexpeden2000]

Just wondering what the simplest way (if there is one) is of getting my PC to play blu-rays from any region - ideally through vlc? Will Any DVD make this possible or is there other software someone can suggest?

Thanks