US Blu-ray players and 50hz compatibility

[TheLastGenius]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

This is a thread to list all US Blu-ray players and whether they are compatible with 50hz Blu-ray content (eg. 25p/50i/50p). Usually this means 1080/50i, which could contain either 50i interlaced content or 25p progressive content.

All European Blu-ray players are obviously compatible.


US Blu-ray Players compatible with 50hz content:

LG BH200 [Outputs 50hz content at 50hz]
Momitsu BDP-899
Oppo BDP-83
Panasonic DMP-BD30 prior to firmware 1.6
Samsung BD-P1000
Samsung BD-P1200
Samsung BD-P1400
Samsung PD-P1500 [Outputs 50hz content at 60hz]
Samsung PD-P1600 [Outputs 50hz content at 60hz]
Samsung BD-P2550 [Outputs 50hz content at 60hz]

Note: You might need a 50hz compatible display to play back 50hz content with some of the above US players, though some of them convert the content to another frame rate (eg. 60hz).

US Blu-ray Players NOT compatible with 50hz content:

Panasonic DMP-BD30 with firmware 1.6 or later
Sony BD-S350
Sony Playstation 3


If you know of an error with this list or to add to the list, please post in this thread.

Anyway around the PS3 limitation? Got ANtichrist BUT ONLY the Trailers are in PAL 50. ANy way to start it so it automatically goes to the main menu?

[Blacklac]

Pioneer 05 and 51 will output 50hz and also upconvert 50hz. I don't know about other Pioneer units, but I would assume so.

[Atlantic]

Does the 50hz to 60hz conversion for Samsung players only apply to those sold in Region B or does it apply to Region A (specifically the U.S.) as well?

Second, is there a list/link for U.S. Blu-ray players that reliably play multi/no region Blu-ray discs without trouble? (For example, it's my understanding that the PS3 refuses to read any disc with PAL content even if the film itself is region-free 1080P.)

Thanks in advance for the info.

[Clark Kent]

It would be great if this list was actively maintained and made a sticky. There are many European imports that are region-free that do not play in the U.S. on most players because of the decision to leave the video in 1080i/50 Hz format.

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

It would be great if this list was actively maintained and made a sticky. There are many European imports that are region-free that do not play in the U.S. on most players because of the decision to leave the video in 1080i/50 Hz format.

I try to actively maintain it . As soon as I see someone's posts here about a US BD player that does or doesn't work with 50hz, or posts an update/correction I update the list. If I read about about another US player working/not working with 50hz in another thread/somewhere else on the web I will update the list.

edit: Though it looks like I missed a few posts above. Sorry about that. I will add those to the list.

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by Atlantic

Does the 50hz to 60hz conversion for Samsung players only apply to those sold in Region B or does it apply to Region A (specifically the U.S.) as well?

Thanks in advance for the info.

The European Samsung Blu-ray players output content at whatever rate they are encoded at. eg. 50hz content gets output at 50hz, 60hz content gets output at 60hz, 24hz content gets output at 24hz if you have 24hz output enabled in the player (for if you have a 24p compatible TV).

The US Samsung players do the same as the above except for any 50hz content on the Blu-ray disc, they output it in 60hz instead of 50hz.

Second, is there a list/link for U.S. Blu-ray players that reliably play multi/no region Blu-ray discs without trouble? (For example, it's my understanding that the PS3 refuses to read any disc with PAL content even if the film itself is region-free 1080P.)

I don't know of a list of multi-region US players that would play a disc coded only for regions other than A.

But this list is for the "PAL" (ie. 50Hz) content.

The US PS3 (and other players listed in the "don't work" section of the list above) won't play discs encoded as region free (eg. ABC) but are at 50hz. But PS3s using the most recent firmware are supposed to be able to skip 50hz content so that you should be able to play the 24p content if there is any on the disc. Though this doesn't help the people who want to watch the 50hz Blu-ray content, particularly if the entire disc is encoded at 50hz (which is the correct rate for a lot of European content).

People with US PS3s (or other Sony players) who want to watch region free discs released in Europe (or other places where 50hz is used) or stuff shot at the correct speed, could ask Sony to release a firmware update to support it (especially since it is part of the Blu-ray spec). Same thing for Panasonic. Then practically all Blu-ray players should be compatible.

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by Blacklac

Pioneer 05 and 51 will output 50hz and also upconvert 50hz. I don't know about other Pioneer units, but I would assume so.

Thanks. So for these US Pioneer players, if there is 50hz content on the disc, do they:

1) Always output the 50hz content at 50hz
2) Convert any 50hz content to 60hz and output at 60hz
3) Give the option to output 50hz content at either 50hz or 60hz

[Blacklac]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Thanks. So for these US Pioneer players, if there is 50hz content on the disc, do they:

1) Always output the 50hz content at 50hz
2) Convert any 50hz content to 60hz and output at 60hz
3) Give the option to output 50hz content at either 50hz or 60hz

To my knowledge, when you insert a PAL disc, all the available resolutions then switch to PAL formats. I do not believe the Pioneer units can convert 50hz to 60hz.

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by Blacklac

To my knowledge, when you insert a PAL disc, all the available resolutions then switch to PAL formats. I do not believe the Pioneer units can convert 50hz to 60hz.

Thanks.

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by nikole.957

Now, I know that the US PS3 won't play 50hz content. When I stick one of the discs in all that comes up is a blank screen. No message that it's region-locked, etc. Does that mean the disc is 50hz and can't be played on the PS3? Should I look into getting a standalone Samsung player? Or could it be that this release is actually region-locked and therefore I just flushed some money down the drain and I should stop before I go out and buy a standalone player thus flushing some more down the drain

The blank screen sounds like a 50Hz disc. If it was region locked and not 50Hz, I'd expect it would show a "region locked" type message.

Is it a European title? If so, it could be 50Hz - you could check by looking at the "movies" section (assuming it's resolution setting in the database has been set correctly - they automatically put 1080p next to a new title if they don't know the actual resolution).

You could check out this list: https://forum.blu-ray.com/blu-ray-mo...ay-thread.html
Or check the other movie forum sections in this or other sites which could say what it is encoded at - or a web search for that title and 50i may find it.

If it's a UK/European TV programme it could well be 50i (since that is the proper format for those).

Should I look into getting a standalone Samsung player?

If you want a 50Hz compatible player, you could, yes. Though you could check some of the other compatible players too (eg. Oppo might be better).

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by TheLastGenius

Anyway around the PS3 limitation? Got ANtichrist BUT ONLY the Trailers are in PAL 50. ANy way to start it so it automatically goes to the main menu?

Do you have PS3 firmware version 3.0 or higher? If not try updating to the latest firmware. According to Penton-Man, the PS3 firmware version 3.0 skips any 50hz content (though this won't help for discs that are correctly encoded entirely 50hz, or if you wanted to watch any of the 50hz content on a disc that also had 24p content.).