Is Blu-ray region restriction still active?

[NotSure70]

I only have one region B Blu-ray, because I always made sure to buy region A. I never had the need to buy anything region B, but at one point about a year or two ago, the only way to get the Legion season 1 Blu-ray set was to get the region B on Amazon. As expected, this didn't play in any of my 4K Blu-ray players.

Yesterday I came across a video on YouTube showing that there was a "hack" to play region B Blu-rays on the Panasonic UB820 and the UB9000, that didn't involve installing a hacked firmware from an USB drive (which I would never do), but by pressing stop and then top menu several times.

So I put in the first disc of Legion, and to my surprise, it just went straight to the main menu. I clicked to start playing the episode, and it started playing just fine. Then I put the second disc (the whole set is just two) and it also played fine without any pressing stop and top menu.

I wanted to make sure that the set was region B, and indeed, in the back it shows the B inside the hexagon. Each disc also has the hexagon printed on it.

This is a player I bought straight from Amazon, it was the Amazon listing, not a third party seller, and it came in a factory sealed box, so this is definitely not a multiregion unit.

So I wanted to test this further and put the first disc in my Sony X700. To my surprise, it played just as fine. Finally, I put it in my Oppo UDP-203, which has been discontinued and hasn't had a firmware update in years. Well, to my surprise, it also played fine with it.

Just as the Panasonic, the Sony and the Oppo were not bought as multiregion players, and I definitely didn't install any firmware that wasn't the ones available from the player itself in the settings.

So this obviously puzzles me, because I remember trying to play these discs on these three players and not getting anywhere. But now they play just on all three, not pressing any special combination of buttons.

So does anyone what's the story here? My confusion comes from this: if they decided recently to finally end the ridiculous region restrictions, and they deployed that with a firmware update, why can my Oppo play these two discs, when it hasn't gotten a firmware update in years? I'm sure that I bought this Legion set way after the last Oppo update.

At the same time, if the region restriction was ended, it was only done for Blu-rays, because the only other European disc I have is a DVD, and that one won't play in any of the three players. Even in the Panasonic, doing the stop and pressing top menu 7 times, it keeps telling me that it can't play because of the region.

So I'm very confused. Maybe this set says it's region B but they forgot to write the region metadata? Unfortunately I don't have any other region B Blu-rays to test that.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by NotSure70

I only have one region B Blu-ray, because I always made sure to buy region A. I never had the need to buy anything region B, but at one point about a year or two ago, the only way to get the Legion season 1 Blu-ray set was to get the region B on Amazon. As expected, this didn't play in any of my 4K Blu-ray players.

Yesterday I came across a video on YouTube showing that there was a "hack" to play region B Blu-rays on the Panasonic UB820 and the UB9000, that didn't involve installing a hacked firmware from an USB drive (which I would never do), but by pressing stop and then top menu several times.

So I put in the first disc of Legion, and to my surprise, it just went straight to the main menu. I clicked to start playing the episode, and it started playing just fine. Then I put the second disc (the whole set is just two) and it also played fine without any pressing stop and top menu.

I wanted to make sure that the set was region B, and indeed, in the back it shows the B inside the hexagon. Each disc also has the hexagon printed on it.

This is a player I bought straight from Amazon, it was the Amazon listing, not a third party seller, and it came in a factory sealed box, so this is definitely not a multiregion unit.

So I wanted to test this further and put the first disc in my Sony X700. To my surprise, it played just as fine. Finally, I put it in my Oppo UDP-203, which has been discontinued and hasn't had a firmware update in years. Well, to my surprise, it also played fine with it.

Just as the Panasonic, the Sony and the Oppo were not bought as multiregion players, and I definitely didn't install any firmware that wasn't the ones available from the player itself in the settings.

So this obviously puzzles me, because I remember trying to play these discs on these three players and not getting anywhere. But now they play just on all three, not pressing any special combination of buttons.

So does anyone what's the story here? My confusion comes from this: if they decided recently to finally end the ridiculous region restrictions, and they deployed that with a firmware update, why can my Oppo play these two discs, when it hasn't gotten a firmware update in years? I'm sure that I bought this Legion set way after the last Oppo update.

At the same time, if the region restriction was ended, it was only done for Blu-rays, because the only other European disc I have is a DVD, and that one won't play in any of the three players. Even in the Panasonic, doing the stop and pressing top menu 7 times, it keeps telling me that it can't play because of the region.

So I'm very confused. Maybe this set says it's region B but they forgot to write the region metadata? Unfortunately I don't have any other region B Blu-rays to test that.

You're overthinking it and your memory is likely inaccurate. Some discs and cases are just labeled incorrectly.

Region locking still very much occurs. Official firmware updates do not make a player region free as that would be a violation with the Blu-ray Disc Association. It requires a hardware modification to make a blu-ray player reliably region free for multi-region blu-ray playback (Panasonic remote button trick notwithstanding- this trick does not always work) whereas a software modification can make a player region free for DVDs. All such modifications are after market and are not provided by the player manufacturer.

If this is the set that you are referring to: it has been confirmed to play on both Region A and Region B players despite being labeled only for Region B playback. Click on the thumbnail to go the blu-ray.com product page and look under the "Playback" heading right next to the genre listings for this title.

This is the U.S. edition and it, too, plays on Region B despite being labeled only for Region A.

[the-pi-guy]

Think it's important to add, certain distributors don't even region lock their blu-rays in the first place.

