Is your region A blu-ray player really all region? (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

Well, again using the Region B Paper Moon, I tried nearly every combination of buttons mentioned in this thread that I could think of: Stop/Stop/Top Menu//PopUp Menu/1/3/etc.


Nothing.


I've pushed STOP twice before Top Menu.


Nothing.


Not sure where to go next..except maybe to consider listing these two Region B titles for sale!

 

[smithbrad]

There's always the $60 Seiki player from Sears. I recently bought it as a cheap replacement player for the bedroom after the cheap Sony player died. No MOD needed, just a few codes from the remote and you are good to go. I'm not one that is wild about buying tons of disks from other regions, but there have been a few I either just didn't want to wait for Region A releases or feared may never get a Region A release.

 

[youworkmen]

Here in the UK a mod for a quality branded player costs about £100 on top of the player price. As a collector of movies I feel that the price is well worth it. You only have to buy one of your very favourite films that is not available in your country to appreciate the investment.


If the US cheapie players are anything like the UK ones I wouldn't bother as they come with their own set of problems that one might expect from cheapie imports

 

[JohnRice]

You can get a completely acceptable Panasonic player for under $100. I have two of those BDT210s and they cost less than $90 each. For the good system, I have an Oppo 103 and it can play full res with HD audio from a hard drive, which is the other way I play these movies on that system. I don't know if the HTF rules allow me to go into more detail about that, though.

 

[Robert Crawford]

It says it is Region B.


When I load it in my Panasonic BD player there are two dots on the screen and nothing happens. I hit Top Menu and it says "This operation is currently disabled." That sounds region locked to me.


However, when I hit Stop and Top Menu, the menu comes up and I'm able to play it without any difficulty.

The German BD release of Against All Flags plays Regions A, B & C.

 

[smithbrad]

Here in the UK a mod for a quality branded player costs about £100 on top of the player price. As a collector of movies I feel that the price is well worth it. You only have to buy one of your very favourite films that is not available in your country to appreciate the investment.


If the US cheapie players are anything like the UK ones I wouldn't bother as they come with their own set of problems that one might expect from cheapie imports

I already have an Oppo 83 as a primary player for Region A blu-rays and DVD watching. So a cheap player that supports just the few blu-rays from other regions that I have is preferable for me. No need to put out a lot of money for such a low use player that is fine for just blu-ray output and no need to ever update the firmware. I've already gone through the hassle of having a higher end player lose its region free capability once due to firmware updates, not again.

 

[Worth]

Well, again using the Region B Paper Moon, I tried nearly every combination of buttons mentioned in this thread that I could think of: Stop/Stop/Top Menu//PopUp Menu/1/3/etc.


Nothing.


I've pushed STOP twice before Top Menu.


Nothing.


Not sure where to go next..except maybe to consider listing these two Region B titles for sale!

Why not just buy a decent, permanently modded region-free player? It's about the same price as three or four Criterion discs.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Everyone's lost the point of the thread.


This all got started with Reggie's posts that his Pioneer Elite players had these surprising capabilities.


Having a player from the same line, I decided to see if mine did the same thing. I already stated in an earlier post that I am more than happy with my current player because it allows me playback of all my different media (Blu/DVD/CD/SACD/DVD-A/etc.) in one, single player. I intentionally got it so that I didn't have to have multiple players in my HT.


I only went out of my way to purchase the two Region B titles because I thought I had a good chance that my player would conform to Reggie's experience.


In the absence of anyone making suggestions of something else I might do (in terms of button sequence), I am fine with thinking that I have purchased two very light door stops (or paper weights). If I eventually decide my player won't "do the trick," I can always sell off the two titles to interested parties.


But I'm not looking to add another player to my HT (or replace the one I currently have). I weighed the option of paying much more for an Oppo when my last player needed to be replaced. But I settled on the cheaper FD62 (with it's ability to play high-rez audio) and was thrilled to be able to play all of my discs in the one machine.

 

[Charles Smith]

I'm multi-region with Oppo, but have followed this with interest (and a requisite amount of paranoia). How bizarre and frustrating, these differences between machines.


If you decide to sell off the BDs, I'd take "Paper Moon" if it isn't already spoken for. But here's hoping you find a way to make this work!

 

[LouA]

I tried this last night , but it didn't work with my Sony Blu-ray player on a disc from the UK.

 

[CraigF]

I already have an Oppo 83 as a primary player for Region A blu-rays and DVD watching. So a cheap player that supports just the few blu-rays from other regions that I have is preferable for me. No need to put out a lot of money for such a low use player that is fine for just blu-ray output and no need to ever update the firmware. I've already gone through the hassle of having a higher end player lose its region free capability once due to firmware updates, not again.

That was the "philosophy" I used when deciding between an Oppo all-region mod vs a cheap(er) player to use just for non-A BDs. Even the cheapies play back 1080p/24 just about perfectly, or more accurately, the same as all the others do it. It's a different story if getting into other region TV-sourced stuff though (e.g. 1080/50i, UK), the de-interlacers vary hugely among BD players (IME), but even the worst is almost certainly better than that in the display device.


In reference to what another guy said, in Canada an all-region BDP cost about what two Criterions do here, or often one if they're not on sale! And that's why I buy a lot of B discs, they may not have all the extras, or any sometimes, but the transfer is usually very very comparable if not identical, the type where you'll have to "squint" and really try to see the diffs in motion.


