Unlockable Region A discs Panasonic blu ray player

[marblearch]

Kept my old Panasonic BD-30 player as the remote control fix can unlock some region A locked discs. The Criterion thread on the UK/Ireland forum first alerted me to this function on Panasonic players and most Criterion discs appear to work.

Not all discs work but discs that I have tested that work are

Olive Films - Up The Junction ( press Function , Top Menu)
Fox/MGM - AVP Requiem, The Edge, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Blood Simple, Wrong Turn 3 ( press Function, Top Menu)
Mill Creek Double Features - In The Cut/Trapped, Hollow Man/Hollow Man 2, The Replacement Killers/Truth Or Consequences N.M., Physical Evidence/The Anderson Tapes, Anatomy/Anatomy 2, When A Stranger Calls/Happy Birthday To Me ( press Function , Top Menu)
Kino Lorber - True Confessions, Married To The Mob, Mulholland Falls, The Package, Across 110th Street ( press Function, Top Menu)
Alliance - 15 Minutes , The Cell ( caution The Cell is the cut version) ( press Function , 1, enter)
Anchor Bay - The Star Chamber, Best Laid Plans ( press Function, 4, enter)
Image - Stir Crazy, Apt Pupil, Sleepwalkers, See No Evil Hear No Evil, Nowhere To Run ( press Function , Top Menu)
Echo Bridge Double Features - They/Cursed, The Night Listener/Benefit of the Doubt (press Function, 2, enter)


Discs that did not work - The Lookout, Absence Of Malice, Dead Girl, Jade -
Shout titles also do not work

[gitsurfer]

Works: Criterion: Godzilla, I Married a Witch, The Life Aquatic, Rosemary's Baby, The Royal Tenenbaums

Doesn't work: Kraken Releasing: Godzilla vs The Sea Monster

[Kuros]

Thank you for informing us. We'll make sure we region lock all further releases properly, from now on.

[eddyw78]

Come on guys, anyone else with any definate working titles with this trick please list them. I'm sure there must be more especially from the likes of Kino or Olive. Shame about Shout! though. I also found that stopping the BD completely then pressing '1' followed by OK also worked. I have only one locked title which is When A Stranger Calls/Happy Birthday To Me. Interesting thread lets keep it alive.

[Dickieduvet]

Several Shout Factory discs that work with Stop, Top Menu

Humanoids From The Deep
Galaxy Of Terror
Battle Beyond The Stars (stop, then 8)

Others that work:

Magic
Grand Duel/Keoma
Cold Mountain (Alliance)
Videodrome (Criterion)
America: Lost & Found Boxset (Criterion)
Badlands (Criterion)

[marblearch]

Originally Posted by Kuros

Thank you for informing us. We'll make sure we region lock all further releases properly, from now on.

Some of those distributors have released a lot of discs labelled region A which are region free and play without the need for a remote fix.
Shocking isn't it. They must be so annoyed with the prospect of selling more copies.

[ravenus]

^They're usually contractually obliged by the rights-holders to region-lock their releases, so that the owners can separately sell rights for different territories. If they don't do so they could be open for legal damages.

[marblearch]

Originally Posted by ravenus

^They're usually contractually obliged by the rights-holders to region-lock their releases, so that the owners can separately sell rights for different territories. If they don't do so they could be open for legal damages.

Sony lease out titles to Mill Creek who lock the discs and other titles to Twilight Time who don't - Then Fox with global rights will lock a title

Not a consistent approach. I'm not a lawyer but a consumer - the more titles I can play the better

[malcy30]

Originally Posted by marblearch

Sony lease out titles to Mill Creek who lock the discs and other titles to Twilight Time who don't - Then Fox with global rights will lock a title

Not a consistent approach. I'm not a lawyer but a consumer - the more titles I can play the better

MGM also act strangely in that again they allow TT to release their titles region free but when others licence them like Kino in the US they have to be RA locked or Arrow in the UK then RB locked.

I presume both Sony and MGM don't see TT as a threat to selling a title in other countries given their 3,000 copy limited edition model. The other companies they licence to are still for a time period but is however many they can sell in that time so could be a lot more and more incentive to push overseas sales as no limit on what they can sell.

[eddyw78]

Originally Posted by marblearch

Some of those distributors have released a lot of discs labelled region A which are region free and play without the need for a remote fix.
Shocking isn't it. They must be so annoyed with the prospect of selling more copies.

All the MGM titles I own say region A on the back and play without the need of any remote tricks although I saw that Road House from MGM was definatly locked. I wonder if the remote trick works for that title? Also all the Shriek Show BDs and a couple of Fox titles (Cocoon for example)also play despite being labeled as region A as do Death Hunt and the two movie set of Dirty Mary,Crazy Larry/Race With The Devil from Shout!