Supposedly most blu-ray discs are region free in general.

[Vilya]

I recently imported both the U.K and the Italian 4K editions of Flow (2024) and the included blu-ray is region B locked.

A lot of the large labels like Disney/ 20th Century Fox do not region lock their blu-rays despite what the packaging and discs are labeled, but most of the small labels and boutiques do region lock their blu-rays.

Early blu-rays are much more likely to be region locked than more recently released ones, but it still happens quite a bit.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Early blu-rays are much more likely to be region locked than more recently released ones, but it still happens quite a bit.

It's always worth checking if you're going to the trouble of importing a Blu-ray, but if you can, pick up a region free player.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by chip75

It's always worth checking if you're going to the trouble of importing a Blu-ray, but if you can, pick up a region free player.

I have two such players; I knew what I was getting into.

[NotSure70]

I guess my memory sucks then.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by NotSure70

I guess my memory sucks then.

No more than anyone else's.

[Harpers Tate]

Those in the USA (and possibly elsewhere) need to be aware of another potential issue and that is frame rates.

Even if a EU/UK/AU disc is not region locked (or at least, is A compatible), occasionally the contents (or part of them) are mastered at the EU/UK/AU standard TV frequency of 25/50hz. And some USA electronics won't handle these frame rates. This limitation is, I believe, becoming increasingly rare, but some may still experience it. Likely symptom is no picture and/or a out of range (or similar) message.

And just to reiterate: the package and/or disc label indication of region code is not to be relied on.

[Naiera]

1080i50 is indeed somewhat uncommon, but it still happens. Most modern US displays really should have no problem with 25 fps today though.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I recently imported both the U.K and the Italian 4K editions of Flow (2024) and the included blu-ray is region B locked.

curious why you bought Italian and UK.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

curious why you bought Italian and UK.

I love this movie and I plan to buy the Criterion release also, which includes a bonus film titled Away.

The U.K. edition includes a booklet, trading cards, and some stickers. As silly as all that may seem, I wanted it all.

The Italian edition is the only version that includes HDR10. There is some controversy about whether or not the director actually approved the use of HDR, but I wanted to see what difference it would make.

I am also buying all three editions of this movie because I want to support this small, brilliant, independent Latvian movie as much as I can.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I love this movie and I plan to buy the Criterion release also, which includes a bonus film titled Away.

The U.K. edition includes a booklet, trading cards, and some stickers. As silly as all that may seem, I wanted it all.

The Italian edition is the only version that includes HDR10. There is some controversy about whether or not the director actually approved the use of HDR, but I wanted to see what difference it would make.

I am also buying all three editions of this movie because I want to support this small, brilliant, independent Latvian movie as much as I can.

Thanks for the info. I never feel peoples informed decisions are silly, we all need to be true to ourselves. I assumed you had good reasons and was looking to know the differences.

[deatheats]

If top menu on a Panasonic doesn’t work, try going directly to the track, for example 001, 002, etc.

I really wish had Blu-ray releases for seasons 2 & 3.

[Dr_Sandra_Lee]

It's great to see so many people sharing their thoughts and passion for films here. There's nothing quite like the quality of a Blu-ray for watching a great movie. I love seeing what everyone is excited about!

[Deadend45]

The OP does a one disc test and does not even give the title.

Originally Posted by the-pi-guy

Think it's important to add, certain distributors don't even region lock their blu-rays in the first place.

Supposedly most blu-ray discs are region free in general.

Those statements could not be more wrong.

[the-pi-guy]

Originally Posted by Deadend45

The OP does a one disc test and does not even give the title.



Those statements could not be more wrong.

A lot of Disney and Warner blu-rays are region free, not all, but a lot of them.

I did say supposedly for a reason. A couple of websites claimed that the number is like 70%. But I don't see any actual backing for those claims.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by the-pi-guy

A lot of Disney and Warner blu-rays are region free, not all, but a lot of them.

I did say supposedly for a reason. A couple of websites claimed that the number is like 70%. But I don't see any actual backing for those claims.

Obviously it depends on users adding the information, but there's 33,000 UK releases in the database and around 6,500 are listed as region free. That's about 20%.

[the-pi-guy]

Originally Posted by chip75

Obviously it depends on users adding the information, but there's 33,000 UK releases in the database and around 6,500 are listed as region free. That's about 20%.

I was imagining more along the lines of discs, rather than releases. If those 20% of region free discs made up 80% of all sales, then 80% of discs would be region free.

But I don't know if there's even enough granular information to get a number on that.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by the-pi-guy

I was imagining more along the lines of discs, rather than releases. If those 20% of region free discs made up 80% of all sales, then 80% of discs would be region free.

But I don't know if there's even enough granular information to get a number on that.

You can say 99.99% of UHDs are region free, so that's a chunk of Blu-ray sales, if you look a the chart:

Top Ten Blu-ray Sellers for Week Ending 8/23/25:

1. How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
2. Thunderbolts*
3. The Accountant 2
4. 1923: Season Two (2025)
5. Sinners (2025)
6. Happy Gilmore
7. Bring Her Back
8. Xanadu (1980)
9. How to Train Your Dragon: 2-Movie Collection (2010-2025)
10. The Boys: Season 4 (2024)

80% of those Blu-rays are region free. Region locking is still very much a thing, but it's relatively straightforward to work around.