Unlockable Region-Locked Blu-rays

[zbinks]

There are a growing number of Blu-Rays that are technically region-locked, but can be unlocked without the use of an all-region/region-free Blu-Ray player.

The purpose of this thread is to identify discs that can be unlocked and the method used to do so.

Not all methods will necessarily work on all Blu-Ray players so it will be very important to mention the make and model of the Blu-Ray player as well as the method used to unlock the disc. Feel free to mention any other relevant information, such as internet connection or if there are any portions of the disc are not playable after being unlocked.

Example:



This is a UK disc that is technically Region B-locked. This method works on my Region A-locked Sony BDP-S370. My player is not connected to the internet. When the "region-locked" screen appears, pressing the top menu button on your remote will bypass the region-lock. Note: Some extras on this disc are either SD-PAL or 1080/50i and are not playable on my Blu-Ray player.

Note: I'm not sure if there's a thread already for this. I did a brief check, but came up empty-handed. If there is an existing thread, please provide a link and I will ask this thread to be deleted and/or merged.

[Cortiz]

C'mon guys don't let this thread die! Keep the info coming

Anyone knows any tricks for a Sony player? My region A S790 did not work with the Top menu trick.

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

C'mon guys don't let this thread die! Keep the info coming

Anyone knows any tricks for a Sony player? My region A S790 did not work with the Top menu trick.

Which disc(s) did you try?

I'm waiting on copies of Zombie Flesh Eaters and Black Sabbath to see if they can be unlocked on my Sony BDP-S370 or not.

[Cortiz]

Originally Posted by zbinks

Which disc(s) did you try?

I'm waiting on copies of Zombie Flesh Eaters and Black Sabbath to see if they can be unlocked on my Sony BDP-S370 or not.

All my Arrow Region B locked:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Car
The Last American Virgin

No go on my Sony S790

By the way, I do have a region free player but would preffer to watch them on my S790

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

All my Arrow Region B locked:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Car
The Last American Virgin

No go on my Sony S790

By the way, I do have a region free player but would preffer to watch them on my S790

Does that player have Wi-Fi by any chance? I found this post on another forum, and thought it might apply to your situation.

Just to follow up, the menu trick does work to bypass the region coding. I watched Runaway Train last night. When the screen comes up that says "This disc is not playable in your region", just press STOP, then POP-UP MENU / TOP MENU. It'll take you right to the blu-ray's main menu. Watched the movie, all extras, everything worked perfectly. I haven't watched the Spider Baby disc yet, but it supposedly works on that one too.

The only catch is that it would not work on my Sony player with Wi-Fi. Since it's connected to the internet, when you press stop it brings up all these options for NetFlix, YouTube, Hulu, etc, so it isn't focused solely on the disc. But if you have a player where you press STOP and it just brings up the company logo or a blu-ray logo, then it should work.

[NoirFan]

I should be receiving Sullivan's Travels on Monday, so I'll test it upon arrival.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

C'mon guys don't let this thread die! Keep the info coming

Anyone knows any tricks for a Sony player? My region A S790 did not work with the Top menu trick.

Sony has been pretty stringent when it comes to locking down their hardware.

[avpjunkie]

I have a feeling that it's not that the particular blu-rays are unlockable, it just depends on the blu-ray player being able to play region locked discs.

I say this because I think that my region A Panasonic can play all/most region locked discs now (I can't test any more than what I own) using the "top menu" trick.

To zbinks, if what I suspect about my player is true, then you'll be listing every region disk outside of A, so you probably want to just list the Blu-ray players that the trick is working with instead of the individual films.

Just a thought.

[Lacenaire]

I have an old Samsung player and was able to watch Return of the Living Dead and Spider Baby on it by using the Menu trick (this was last year). A screen came up when the disc loaded saying "Region B only" or something along those lines, then you just hit Menu to bring you to the disc menu.

However, I now have a Sony player and tried to play Hellgate on it, and the player starts reading the disc, then returns you to the Home Screen (I have Hell Comes to Frogtown as well but didn't bother testing it since I assume the same thing will happen).

So my questions: On Hellgate and Hell Comes to Frogtown (or any of the other Arrows) are you supposed to see a screen come up saying "Region B only" like I described with my Samsung player.? Or is there a different trick with these titles? Does this "Region B only" screen not appear on Sony machines? Should I maybe bring out the old Samsung out of retirement?

