Region hack for Panasonic BD players?

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by TAC

What about Indicator and Second Sight? Thank you!

My region locked Indicator discs have worked fine. I only own a few Second Sight discs (specifically "A Hard Day's Night", "Scanners", and "Super Mario Bros") and they've worked but "Dawn of the Dead" is locked tight (though a user did post that at least the bonus disc can be accessed on an older Panasonic player with "functions" on the remote but I haven't tried it yet myself on my older Panasonic)

[Mike Flynn]

Been eyeing a Panasonic UHD player and wondering if this phenomenon depends on model. Or does that just break down to selection?

[notops]

Originally Posted by Mike Flynn

Been eyeing a Panasonic UHD player and wondering if this phenomenon depends on model. Or does that just break down to selection?

Not sure, but I have the UB820 and it works with almost all of my Region B Blu-Rays. So far the only one of mine that hasn't worked is 48 Hrs. from 84 Entertainment, but that disc has always been a problem for me.

[slyjai]

Originally Posted by HoNuts

I have a Panasonic DMP-BDT110 and it can play Region-B discs by doing a few different tricks. It won't play any PAL or 1080/50i content without modified firmware however. Here's the 3 methods that I've discovered so far:

Method 1 -

- Insert a disc and wait for the "Wrong Region" screen to appear
- Press the "Pop-Up Menu" button
- Disc should boot to the discs main menu or start playing the movie

Method 2 -

- Insert a disc and wait for the "Wrong Region" screen to appear
- Press Stop
- Press the "Pop-Up Menu" button (You may have to press this a few times)
- Disc should boot to the discs main menu or start playing the movie

Method 3 -

- Insert a disc and wait for the "Wrong Region" screen to appear
- Press Stop
- Press 1 and the number "1" should start blinking in the upper right corner. Press the "OK" button while 1 is blinking. You may have to try this a few times, as it usually doesn't work the first time. Try pressing OK on the first or second blink and it should work.
- Disc should boot to the discs main menu or start playing the movie

Many thanks, I used the following on my PanasonicDMP-BD655: I pressed Stop, then Pop-Up Menu, then Top Menu, the region B disc went straight to its' Menu, then I hit Play, without any issues!!!!

[Blu Titan]

Good info in this thread. I'll give it a try when I get home.

[GroovyKami]

Anybody test this with a dmp-bd89? I'm tempted to either buy a really cheap region b bluray to test this or bite the bullet and buy one I really want and hope for the best.

[kiyutgfg]

A slight addition if anyone makes it this far in the thread.
In my BDT167 That 70s show (mill creek region a) it’s a bit sneaky - the region Lock Screen blocks all button presses including stop.
However what you need to do is:
Turn on or insert disc
Wait for initial loading spinner
When the screen with a blue gradient and ‘loading’ bottom right - press Stop.
It will now say ‘Press play to resume’, press top menu instead.

[Hedrox]

Sony discs seem to be foolproof, tried every single trick using a Panasonic BDT168 on a region A disc of Talladega Nights. Once it gets to the "wrong region" screen, it blocks any commands except for "Home".

[movie fan2021]

Originally Posted by Hedrox

Sony discs seem to be foolproof, tried every single trick using a Panasonic BDT168 on a region A disc of Talladega Nights. Once it gets to the "wrong region" screen, it blocks any commands except for "Home".

what you need is called rattlebyte

[Trollibert]

Originally Posted by Hedrox

Sony discs seem to be foolproof, tried every single trick using a Panasonic BDT168 on a region A disc of Talladega Nights. Once it gets to the "wrong region" screen, it blocks any commands except for "Home".

Can confirm this for the US disc from "Dark Water" from Disney / Buena Vista / Touchstone as well. The region lock screen blocks all of my commands.

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by Trollibert

Can confirm this for the US disc from "Dark Water" from Disney / Buena Vista / Touchstone as well. The region lock screen blocks all of my commands.

Since you bumped this thread I can confirm the trick doesn't work for a few more studios: Paramount (tried Braveheart), Lionsgate (tried The Green Knight) and Decal Releasing (tried Titane).

So it's not very reliable... like, at all.

[popcorn-please]

Originally Posted by Hedrox

Since you bumped this thread I can confirm the trick doesn't work for a few more studios: Paramount (tried Braveheart), Lionsgate (tried The Green Knight) and Decal Releasing (tried Titane).

So it's not very reliable... like, at all.

Some people are happy to put a little bit of loose change ahead of the effort to maybe save that loose change.

Some people do not see the benefit of paying a little to save a lot

[RFK]

I was surprised that my Arrow region B Locked release of Day of the Jackal played fine with the menu trick on my recent Panasonic UB-820 player. I'll still stay with my two completely reliable modded oppo players for my region B titles though.

[Deadend45]

At $500USD the Panasonic UB-820 is not all that tempting.

[popcorn-please]

Originally Posted by Deadend45

At $500USD the Panasonic UB-820 is not all that tempting.

the panasonic 820 is very well thought of, have you read any reviews?

[drush9999]

I've only had my 820 a couple of months, but even though multi region modded, the top menu trick works great on a huge load of my region locked discs from certain boutique labels. Sometimes you need to press Top Menu twice after pressing stop.

[Deadend45]

Originally Posted by popcorn-please

the panasonic 820 is very well thought of, have you read any reviews?

Oh I am sure for people with money to burn its great but just for a remote trick its way overboard.

[ronand]

Originally Posted by Deadend45

Oh I am sure for people with money to burn its great but just for a remote trick its way overboard.

There's no need to get a UB820 if you think €350/$400 is out of your range. AFAIK most Panasonic bluray players support the region-free trick.

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by ronand

There's no need to get a UB820 if you think €350/$400 is out of your range. AFAIK most Panasonic bluray players support the region-free trick.

Pretty much, no player is worth buying just for the region trick. You're better off just getting a region free one directly.

As for the UB820, you buy it because it's one of the best players on the market, the region trick is just icing on the cake.

[ronand]

Yes agreed, the trick is just a bonus which may allow you to play SOME imported discs. I installed the rattlebyte mod in my 820 to make it all worthwhile.