How to go Region B with 3D in the US for around $140

[mar3o]

I see more people lately asking what their options are for importing 3D region-locked discs from the UK, since some 3D titles are not getting a US release. This guide will help you out hopefully. Of course if you aren't interested in 3D, this guide will still still help you get yourself a nice region B player working on your US TV in no time.

Thanks to GrouchoDis's thread that first put the idea in my head, I realized there was an alternative to having to buy a region-modded player in order to play region B discs. As long as you don't mind having 2 players (your current region A player and your new region B player), this will provide you the means to play all your region B discs, guaranteed! No worrying about some discs not working with the mod, or worrying about breaking the mod with an update (which does happen if you read the forums).

One of the most annoying aspects of looking in the region-free shops is not only the prices, but the ages of the players. Many of the region-modded players are older models, some ranging back to 2011. It's hard to find more recent players unless you're looking at an expensive Oppo which can be modded yourself easily with a dongle.

But can you buy a region B player from the UK that will work in the US? Thanks to GrouchoDis, I discovered the answer is YES! But you need to be sure of 2 things:

1) If your TV is like many US TVs, it can't display PAL. If it can't, you need to be sure the player can convert PAL>NTSC for playing PAL DVDs and PAL blu-ray extras.

2) You need to make sure the player can support 110v US power (most UK players won't - they're 220v)

So I looked at my options, did my research, and searched for a player on Amazon.co.uk. I needed 3D. I wanted a recent model player. Ideally I wanted a front display, though most US players no longer have them. 4k upscaling was desirable. It should have a USB port for media playback. And of course the most important requirement - the player needs to support converting between PAL<>NTSC, since my TV does not display 50Hz/PAL content. Could I find all this at an affordable price?

Yup! The "Panasonic DMP-BDT380EB 3D Smart Blu-Ray Player" was the solution to my region B problems. It featured all the above requirements. It's a recent 2016 model player. It's a snazzy looking player. And it's very similar to my Panasonic region A BDT460. That player is outstanding, so this player should perform similarly.

So what did I end up needing to purchase to make this work? Only two things:

1) The player: £83 ($112) shipped
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMP-BDT380EB-Smart-Blu-Ray-Player/dp/B01CEE1OYA/

2) A voltage transformer/converter: $25-$30
https://www.amazon.com/Dynastar-Converter-Transformer-Lifetime-5-Year-Warranty/dp/B00KAJ8KG2/
http://www.220-electronics.com/100-w...converter.html

The voltage transformer takes your 110v AC power and adapts it to 220v for the UK player. Just plug the UK player into the transformer, set the input switch to 110v, plug it into the wall socket, and turn the transformer on. The transformer I linked to is a high-quality transformer rated for sensitive electronics. It needs to be 3 times the wattage rating of the player to be safe - the Panasonic is rated at 18 watts, so the 100-watt transformer is fine. It's silent and fairly small so you can just hide it away behind something.

So I received the player today and I hooked it up to my LG TV, which can't display PAL. I then plugged it into my transformer, and powered it up. I turned on the player, and it immediately popped up the main menu, output as NTSC by default! I made sure the video output was set to 1080p, and enabled 24p playback. I then popped in a region-B-locked disc, and it immediately played the studio logo and went to the main menu. I then played some extras I know are in PAL, and sure enough it converted the PAL to NTSC and I was watching it on my LG!

So total cost of my region B player and the converter - around $140 shipped! $140 for guaranteed region B playback, including 3D and PAL>NTSC conversion. I see no reason why anybody would need an expensive, older-model player, unless they only have space or ports for a single player. I hope this helps some of you out who are in the same boat I have been in for the past couple months. Of course other players could also work out for you as well - just be sure it converts PAL to NTSC if your TV can't display PAL, and be sure to buy the transformer.

A couple quick notes - currently Amazon UK is out of stock on the player, so they link to 3rd party sellers that don't ship to the US. If you click under "other sellers on amazon", you'll see Amazon listed there. That's where you want to order - don't try to buy from a 3rd party because they won't ship to the US. Also, the 100-watt transformer is out of stock currently, as it's not even listed on Amazon now, but you can buy the 300-watt for $30, or buy the 100-watt directly from 220-electronics.