[eddyw78]

Just recieved a copy of the region A locked BD of Road House and I am sad to say it doesent work with any of the top menu or pressing stop then 1 and ok methods. I battled with this one for a while trying different things but it was fruitless. I also have the Millcreek Keoma/ Grand Duel on the way so I hope this is a playable disc. At this moment 1 out of 2 lpcked titles have worked for me with this method.

[marblearch]

Just watched Kurt Russell police drama/thriller Dark Blue Region A locked and Top Menu fix works

[eddyw78]

Originally Posted by marblearch

Just watched Kurt Russell police drama/thriller Dark Blue Region A locked and Top Menu fix works

What label was this on? I'm just trying to work out some sort of a pattern with what works and what doesent.

[marblearch]

Originally Posted by eddyw78

What label was this on? I'm just trying to work out some sort of a pattern with what works and what doesent.

It's on Fox/MGM - there is an element randomness - for example most Criterion discs work , but some don't , Looks to be the same for Image and Fox/MGM releases - some work others don't.

[eddyw78]

Originally Posted by marblearch

It's on Fox/MGM - there is an element randomness - for example most Criterion discs work , but some don't , Looks to be the same for Image and Fox/MGM releases - some work others don't.

Yeah this Road House BD is MGM and the wrong region screen is Fox and it doesent work. Tried pressing funtion also then top menu and all it did was take me back to that damned wrong region screen. Still waiting on my Millcreek two fer of Grand Duel & Keoma so hope thats works. At least all of these are cheap. I do want a couple of Criterions such as Stage Coach and kes but don't want to pay loads for a BD I can't use.

[Dickieduvet]

Grand Duel/ Keoma works on all my Panasonic players

[Kilian]

I'm in N America and the remote trick works the other way round on the region A Panasonic BD-30 (and I think BD-35 too) for region B discs, and also on region A Pioneer BDP-51FD and BDP-320. It has a lot to do with how the different players react to the region code programming and how the wrong region warning screen is authored (not giving too much away here). Players like Oppo and Sony just will not work at all.

The trick works in over 90% of region B discs (>50) I've imported. Plus there are nine titles I've written down that others say will work. Most so-called 'region-locked' discs are really more appropriately called 'region-coded' and true region-locked discs are in the small minority. I'm not counting those discs with region B printed on the back but just play in region A players without any region warning screen: these discs aren't region-coded in the first place.

I've found that when the STOP, TOP MENU sequence doesn't work, sometimes the following works (but a bit more tedious):
- press Function key (only on the Panasonic) then Top Menu
- use the search button to load the desired title (trial and error needed to find the right title)
- power down leaving the disc in, then power back on. The region warning screen doesn't load on reboot (also worth trying before it gets to that stage) and just press TOP MENU.

People with the above region B players might want to try the above.

[eddyw78]

Originally Posted by Kilian

I'm in N America and the remote trick works the other way round on the region A Panasonic BD-30 (and I think BD-35 too) for region B discs, and also on region A Pioneer BDP-51FD and BDP-320. It has a lot to do with how the different players react to the region code programming and how the wrong region warning screen is authored (not giving too much away here). Players like Oppo and Sony just will not work at all.

The trick works in over 90% of region B discs (>50) I've imported. Plus there are nine titles I've written down that others say will work. Most so-called 'region-locked' discs are really more appropriately called 'region-coded' and true region-locked discs are in the small minority. I'm not counting those discs with region B printed on the back but just play in region A players without any region warning screen: these discs aren't region-coded in the first place.

I've found that when the STOP, TOP MENU sequence doesn't work, sometimes the following works (but a bit more tedious):
- press Function key (only on the Panasonic) then Top Menu
- use the search button to load the desired title (trial and error needed to find the right title)
- power down leaving the disc in, then power back on. The region warning screen doesn't load on reboot (also worth trying before it gets to that stage) and just press TOP MENU.

People with the above region B players might want to try the above.

Interesting, i'll try this later. When u say search button the player wouldn't let me use It but I will try it again. Powering down is a good idea as Its kind of forcing the player to restart with a BD in it. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Hopefully i'll b able take my Road House BD off ebay this evening if your correct.

[eddyw78]

Just had a try at this method and still couldnt get this region a BD of Road House to play. After pressing function then selecting top menu I couldn't use any of the buttons on the remote. I also tried powering down at this point but again all I get is the wrong region screen courtesy of Fox. Think i'm foing to have to admit defeat on this one it pains me to say.

[eddyw78]

Originally Posted by Dickieduvet

Grand Duel/ Keoma works on all my Panasonic players

Recieved this one this morning and it works perfectly with the remote trick. Have had a skim through both Keoma and The Grand Duel and am happy with how they look especially as I paid a little over £3 with shipping for this set. There are a couple of others from Kino and Synapse that are region A locked I want to try out in the form of The Emerald Forest and Demons. If I can find them at reasonable prices i may bite.