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by Lacenaire

I have an old Samsung player and was able to watch Return of the Living Dead and Spider Baby on it by using the Menu trick (this was last year). A screen came up when the disc loaded saying "Region B only" or something along those lines, then you just hit Menu to bring you to the disc menu.

However, I now have a Sony player and tried to play Hellgate on it, and the player starts reading the disc, then returns you to the Home Screen (I have Hell Comes to Frogtown as well but didn't bother testing it since I assume the same thing will happen).

So my questions: On Hellgate and Hell Comes to Frogtown (or any of the other Arrows) are you supposed to see a screen come up saying "Region B only" like I described with my Samsung player.? Or is there a different trick with these titles? Does this "Region B only" screen not appear on Sony machines? Should I maybe bring out the old Samsung out of retirement?

The "top menu" trick for Return of the Living Dead does work on my Sony BDP-S370, but that doesn't involve the stop button or anything, just press "top menu" when the region warning comes up and the disc loads.

I'm still waiting on a couple of region-locked Arrow discs
to see if I can get beyond the region-locked screen or not. If I find that it doesn't work, I'll try to compile a list of players that may be compatible.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by avpjunkie

I have a feeling that it's not that the particular blu-rays are unlockable, it just depends on the blu-ray player being able to play region locked discs.

I say this because I think that my region A Panasonic can play all/most region locked discs now (I can't test any more than what I own) using the "top menu" trick.

To zbinks, if what I suspect about my player is true, then you'll be listing every region disk outside of A, so you probably want to just list the Blu-ray players that the trick is working with instead of the individual films.

Just a thought.

It's not that the player can play region locked discs but rather the Panasonic players allow you to get around the region locking mechanism easier where as other brands are thouroughly designed/tested to prevent such tricks.

[BluRoo98]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Sony has been pretty stringent when it comes to locking down their hardware.

I have 3 different Sony model players and the only region locked titles I own are Disney UK titles. I tried all the tricks this morning on my S790 and couldnt get it to work....anyone else figure it out on Disney./sony?

[JackForrester]

Thanks again for the heads up cakefactory.
Yeah, I'm pretty bummed most of the special features are SD/PAL. That sucks.
But that DVD was a nice find. Thanks for sharing

[NoirFan]

The 'More Brains!' doc is so extensive, exhaustive and well-made that it really does render all of the shorter featurettes redundant. It's basically the film's equivalent of Never Sleep Again, only it focuses on just the first film in the franchise.

[JackForrester]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

The 'More Brains!' doc is so extensive, exhaustive and well-made that it really does render all of the shorter featurettes redundant. It's basically the film's equivalent of Never Sleep Again, only it focuses on just the first film in the franchise.

I hear ya. Anyway, I'm craving the SS edition mainly because of the original audio. I tried to watch with the new audio and it's not the same.

[JackForrester]

Anyone tried these two yet?





I read on a review that all the special features on Blow Out are in SD, so if that works I guess it's pretty much just the movie

[cakefactory]

What review said the extras were in SD? This one says all extras are 1080P:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-r...ut_blu-ray.htm

It's pretty hard to get concrete info on the video format of extras, but that review is very definitive and states more than once that all extras are in 1080P, so you shouldn't have a problem with any of them. What review said they were in SD?

In my (somewhat limited, I have about 12 of their releases) experience with arrow the only extras that are ever unplayable are the ones on DVD (ex, "The Beyond" has an extra disc of extras that's a DVD instead of a bluray and I can't play anything on it even though it's region free). Their SD things on bluray seem to be in NTSC most of the time (ex, "I Vampiri" on the Black Sunday disc, various interviews on other discs).

[KillerJuan77]

Anyone has tried this with a PS3?

[JackForrester]

Anyone here ordered the Twin Peaks set? I heard a few people got audio sync issues on the deleted scenes. CBS replied that a firmware update would solve the problem, but to some people it didn't.

Anyone having audio issues with the Panasonic?

[Cortiz]

Anyone here owns any new Panny BD from this year, like the BDT360 and is able to play any region locked Blus using the top/pop up menu trick? Also, is any of these Panny players able to play PAL content?