* The Panasonic player I linked to defaults to NTSC output out of the box. Pressing OK on the remote control for more than 5 seconds switches from PAL to NTSC or vice versa. If you just want it to convert PAL to NTSC you don't need to do anything - just play your discs!

[MarkBirds]

This is EXTREMELY helpful. Thanks for all the work you put into it.

I went ahead and ordered a modified player from 220 last week and it was delivered today. It cost slightly less than this set-up after a digital coupon, but I think I would have preferred a newer model that I could hook up to WiFi. 220 promises my player will work after firmware updates, but I'm not willing to take the chance, so I won't be connecting it to my home network.

There was a lot of information to be found in various places around the forum, and a lot of members are awesome and very willing to share their knowledge of this complicated stuff, but this post puts everything in one spot. Good stuff.

[cochon]

Originally Posted by MarkBirds

This is EXTREMELY helpful. Thanks for all the work you put into it.

I went ahead and ordered a modified player from 220 last week and it was delivered today. It cost slightly less than this set-up after a digital coupon, but I think I would have preferred a newer model that I could hook up to WiFi. 220 promises my player will work after firmware updates, but I'm not willing to take the chance, so I won't be connecting it to my home network.

There was a lot of information to be found in various places around the forum, and a lot of members are awesome and very willing to share their knowledge of this complicated stuff, but this post puts everything in one spot. Good stuff.

Sooner or later you might be forced to do an update due to the security keys needed to view the discs. As more new movies are released the more likely this will be the case.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by cochon

Sooner or later you might be forced to do an update due to the security keys needed to view the discs. As more new movies are released the more likely this will be the case.

Right. This is why I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on an old player. Older players are more likely to run into playback issues with newer discs due to security keys and lack of player updates. I felt upwards of $175-$200 to start was too much to spend on a player that is 4-5 years old already.

This is of course thanks to Hollywood making things more difficult for those of us who buy legitimate discs. Changing security keys do nothing to deter piracy but cause hassles for the rest of us. I had a cheap Seiki all-region player but I found it was not able to play some recent region B discs, likely for this reason.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

Honestly, you can mod a player yourself cheaper than you can buy a pre-modded one. It's not much soldering, and if you are not experienced at it, you can probably find a friend that is.

[mar3o]

But A) you risk damaging the unit and B) you will definitely void the warranty instantly. The Oppos are easy because you just need a dongle (at least for some of them?), but Oppos are crazy expensive. I did mod a DVD player ages ago - it required just soldering a bridge between two points - easy-peasy - but I'm not a great solderer, and I wouldn't want to take a chance these days with an expensive piece of hardware. Great if you know someone who can do it, but not everyone does.

Also, back to the fact that there's no guarantee a modded player will play all discs. And there's also the issue of updates possibly breaking the mod. For some players, updating through USB breaks the mod. That's especially problematic when you look at a player like the Sony X800 UHD player, which has issues updating over wi-fi or ethernet, leaving you with needing to update via USB.

Importing a true region-B player removes all those worries. And since region B is really the region most people will need to be able to play, having a region B player alongside their region A player will have them covered. Also, since their region B player will only get used for region B discs, it should live longer since it will get less wear and tear.

[Law212]

I wanted to play Region B 3D movies (Terminator 2 3D) so my solution was to buy an LG Blu ray Re-Writer with 3D playback for my PC for $69.99 ( I ended up buying two of them ) and installed it, installed Power DVD 17 and set the software to region B.

Boom , Region B capability for 70 dollars. No waiting as I didnt have to order online, I just bought in store which is 5 minutes from my house.

[Vilya]

I recently bought an Oppo 203 and that makes my old Oppo 93 the perfect guinea pig for the Oppo dongle doohickey thingy that makes it a region free player. The Oppo 93 has not received firmware updates in years, so there's no worry there with updates interfering with the dongle doohickey thingy.