I am fairly surprised Mike's Panny player didn't work. It's possible that Eureka has "done something" new with Paper Moon, it being a fairly high profile title which is certain to come out in A-land soon enough. As I always say: when you see a noticeable (and often temporary) price drop in a "boutique" B title, you know it's coming in A very soon (or else is very unpopular/bad ). I know I rambled on the other day, but disc authors have made the discs less susceptible to player tricks over the years (the studios already have too many paying customers so they can easily afford to annoy many of them).

 

[youworkmen]

If you can get a fully multi region Panasonic player for $90 why on earth would anyone opt for some cheap rubbish instead.

$90 won't break the bank surely?

 

[Robert Crawford]

That was the "philosophy" I used when deciding between an Oppo all-region mod vs a cheap(er) player to use just for non-A BDs. Even the cheapies play back 1080p/24 just about perfectly, or more accurately, the same as all the others do it. It's a different story if getting into other region TV-sourced stuff though (e.g. 1080/50i, UK), the de-interlacers vary hugely among BD players (IME), but even the worst is almost certainly better than that in the display device.


In reference to what another guy said, in Canada an all-region BDP cost about what two Criterions do here, or often one if they're not on sale! And that's why I buy a lot of B discs, they may not have all the extras, or any sometimes, but the transfer is usually very very comparable if not identical, the type where you'll have to "squint" and really try to see the diffs in motion.


I am fairly surprised Mike's Panny player didn't work. It's possible that Eureka has "done something" new with Paper Moon, it being a fairly high profile title which is certain to come out in A-land soon enough. As I always say: when you see a noticeable (and often temporary) price drop in a "boutique" B title, you know it's coming in A very soon (or else is very unpopular/bad ). I know I rambled on the other day, but disc authors have made the discs less susceptible to player tricks over the years (the studios already have too many paying customers so they can easily afford to annoy many of them).

Mike has indicated he has a Pioneer player not a Panny one.

 

[smithbrad]

If you can get a fully multi region Panasonic player for $90 why on earth would anyone opt for some cheap rubbish instead.

$90 won't break the bank surely?

Why would I want to spend $90 on a player not guaranteed to play all disks from other regions? What makes a $90 Panasonic so much better at performing the simple function of just blu-ray playback over a $60 player? A low-end player is a low-end player, it doesn't so much matter name brand or not, in my opinion. Obviously, we all make choices on what works best for a given situation. You have you panny and I have my Oppo for the majority of my playback and a Seiki for those rare occasions I want to play one of my blu-rays from another region. Problem solved in both cases.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Mike,


Here is how this works on my Pioneer Elite.


I insert the disc and allow it to load.


Onscreen I get a message that the disc won't play due to it being the wrong region.


At this point I press stop on the remote.


When I do this on the display of the player itself it says RESUME.


At this point I press TOP MENU on the remote and the menu of the disc comes up on the screen as it would with any blu-ray and I can select PLAY and watch the film. No need to press stop twice.


Try again and go through this process. I have noted with some discs this did not work the first time but if I ejected the disc and then reinserted it the process did in fact work. Paper Moon was one of the titles that many people seemed to have no issue with playing using this trick. I would give it another try.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Reggie:


That's exactly what I've tried any number of times. The difference is that I never see the word RESUME appear on the player's display. And, of course, I can't get the disc to play.


And, for the record, I AM using the player's remote as I am doing this (not my Harmony).


It's a real head scratcher. Maybe we should compare firmware versions?

 

[Mike Frezon]

When you say you see the message that the disc is the wrong region, is it the same thing I see?


I see a still frame from the film with text superimposed on it that says something to the effect of "Oh, dear!" We hoped you wouldn't ever see this message." And it then goes on to explain region coding, etc.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

When you say you see the message that the disc is the wrong region, is it the same thing I see?


I see a still frame from the film with text superimposed on it that says something to the effect of "Oh, dear!" We hoped you wouldn't ever see this message." And it then goes on to explain region coding, etc.

Yes, same message which is generated by the disc itself. When that message comes up press stop once. Then I believe on the display of your player (not on the TV screen) it will say RESUME and then press TOP MENU on your remote. You may need to wait a second but then the Paper Moon menu should appear onscreen and you should be able to navigate the menu as you would any other.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I'm not home, Mike, otherwise I would take a look. The RESUME feature may have something to do with how this works. With my player if I insert a disc I have already played and stopped the film at a certain point my player remembers where I stopped watching and gives you the option to RESUME where you left off. I don't recall if this is a feature that can be turned on and off but it may be. Maybe this is the key to this working. Does your player remember where you left off and say RESUME on the player display if you stop and then go to restart a disc?

 

[Worth]

I'm not home, Mike, otherwise I would take a look. The RESUME feature may have something to do with how this works. With my player if I insert a disc I have already played and stopped the film at a certain point my player remembers where I stopped watching and gives you the option to RESUME where you left off. I don't recall if this is a feature that can be turned on and off but it may be. Maybe this is the key to this working. Does your player remember where you left off and say RESUME on the player display if you stop and then go to restart a disc?

The resume function is disc specific. For some it works, for some it doesn't - it depends on how the disc was authored.