How to decipher which "region free" works in 'Merica?

[polarisn1]

Hey everybody.

I quickly searched this forum, but couldn't come up with the information I needed.

Im looking at buying boxed blu ray sets in the UK for use in America. I am doing this because I went to school in the UK, and sold my textbooks for Amazon.co.uk credit. I am going back for graduation next week ( I live in Minnesota) and I recently purchased the sony BDP-S390 blu ray player and a samsung UN46EH6000 TV, and I thought I could use up the Amazon credit to buy blu ray movies over there and just bring them home with me.

I am looking at the "region free" videos of Transformers 1 and 3, X-men quadrilogy, American Pie 4 disk set, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 box set, Fast and Furious 5 disk set, and Harry Potter 8 film collection. All of these say region free, but over on the AVS forums people said that I need to look out for the discs being coded in 50fps instead of the 60fps that american technology uses.

Anyone experience this difference when buying region free discs from the UK for use in region A players? Some people cite that extras could be coded in the 50fps and therefore wont play on my american player.

How can I tell if I am truly buying a disc that everything will play on my player?

This sure is confusing if manufacturers are allowed to put "region free" on the disc if not all content will work in all areas?

Im sorry if this is a really noob question, but like I said, I tried to search with no luck.

Thanks!

[MifuneFan]

It's not 50fp and 60fps, but 50Hz and 60Hz. This is in relation to whether something is encoded in PAL (UK) or NTSC (N.A.) . I believe most, if not all region free movies from the major studios that are sold in the UK are not encoded in the PAL format and will play perfectly mine in US Blu-ray players (special features usually too I believe). TV shows are where most people run into problems, so the best thing to do is to ask about the individual titles, or check the region coding section in the database entries. All the movies and sets you mentioned should play fine on a US player.

I'm not super knowledgeable about this, so please correct me if I'm wrong about any/all of this.

[polarisn1]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It's not 50fp and 60fps, but 50Hz and 60Hz. This is in relation to whether something is encoded in NTSC (N.A.) or PAL (UK). I believe most, if not all region free movies from the major studios that are sold in the UK are not encoded in the PAL format and will play perfectly mine in US Blu-ray players (special features usually too I believe). TV shows are where most people run into problems, so the best thing to do is to ask about the individual titles, or check the region coding section in the database entries. All the movies and sets you mentioned should play fine on a US player.

I'm not super knowledgeable about this, so please correct me if I'm wrong about any/all of this.

ahh ok. It is all about the Hz. Makes sense. I too have heard that it is the BBC TV shows and such that are in the 50Hz and therefore a problem for the USA players.

What is the database entries you are talking about?

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by polarisn1

ahh ok. It is all about the Hz. Makes sense. I too have heard that it is the BBC TV shows and such that are in the 50Hz and therefore a problem for the USA players.

What is the database entries you are talking about?

This site's database. Like if you look at the first season of Sherlock (BBC), and go over to the region coding tab you'll see that it mentions member's playback issues because of the formatting:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Sherl.../#RegionCoding

Region coding

Region A (confirmed)
Region B (confirmed)
Region C (confirmed)

Comment: The set is region free, however the player must be able to handle 1080i/50Hz video to play the discs.

Comment: Region free, but as previous post states: 1080i/50Hz. This means that if you have a US model Sony flat panel or blu-ray player it will not play. It worked fine with my Panasonic plasma and I ended up have to use my region free player since my primary BD player is a North American Sony BDP-S570.

Comment: Region-free, but your player must be able to handle with the 50i spec.

That wont always be the case, but it may prove useful.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

It's probably safest to buy Disney, Sony, and Warner movies released within the past two years. That way, the Bonus Features tend to be in high def, too. Old Bonus Features encoded in PAL might not work here in the U.S.

[Nisei]

Originally Posted by polarisn1

I too have heard that it is the BBC TV shows and such that are in the 50Hz and therefore a problem for the USA players.

Well, actually it's not a problem for the players at all. It's American TVs that can't handle 50Hz signals. TVs for the European market can handle both 50 and 60Hz which is why it's way less trouble to play foreign titles. As long as they're region free (or you've got a region free player) you can be sure any disc will be playable.

[polarisn1]

Originally Posted by Nisei

Well, actually it's not a problem for the players at all. It's American TVs that can't handle 50Hz signals. TVs for the European market can handle both 50 and 60Hz which is why it's way less trouble to play foreign titles. As long as they're region free (or you've got a region free player) you can be sure any disc will be playable.

Perfect! That was what I was looking for... any region free blu ray will play in my US sony player. Thanks everyone!

[polarisn1]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

This site's database. Like if you look at the first season of Sherlock (BBC), and go over to the region coding tab you'll see that it mentions member's playback issues because of the formatting:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Sherl.../#RegionCoding



That wont always be the case, but it may prove useful.

Thank you. I finally found this database. But some of the titles I am looking at purchasing are not in this database. IS there any other way to check to make sure it is compatible?

[HyperRealist]

Originally Posted by polarisn1

Perfect! That was what I was looking for... any region free blu ray will play in my US sony player. Thanks everyone!

Well he is wrong. You probably can't play 1080i/50 discs even if they are region free. You are right to be concerned about 50hz but I doubt you have to worry about it with any of the titles you've listed.