I have heard only good things about this add-on device and I have heard that it even works fine with the new Oppo 203 model. It costs about $60, too, which is far less expensive than the idea of importing a region B player and a voltage converter.

I'm all for any ideas that keep 3D viable on home video. The dongle is the best solution in my case, if I ever get off my keister and buy it. I have three 3D titles from Amazon.uk arriving any day now, but they are all region free. It will be nice not to have to worry about this issue of region coding ever again.

Keep fighting the good fight there mar3o!

[GrouchoDis]

Thanks for the shout-out in the first message. I am very happy with how my region B player works.

Vilya- my 2D player with converter was $66; if you didn't need 3D, that's just a hair more than just the dongle for the Oppo.

Law212 - that's basically what I figure I'll do when I need 3D. In fact, that's what I was doing - I have HTPCs connected to my main living room TV and to my basement projector, but the basement one stutters playing blurays. I swapped in a more powerful PC but no different so I'm guessing the drive is not good, but a new drive ended up being nearly the cost of the entire region B player, and the user interface is appalling to say the least, and it's annoying that it doesn't just work with a standard Windows media center remote. Since my Region B player doesn't do 3D, that means getting that working if I want 3D on the projector. Ultimately, that's a lot of work for just Valerian, which is probably the only region B 3D disc I'll ever care about - actually, I'll probably just order the Chinese disc; I've just been dragging my feet.

One final note on the Panasonic vs the LG - one difference is that the power supply appears to completely be in the player itself; the power cord is just a single extender, as opposed to the LG which has a "wall wart" plug, I'm not sure if that's related to why it's got the wider power supply flexibility, since it works perfectly with just a plug converter, no voltage conversion necessary.

I imagine in a year or two, 4K players will have dropped enough in price that it may make more sense to import a full 4K UHD player that is region B, supports 3D, does the PAL conversion, and supports worldwide voltage. Now that we've identified good 2D and good 3D region B players to import, that's the next one to fine!

[Law212]

Yeah I was just looking for a blu ray writer so that I could copy terminator 2 and then strip the region coding from it... I was surprised to find a cheap player that did that AND had 3D playback. So i bought 2 because you never know.

I think as long as you have decent video card and a good drive , then you should be fine and not need to use a powerful PC. Though a decent amount of RAM helps

Anyway I just posted my method in case others are looking for a good and cheap way to be able to watch region B movies.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

Originally Posted by mar3o

But A) you risk damaging the unit and B) you will definitely void the warranty instantly. The Oppos are easy because you just need a dongle (at least for some of them?), but Oppos are crazy expensive. I did mod a DVD player ages ago - it required just soldering a bridge between two points - easy-peasy - but I'm not a great solderer, and I wouldn't want to take a chance these days with an expensive piece of hardware. Great if you know someone who can do it, but not everyone does.

Also, back to the fact that there's no guarantee a modded player will play all discs. And there's also the issue of updates possibly breaking the mod. For some players, updating through USB breaks the mod. That's especially problematic when you look at a player like the Sony X800 UHD player, which has issues updating over wi-fi or ethernet, leaving you with needing to update via USB.

Importing a true region-B player removes all those worries. And since region B is really the region most people will need to be able to play, having a region B player alongside their region A player will have them covered. Also, since their region B player will only get used for region B discs, it should live longer since it will get less wear and tear.

A modded player has no warranty from the manufacturer either way. I've had 3 players that I have modded and not one single issue. The place I get my chips from even alters the update location to look for new modded firmware from them instead of the manufacturer.

For the cost of what you can get a X800 modded right now, you can do it yourself and save $150 for example. This assumes you're buying a high end player even. If you're buying a throw away player, almost a worry free choice.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by SixSpeedSamurai

A modded player has no warranty from the manufacturer either way. I've had 3 players that I have modded and not one single issue. The place I get my chips from even alters the update location to look for new modded firmware from them instead of the manufacturer.

For the cost of what you can get a X800 modded right now, you can do it yourself and save $150 for example. This assumes you're buying a high end player even. If you're buying a throw away player, almost a worry free choice.

