What's new

Inexpensive Region Free Blu-Ray player - any suggestions? (1 Viewer)

David Weicker

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
4,667
Real Name
David
I'm considering getting a Region Free player.My budget can't handle an Oppo, so please refrain from suggesting that. I would like to stay under $250I've been looking on both Bombay and 220 for models, and there appear to be several nice ones, but I am not sure what would be a good match.

Prior research had pointed me to the Orei BDP-M2, but that appears to no longer be available.

Both Amazon and Ebay have an ICom brand model, but I've never heard of it, so I can't make an informed decision (other than an off-the-cuff, unhelpful 'you get what you pay for' comment)

I am not looking for a lot - obviously being able to play discs from Zones A,B, and C, and Regions 1-6.

Pal to NTSC would be nice, but my current tv can play native Pal (576i), so that isn't a must.

A good up-converter would be nice, but that seems to be a YMMV thing.

I don't currently have a 3D TV, but for future-proofing, I probably would want that feature.I do not care at all about how the player looks, or how it feels. If it plays discs reliably, that is enough.


Beyond that, I welcome any and all constructive suggestions (and real-world experience of things to avoid).


Thank you in advance
 

schan1269

HTF Expert
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
17,104
Location
Chicago-ish/NW Indiana
Real Name
Sam
LG 530Least expensive wifi certified. The only app I can't get to work is Spotify. The "LG specific" stuff isn't working either.The mod probably causes that(Netflix, Hulu, Crackle...all work)
 

Phil A

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2000
Messages
3,249
Location
Central FL
Real Name
Phil
David Weicker said:
I'm considering getting a Region Free player.My budget can't handle an Oppo, so please refrain from suggesting that. I would like to stay under $250I've been looking on both Bombay and 220 for models, and there appear to be several nice ones, but I am not sure what would be a good match.

Prior research had pointed me to the Orei BDP-M2, but that appears to no longer be available.

Both Amazon and Ebay have an ICom brand model, but I've never heard of it, so I can't make an informed decision (other than an off-the-cuff, unhelpful 'you get what you pay for' comment)

I am not looking for a lot - obviously being able to play discs from Zones A,B, and C, and Regions 1-6.

Pal to NTSC would be nice, but my current tv can play native Pal (576i), so that isn't a must.

A good up-converter would be nice, but that seems to be a YMMV thing.

I don't currently have a 3D TV, but for future-proofing, I probably would want that feature.I do not care at all about how the player looks, or how it feels. If it plays discs reliably, that is enough.


Beyond that, I welcome any and all constructive suggestions (and real-world experience of things to avoid).


Thank you in advance
If you can find a used Oppo DV980H (and it plays DVD-As and SACDs too) all you need to do is put a 4 digit code via the remote and it becomes region free or you can convert it back. Was going to sell mine many moons ago until I found that out.
 

Stan

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 18, 1999
Messages
5,177
Also been looking for an inexpensive model, never owned a Blu-Ray player, but forced to upgrade my old Toshiba, no HDMI outlets. It's from 1998 and worked flawlessly, but time to move on.
Been looking at the LG BP-530 model on Amazon, they've got brand-new ones going for $68. Don't know if I'm looking at something different than Dan (revgen), but that's $100 less than the website he recommends.
 

schan1269

HTF Expert
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
17,104
Location
Chicago-ish/NW Indiana
Real Name
Sam
Stan said:
Also been looking for an inexpensive model, never owned a Blu-Ray player, but forced to upgrade my old Toshiba, no HDMI outlets. It's from 1998 and worked flawlessly, but time to move on.Been looking at the LG BP-530 model on Amazon, they've got brand-new ones going for $68. Don't know if I'm looking at something different than Dan (revgen), but that's $100 less than the website he recommends.
The one Revgen and I said are multi region.
 

Stan

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 18, 1999
Messages
5,177
schan1269 said:
The one Revgen and I said are multi region.
That's kind of what I thought. Looking at the 220-Electronics link, apparently they make their own hardware changes to the player to enable it to be region free.
Reading the Amazon reviews, people either love it or they hate it, very little in the middle. Lots of DOA machines, freeze ups, etc. I'm guessing the region free machine is more reliable because they've probably powered it up and tested the hardware changes they've made. If they had duds out of the box, probably returned.
 

AndyMcKinney

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2004
Messages
3,188
Location
Kentucky, USA
David Weicker said:
I'm considering getting a Region Free player.My budget can't handle an Oppo, so please refrain from suggesting that. I would like to stay under $250I've been looking on both Bombay and 220 for models, and there appear to be several nice ones, but I am not sure what would be a good match.

Prior research had pointed me to the Orei BDP-M2, but that appears to no longer be available.

Both Amazon and Ebay have an ICom brand model, but I've never heard of it, so I can't make an informed decision (other than an off-the-cuff, unhelpful 'you get what you pay for' comment)

I am not looking for a lot - obviously being able to play discs from Zones A,B, and C, and Regions 1-6.

Pal to NTSC would be nice, but my current tv can play native Pal (576i), so that isn't a must.

A good up-converter would be nice, but that seems to be a YMMV thing.

I don't currently have a 3D TV, but for future-proofing, I probably would want that feature.I do not care at all about how the player looks, or how it feels. If it plays discs reliably, that is enough.


Beyond that, I welcome any and all constructive suggestions (and real-world experience of things to avoid).


Thank you in advance
I was able to buy two used Oppo BDP-83 players for $250 or less, and that was a year or two ago. The mod kit to make these region-free for blu-ray can be had for $50 or less. You can download a software install (SuperDisk) to make it region-free for DVDs at absolutely no cost.

I bought one of those used players on eBay, the other at a local pawn shop (was listed on CraigsList). So, it can be done, if you're willing to go for used.
 

revgen

Screenwriter
Joined
Apr 7, 2010
Messages
1,272
Location
Southern California
Real Name
Dan
LouA said:
Is that an "out of the box" all region player, or has it been reprogrammed by the seller?
It's been modified. But comes with a warranty from the seller.

I received mine from www.220-electronics.com
 

Kevin L McCorry

Second Unit
Joined
Dec 13, 2004
Messages
325

Robert Crawford

Crawdaddy
Moderator
Patron
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 9, 1998
Messages
67,472
Location
Michigan
Real Name
Robert
revgen said:
It's been modified. But comes with a warranty from the seller.

I received mine from www.220-electronics.com
Thank you for the recommendation. I received my player today and watched the Region B Blu-ray of The Naked City on it. I own the Oppo 93 and 103 so I've been region-free in two of my three HT setups. This player now makes it three out of three. :D
 

Blaine

Agent
Joined
May 17, 1999
Messages
29
I went a slightly different direction. Using AnyDVDHD and ImgBurn, I strip the region coding out of the discs and reburn them to BD-R. This works great except for stuff encoded at 1080/50i. My Panasonic BD player and Sony TV can't process the 50i stream.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,710
Messages
5,121,136
Members
144,146
Latest member
SaladinNagasawa
Recent bookmarks
0
Top