Bluray 480p PAL/NTSC issue

[Kyo28]

Hello everyone,

I have a region A player but sometimes buy region-free discs for region B (Europe)

However, I've noticed that menus or extras encoded in 480p PAL can't be played on a player with a different region (which happens to be NTSC).

The same problem occurs with DVD's: even though they are of the same regions (region 2), when they are encoded in PAL, my Japanese PS3 can't play them.

So a few questions in that regard, for the tech-savvy among you:

• Why can't BD's play both PAL and NTSC, as was the case with DVD's? Is this related to the upconversion?
• Can players get updated to play both PAL and NTSC, or will this be a permanent problem

Thanks in advance for any insights you can share on this matter.