Oh, I agree. Once it's modded, the warranty is gone. One good thing about buying a modded player from a site like Bombay or 220 is they offer a good warranty of their own.

Importing a player from the UK should still have the warranty, since you're not modding it, unless I'm mistaken. Does importing it to another region void the warranty since it's not being used in the intended region? Does anyone know?

[GrouchoDis]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Oh, I agree. Once it's modded, the warranty is gone. One good thing about buying a modded player from a site like Bombay or 220 is they offer a good warranty of their own.

Importing a player from the UK should still have the warranty, since you're not modding it, unless I'm mistaken. Does importing it to another region void the warranty since it's not being used in the intended region? Does anyone know?

I'm not sure if the warranty is valid or not, but I can say that I was looking at shipping my first player back to Amazon UK (since I thought it was bad because my ebay power adapter wasn't working) and it was going to cost something like $46. I held off since it was going to cost so much (although Amazon UK said they'd reimburse the full cost) and once I got the replacement player and it did the same, I got the plug converter and found that both worked fine.

So, even if you are covered under warranty - it's going to cost a fortune to ship it back!

[TheScottyLee]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

The dongle for the 93 is the same one that works for the 203 so you could switch it down the line if you'd like.

There is a 15 of 75 Ebay code right now (today only -- see deals thread) so if you have anything else you could add to a purchase, you could get another 20% off

It’s time. I’m ready to purchase an oppo 203 to replace my Xbox one S. Other than the upgrade in quality, my motivation for the upgrade is the opportunity to play region free blurays. Huge 3D fan😎! As I understand it the 203 can be modded externally which is very appealing as it wouldn’t void the warranty and can be removed easily if needed. Is this the recommended method and if so where can I find the desired mod kit? Also, where is the best place to buy the actual player itself. Any information or help that I can receive with the purchasing of a 203 and the best mod kit available would be greatly appreciated or if you can direct me to a thread where this is discussed more extensively as I don’t want to be off topic. Thanks

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

Ebay is probably the most common place to get the Module.

A couple variations -- don't worry about the 103 label since the 93/103/203 all use the same module. You can get one specifically that say 203, but it's $30-50 more expensive. Make sure it does say external or ext/internal if you specifically want that install

https://www.ebay.com/itm/160942653070 (listed as best offer so you could try to get it a bit cheaper)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OPPO-DIGITA...T/121425458066



Personally I'd order the OPPO directly from OPPO though you could get it pretty much same price at Amazon.

I purchased my Oppo 203 at Amazon's website and it was actually sold and shipped by Oppo Digital. I had gift cards to burn, so that's why I bought mine at Amazon's website.

https://www.amazon.com/OPPO-UDP-203-...words=oppo+203

In checking the price against Oppo's website today, the Amazon listing is now $10 higher; that was not the case when I bought mine last month.

https://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-udp-203/

[RockyIII]

I bought my modded player from eBay and just arrived yesterday. I tested it out with UK Valerian and Germany Under the Skin and it works exactly the way it should. The seller was very professional and always replied in a very timely fashion.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using Tapatalk

[TheScottyLee]

Thanks For all the advice. I’m a Oled owner and my current UHD player (Xbox one S) has developed a serious handshake issue since the last FW update. It’s to the point of being unacceptable. Monday I’m going to contact oppo directly and order a 203. I will then pursue a mod kit via harisedon’s link provided and hopefully within the next 10 days I’ll be region free ready with the best UHD player available. Winning ��

[RockyIII]

Do all multisystem players support 50Hz?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using Tapatalk

[caligulathegod]

I've had good luck http://www.rattlebyte.com/Shop.php?lang=en with He sells mod chips for ~€49.00 ($58). You get the chip, wires, and firmware. If you have experience soldering, it's not too difficult. I modded two LG 3-D players. He supports Harman Kardon, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and Yamaha.
It took a week or two international shipping, but it was free (included in the price).

[mar3o]

The whole point of this thread though was for those that want to avoid modding. For $140 I have a new 2016 model Panasonic 3D player that plays all region B discs without any modding and no fear of updating firmware.