4k & Blu-Ray Players in Canada for BOTH Regions A1 and B2

[Tembo]

Hello fellow Canadians!

After being "in" the Blu-Ray forum for a little time I have just discovered this section. Because of that I am duplicating part of a post I have made in the regular forum so that it may be of heelp to interested Canadians.

Before Christmas we were looking to replace our ancient Yamaha DVD player (12 years old and no HDMI!)

We came across a good deal on amazon.ca where Sony's new 4K machine UBP-X800 was on sale for $199. Grabbed this while it was still on sale and changed our plans to buy one of those region-free deals.

Because we collect lots of Region 2 DVDs from Europe and wanted to be able also to play Region "B" Blu-Rays we started looking for alternatives. Our total budget had been C$400 so we were half gone!

A lot of research told us that players in Europe are both NTSC and PAL. More research led us to the fact that many Sony players sold in Europe operate from 12volt DC transformer.

At the end of January we bought a Sony BDP-6700 on amazon.eu for Eur124, including shipping, handling and customs clearance in Canada.

It was delivered this week and plays in Canada almost right out of the box!
If anyone needs the ability to play European discs this actually ends up being cheaper than buying a similar region-free model in Canada!

Here is an extract from my posting:


"The easiest way to go Region "B" and "2" in Canada!"

Having just bought Sony's new 4K-UHD UBP-X800 player for half-price before Christmas we were looking for some alternatives to one of the "multi-region / region free" mods offered by some sellers. In particular we weren't crazy about having manufacturers' warranties voided nor having to go some convoluted way of pressing buttons to play certain discs.

We discovered that quite a few Sony BDPs actually work off 12v DC, powered by an (included) power transformer. Further research provided the info that the same models sold in numerous countries and all use the exact same step-down 100-240v ac transformer (to provide 12vdc) model L1210WW (world wide!) with a separate detached plug cord to match the service in each specific country. Only in Canada and the US is there a different transformer M1210UC (UC=US/Can) and only 110-120v rating.

We have just received our Sony BDP6700 from Europe and can confirm that it plugs in and works perfectly straight out of the box, except that we used an old Sony cassette player power cord from wall to the L1210WW transformer.

We actually received this February 7th, just a week after placing the order with amazon in Europe. We've already played a couple of "B" Blu-Rays that we could not previously play, as well as a Roger Whittaker PAL2 DVD that our Sony X800 rejected.

Total cost was 124 Euros, about $190 Canadian for the BDP-S6700..

So for about $400 Cdn we ended up with both a Region A1 Sony UBP-X800 and Region B2 Sony BDP-S6700.

To answer the unanswered question, yes, there is a potential remote control conflict with the two Sony's. However, since both are fed through a wall-mounted Tripp-Lite surge protector with individually switched outlets and only one BDP is activated at a time, no problem!