[HyperRealist]

If it says 1080/50i you can't play it



Here is another database. IDK how up to date it is. Mouse over "note" to see if there is any problematic material.
http://bluray.liesinc.net/index.php?region=b

[Nisei]

Originally Posted by HyperRealist

Well he is wrong. You probably can't play 1080i/50 discs even if they are region free.

The fact that polarisn1 misinterpreted my explanation doesn't mean I'm wrong.
I was merely explaining as to to why some discs won't play on a US home theater setup. It's not the player that's the problem, it's the TV.
I'm sorry if my post confused things even more.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

Originally Posted by Nisei

The fact that polarisn1 misinterpreted my explanation doesn't mean I'm wrong.
I was merely explaining as to to why some discs won't play on a US home theater setup. It's not the player that's the problem, it's the TV.
I'm sorry if my post confused things even more.

In the OP's case his US Sony BDP-S390 is not capable of playing 50Hz material so it is not just the TV. The number of American BD-players capable of playing 50Hz material and/or converting to 60Hz aren't many.

[Nisei]

I'm sorry, you are right!
While there are many players which do play back 50Hz, there are also many that don't. I was always under the impression that it was only the TVs not being 50Hz capable. It still baffles me as to why they're not just making all these things the same. If they have to make a European 50/60Hz model, why not just sell it in the US as well? I can hardly imagine it's more expensive to produce.

[Jutty]

why dont you just buy what you can that you know for sure will work on the US. None of them have been TV series though.

Personally ,i have never run into his problem, and have bought alot of Bd's from amazon UK,,and if by some of chance i do get one that doesnt work,,ill just send it to my brother.

[polarisn1]

Originally Posted by HyperRealist

If it says 1080/50i you can't play it



Here is another database. IDK how up to date it is. Mouse over "note" to see if there is any problematic material.
http://bluray.liesinc.net/index.php?region=b

ok, now I see where the 50i comes into play in the disc explanation. I'll go look at the titles in my amazon.co.uk cart to see if they have this.

Originally Posted by Nisei

The fact that polarisn1 misinterpreted my explanation doesn't mean I'm wrong.
I was merely explaining as to to why some discs won't play on a US home theater setup. It's not the player that's the problem, it's the TV.
I'm sorry if my post confused things even more.

Hmm sorry if I did that.. How did I misinterpret your explanation?

Originally Posted by TheOneWithThePrize

In the OP's case his US Sony BDP-S390 is not capable of playing 50Hz material so it is not just the TV. The number of American BD-players capable of playing 50Hz material and/or converting to 60Hz aren't many.

Which players will play the American and European standard? Im more than willing to take this unit back to best buy for one that will play both standards.

Will my Samsung UN46EH6000 handle both standards? Or do I need a blu ray player that will convert the Euro standard into 'Merica's standard and send that to the TV? Im excited to know that I might be able to have my cake AND eat it too!

[manicsounds]

Search function reveals answers to which players can play/convert 50hz

[Canuck21]

Originally Posted by HyperRealist

If it says 1080/50i you can't play it



Here is another database. IDK how up to date it is. Mouse over "note" to see if there is any problematic material.
http://bluray.liesinc.net/index.php?region=b

Woow, I never noticed that. I have a BD with 1080/50i and everything plays fine. Is it because my player's (OPPO BDP-83) abily to play 50i? I thought that once it was region free, unless it was PAL, that I could play anything. I'm lucky I have a player that has that feature. I'll have to test my player in the basement to see if it plays 50i too.

[Adrock]

Originally Posted by Canuck21

Woow, I never noticed that. I have a BD with 1080/50i and everything plays fine. Is it because my player's (OPPO BDP-83) abily to play 50i? I thought that once it was region free, unless it was PAL, that I could play anything. I'm lucky I have a player that has that feature. I'll have to test my player in the basement to see if it plays 50i too.

Oppo players have a built in PAL > NTSC Converter, so they can handle both PAL, and NTSC material. This is one of the reasons they are such great players.

[HyperRealist]

Originally Posted by Canuck21

Woow, I never noticed that. I have a BD with 1080/50i and everything plays fine. Is it because my player's (OPPO BDP-83) abily to play 50i? I thought that once it was region free, unless it was PAL, that I could play anything. I'm lucky I have a player that has that feature. I'll have to test my player in the basement to see if it plays 50i too.

Oppo will play anything. They convert 50Hz content to 60Hz for HD and PAL to NTSC for SD.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Nisei

I'm sorry, you are right!
While there are many players which do play back 50Hz, there are also many that don't. I was always under the impression that it was only the TVs not being 50Hz capable. It still baffles me as to why they're not just making all these things the same. If they have to make a European 50/60Hz model, why not just sell it in the US as well? I can hardly imagine it's more expensive to produce.

I think one of the reasons why UK TV's and BD players can handle 60hz material is that Japan was region 2 for DVD's and a 60hz native country, so it's very lucky our UK players supported 60hz as mandatory (?), it's only been within the last ten years or so that our TV's more or less all support 60hz. A few CRT couldn't handle it and outputted black and white images if anything at all.

I guess as 50hz is a foreign frequency the US have no need to adopt it as standard. Although a few foreign manufacturers support both and produce players and TV's that can handle it.