Will your imports play in your current player?

[AnimeOnBlu]

US extras (that are in SD) are always 480 i/p. Many European releases from smaller distributors use 576 i/p. However, the major studios (Paramount, Warner, Fox, etc) usually use 480 i/p. Most US players will not output PAL SD and most TVs won't accept the PAL signal even if the player can output PAL SD. European TVs and Players can handle both PAL and NTSC extras.

[toddly6666]

Sherwood 5004 player:

Amelie (Australia), Lucky Luke (France), Bugsy Malone (UK) all play fine.

[aeric_7734]

I don't have an all region player, but I do have quite a few region free titles imported from Amazon in France and the UK. I've seen a couple sites specializing in region free players, but they seem expensive and from what I can tell simply feature a mod chip to hardware I can just as easily pick up at Best Buy. Was thinking that an easy solution would simply be to import a standalone player from Amazon UK, or Amazon France and run it through a voltage converter for 110 volts. My only real hesitation is that my television be able to accept a PAL signal. I have a region free SD DVD player that will play any region of regular DVD just fine, and I have a lot of them imported from all over the place. Am I wrong in thinking that most modern HD TV's should be able to accept a PAL signal without a converter just fine? Otherwise, if someone wouldn't mind throwing up a source for a legit blu-ray player that will play A, B, and C region blu's, that would be awesome as well!

[RickWJ324]

I live in the US and have found myself importing a lot of blu-rays from various countries, all of which are US MADE films!! It's annoying to have to go to other countries to buy US films.

Most of the imports I've purchased have been Region Free, though there are a few that have not been. If I can buy them cheap enough, I will purchase them, and burn them to a BD-R that's region-free. NO... I'm not condoning piracy.. these are only done with movies that I've already purchased and still own. Unfortunately my PS3 and two standalone Sony BD players are NOT region-free, so this is the only way I can watch movies like the Scream Trilogy, Solomon Kane, and a few others that I've purchased.

--Rick

[Goldengirl]

that they distribute. I was specifically asking about The Lost Prince and the upcoming August 23rd release of Little Dorrit. They told me that all 2 Entertain BBC Blu Rays are region free. I went ahead and ordered The Lost Prince and it looks beautiful in my Sony S550. But someone on Amazon said that Return to Cranford doesn't play in his player, so I don't know how accurate the response to my email is.

[fredefred]

is it cheating if i buy normal dvd steelbooks and replace the discs with bluray ones.it works out a lot cheaper and if i keep the amaray cases. i can always put them back if i dont want to sell them i can build up a great collection of steelbooks for a fraction of the price.

[RebelWaltz]

Hi guys,

I've just experienced the same problem. I'm in Australia, and just received a Criterion Edition of The Thin Red Line on Blu-ray, and my Panny wouldn't play it.

My retailer is going to ask the geeks at his work for a hack, he's not 100% sure either?

Otherwise I've been advised that you can contact Panasonic and they can give you a code? But it will cost you.

Generally everyone reckons it is hard to do or near impossible at this stage.

ANyone anywhere have any answers or solutions please?

Regards

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by RebelWaltz

Hi guys,

I've just experienced the same problem. I'm in Australia, and just received a Criterion Edition of The Thin Red Line on Blu-ray, and my Panny wouldn't play it.

My retailer is going to ask the geeks at his work for a hack, he's not 100% sure either?

Otherwise I've been advised that you can contact Panasonic and they can give you a code? But it will cost you.

Generally everyone reckons it is hard to do or near impossible at this stage.

ANyone anywhere have any answers or solutions please?

Regards

You'll need to get the player modded.

Until then, you can always check the movie profiles and this forum on blu-ray.com or the following site for to see if a specific title is region locked or not.

http://bluray.liesinc.net/


I doubt Panasonic would be willing to give you a code, even for money, since it's against the BDA license. All mods are third-party solutions.

