Blu-rays from the UK... (1 Viewer)

Holy moly! The stuff that one can order now from the U.K. is pretty awesome, some of it region-free, but all there for the plucking for those who have region-free players... Universal is letting titles out overseas on Blu-ray that we may never see here in that format, including TOUCH OF EVIL and SILENT RUNNING. Coppola's THE OUTSIDERS is up for pre-order. Even better (for me), I find suddenly that Blu-rays of Richard Lester's THE THREE MUSKETEERS and THE FOUR MUSKETEERS are already in stock! So are Lynch's WILD AT HEART and MULHOLLAND DRIVE. You can get De Palma's OBSESSION. And Jacques Cousteau's underwater documentaries. And on and on... I think catalog titles must be selling better there, no?

I have a number of region-free Blu-rays from Europe, but I just placed an order for a Sherwood BDP-5004, which are becoming increasingly difficult to find.


Some people who have bought the Sherwood have claimed that it is region-free out of the box, while others apparently have to enter a code with the remote. I am going to pop El Cid into the Sherwood when it arrives and I'll see how it goes.

Originally Posted by Richard Gallagher

I have a number of region-free Blu-rays from Europe, but I just placed an order for a Sherwood BDP-5004, which are becoming increasingly difficult to find.


Some people who have bought the Sherwood have claimed that it is region-free out of the box, while others apparently have to enter a code with the remote. I am going to pop El Cid into the Sherwood when it arrives and I'll see how it goes.

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It played fine on my Sherwood. By the way, I wouldn't do any firmware updates as I heard it takes away the region-free option.







Crawdaddy

Does THREE MUSKETEERS play in region one?

That Sherwood 5004 is obviously a clone of the Momitsu BDP-899 . My 899 was a great deck till the Blu reader fizzled before it was 3 years old. It was my most reliable player. It never failed to load anything till it went south. It still plays DVD's just fine. The Momitsu codes to change Wee-juns are well know. If anybody can't find 'em, PM me I'll lay 'em on you.

trajan said:

Does THREE MUSKETEERS play in region one?

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Both Musketeer Blu-rays are coded for regions A and B according to the covers, so they will play fine. (Played the first one on my Region A OPPO actually, no problem)

Thanks for info.

Is TALENTED MR RIPLY from UK region one friendly?

trajan said:

Is TALENTED MR RIPLY from UK region one friendly?

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Nope. http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Talented-Mr-Ripley-Blu-ray/27069/ All 3 BRs of RIPLEY (UK, France, Spain), one of my favorite films, are Region B locked.

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford

It played fine on my Sherwood. By the way, I wouldn't do any firmware updates as I heard it takes away the region-free option.







Crawdaddy

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Thanks for the tip. My Sherwood arrived today, so I'll try out El Cid on it after work. I saw threads in other forums where some people last year were able to get the Sherwood for $100. I got mine, brand-new, from a highly-rated dealer on eBay for $139, including shipping. Some people are asking more than $200 for it, and no online retailers have it in stock, so I assume that Sherwood isn't making it anymore.

The Sherwood is a clone of the Momitsu 899 that's been OOP for about 4 years now.

"When I want to punish my kids, I make them watch THE LONG SHIPS"--Richard Widmark.

Originally Posted by Rachael B

The Sherwood is a clone of the Momitsu 899 that's been OOP for about 4 years now.

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I didn't have a chance to hook it up to my TV yet, but I plugged it in and popped in El Cid. It loaded, responded to the Play button and the counter started, so it looks like it is region-free out of the box. I have a busy weekend coming up so I won't have a chance to watch until next week, anyway.

No one has mentioned the cheap option of buying an Oppo and then buying the region free mod for it. Seems like the best of both worlds. A great universal player plus $20 and 20 minutes, boom region free all in one.

Richard Gallagher said:

I didn't have a chance to hook it up to my TV yet, but I plugged it in and popped in El Cid. It loaded, responded to the Play button and the counter started, so it looks like it is region-free out of the box. I have a busy weekend coming up so I won't have a chance to watch until next week, anyway.

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My copy of El Cid is the German one and it is locked to Wee-jun B. If your's is another edition, maybe it's not locked? The Momitsu requires you to use the remote to change Wee-juns. Every time I turned the Momitsu off, it reverted back to Wee-juns A&1. Is there a chance that the deck is set for B and will have to be adjusted to A when you try an A disc? I know that the Momitsu had several other clones. I heard they all used the same codes. Maybe the Sherwood is a little different? However, it's a dead ringer in apperance to the Momitsu.

Douglas_H said:

No one has mentioned the cheap option of buying an Oppo and then buying the region free mod for it. Seems like the best of both worlds. A great universal player plus $20 and 20 minutes, boom region free all in one.

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That's the option I took last year and I am a very happy camper.

Douglas_H said:

No one has mentioned the cheap option of buying an Oppo and then buying the region free mod for it. Seems like the best of both worlds. A great universal player plus $20 and 20 minutes, boom region free all in one.

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It is definitely a cheap option if one already has the Oppo player (the player is a tad pricey). I think I paid a little more then you for the Oppo mod; but it works well, and I did not have to open the player. I usually keep the Oppo set to Region B. I also have a Panasonic that only does Region A. However, many discs are "all-region", so I end up playing even many region A discs on the Oppo without resetting the region. Incidentally, I have a German El Cid as well as a UK Anchor Bay El Cid (and Anchor Bay's Fall of the Roman Empire). Interestingly, Anchor Bay made some color adjustments to both films for their Blu-ray releases. In the German Blu-ray (and USA DVD) the reds in El Cid tend toward a more orange color. In the Anchor Bay version, the reds look more like real red, and the previous reds look more burgundy. I assume similar color adjustment was done on FOTRE. The overture and Entr'acte are both left off FOTRE. On the plus side, all the FOTRE extras from the DVD are on the 2nd (DVD) disc, including the educational films that were previously only on the boxed set DVD.

I've picked up a few of the BFI titles: More, La Vallee and Institute Benjamenta. All are great. Also picked up Zulu. Going region free is soon going to be illegal in Canada.