[BohemianGraham]

I've just started importing from the UK for BDs. I had a few PAL DVDs floating around, but my old LG DVD player played them (thing still works after 5 years of wear and tear). My primary machine, a Panasonic DMP-BD65 is region A locked, and won't play PAL DVDs. However, I bought the cheap Seiki-BD660 specifically for Region B/PAL films. I'm hoping to start importing more if the exchange rate stays decent, the stupid Postal Issues straighten themselves out here in Canada, and if the prices are cheaper than the NA one.

[dan21]

I bought my region free player from eBay, has worked for all region A blu-rays I own so far. There are websites dedicated to this stuff where you can purchase modified players or the necessary modifications for your existing player

[Old Geezer]

I bought a LG BD550 code free multi-region player from Amazon.com about a month ago. I've only played a few region 2 blu's so far but it's played everything flawlessly and the audio and video quality has been awesome. Very easy to change regions for blu-ray and all DVDs will play with no changes in settings necessary.

[Nisei]

Originally Posted by RickWJ324

I will purchase them, and burn them to a BD-R that's region-free. NO... I'm not condoning piracy.. these are only done with movies that I've already purchased and still own. Unfortunately my PS3 and two standalone Sony BD players are NOT region-free, so this is the only way I can watch movies like the Scream Trilogy, Solomon Kane, and a few others that I've purchased.

Why not spend a few tenners on a region free player?
BD-R 50 discs are still very expensive and since you're not condoning piracy you had to buy either AnyDVD or DVDFab which cost around $150
You could have bought a nice region free player for that money.

[corneliulia]

Simply use our links when shopping

[SwaggerJagger]

I have a few imported Blu-Ray. Currently have one on the way, worried it won't work tho. Could not find anywhere if it was free or locked - the back cover didn't say anything, but with my luck - it'll be locked.

[marblearch]

As well as many of the Criterion titles the following Region A locked titles will play on a region B Panasonic BD30 player via various button combinations on the remote control to get the player to stop and not display the region coding screen message. The Mill Creek and Echo Bridge discs time out the region coding screen after a few seconds- then the movies can be accessed.

The Cell
15 Minutes
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The Edge
Blood Simple
Apt Pupil
Sleepwalkers
Book of Blood
Blindness
They/Cursed
The Night Listener/Shadow of a Doubt
The Replacement Killers/Truth or Consequences N.M

[Hintermann]

I have a few US imports that were listed as "Region Free" and so far all of them ha played on my Panasonic DMP BD-65. I have installed all 3 upgrades available from their website.

I also have a couple of Indian BDs that the seller swore were Region Free although the cover did not specify this. They played without any hitch too.

[bfett9]

Question about Disney movies from the UK

on Zavvi alot of them are listed as Reegion B, whereas amazon UK often lists them as All regions.

I've been burned by Amazon UK before got sherlock series one and it ended up being only for 50 hz players.

I am currently looking at several disney movies like monster's inc, and Toy story trilogy. Zavvi says b whereas amazon uk says all or region free, just trying to get a handle, also wondering if it is the same for Marvel movies like Iron Man 3.

[dirtrun]

Hi,

There is a site - bluraylies.net or something like that , that is very reliable - AMZ.UK's product page is fairly unreliable.. Uhm, rule of thumb is tat if you cannot confirm that it is region free , then dont buy it - just yet..

For me, l went and got an oppo bdp80 which is region 'switchable' - solves this problem..

D

[hockeyshark91]

I've bought a few region B locked titles and got them to work fine on my region A only, player. I use the "top menu" workaround. Some of the most recent purchases of B locked movies that have worked are The Loved Ones (UK), Hours (Dutch), '71 (UK) and Australia (France digibook). Out of about 75 B locked titles I've bought, I'd say around 6 or 7 have not worked at all.

[rallymonkey]

I bought a kit to convert my Oppo 83 to region-free. I import a lot of discs from UK, Australia, Germany, etc. Several discs that are listed Region B will actually play on Region A players. I always test a disc on Region A just to see if it will work without having to switch the region. I always update the region compatibility of the disc on this site so others can decide if they want to import. Of course importing so many B-locked discs means I will always have to have a region-free player when purchasing a new player. If others on this site will update the region coding tabs for each movie then that will help when the retailers don't always have the accurate compatibility listed.