International New to Region-Free. PLEASE Recommend Some Other Region Blu-rays! (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

Man! Thanks everyone for all those suggestions! I've already added a couple of titles to another order!

Keep 'em comin'!

I'm thinking of doing the same thing but what mod are you talking about? Doesn't it play all region out of the box? And it's the Oppo UDP 203 4K player $549 from Oppo right?

That's the player, Tino. No, it doesn't play all-region out of the box. You have to buy a mod kit (basically just a cable) that gets plugged into two ports in the back of the unit. The mod is sold on eBay for just shy of $60.

 

[David Norman]

There's some amazing classic British TV on blu-ray at Amazon UK... The Persuaders, The Professionals, The Prisoner, The Avengers. Lots of good modern shows too... Pyschoville, Inside No 9, Luther, The Missing, Broadchurch, Ripper Street... Nordic Noir series like The Killing, Forbrylheisen, Borgen, The Bridge.

Getting to see TV from other countries is the best part of being region free. Movies usually end up here, but not all TV does.

I agree on AmazonUK TV sets though several of the one's you listed are Region Free though some of them are 50Hz

 

[Mike Frezon]

Well...I guess Tino got his answer!

 

[Johnny Angell]

Young And Innocent (early Hitchcock)
The Glass Key
The Blue Dahlia (both Ladd/Lake)
Comfort And Joy (Bill Forsyth - quirky Scot)
49th Parallel (Powell/Pressburger)
Colossus: The Forbin Project (Sci-fi)
Everyone Says I Love You (Allen - avoid the French release)

And votes for The Day The Earth Caught Fire and Quatermass And The Pit

Is this the release of Colossus you are referring to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colossus-F...0&sr=8-1&keywords=colossus+the+forbin+project

 

[Johnny Angell]

I'm thinking of doing the same thing but what mod are you talking about? Doesn't it play all region out of the box? And it's the Oppo UDP 203 4K player $549 from Oppo right?

I have the Opportunity 203 and in post number 10 of this thread: https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/i-have-my-oppo-udp-203.351770/

there is a link to the region free mod. I have it and it does work.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

How much does the whole Oppo set up generally run for a BD player?

I'm always thinking of going region free for BD. As for regular DVD, well, I've been buying Philips players only since 2010 just because they're region free with a simple 7 digit code. But there are a lot of Blus out there which are Zone B only, and I'm always curious about how much region free would run.

EDIT: Looks like there were answers while I was posting.

 

[Dick]

More non-U.S. Blu-rays pass my personal standards criteria (they look and sound just fine):

TWO WOMEN
CULLODEN / THE WAR GAME
THE CRYING GAME
WOMEN IN LOVE
PEEPING TOM
THE PIANIST
MY FATHER'S GLORY / MY MOTHER'S CASTLE
GUN CRAZY
KAREL ZEMAN SET
OPEN RANGE
Any of the Ealing Films, including DEAD OF NIGHT, and most of the best are out on Blu.
MURNAU SILENT FILMS SET
MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
SIN NOMBRE
THE TRIAL
UNIVERSAL MONSTER TITLES (INVISIBLE MAN SET, TARANTULA, MOLE PEOPLE,
MONOLITH MONSTERS, THE LAND UNKNOWN)
WOMEN IN LOVE
ODD MAN OUT
SOLDIER BLUE
A SIMPLE PLAN
SATAN'S CLAW
BRUTE FORCE
CRIA CUERVOS
THE DEVIL RIDES OUT
DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
GOSFORD PARK
LOLITA (1998)
GASLIGHT (British, 1940)

Geese, it's hard to stop...
You're gonna be extremely happy with your decision to go region-free, Mike.

 

[Johnny Angell]

How much does the whole Oppo set up generally run for a BD player?

I'm always thinking of going region free for BD. As for regular DVD, well, I've been buying Philips players only since 2010 just because they're region free with a simple 7 digit code. But there are a lot of Blus out there which are Zone B only, and I'm always curious about how much region free would run.

EDIT: Looks like there were answers while I was posting.

In the post I referenced there's a fiscal analysis of buying the Oppo with an external mod vs. pre-modded.

 

[Tino]

Thanks everyone. I think I'm gonna pull the trigger too.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I bought my player directly from Oppo and use the external mod which was purchased separately. Not only is that cheaper, but it also has the benefit of not voiding the warranty. Oppo has incredibly good customer service and they basically give a lifetime guarantee on the player. If you bought it pre-modded from a reseller, no warranty. Buy it from Oppo and if anything ever goes wrong, just unplug the chip and send the player to Oppo and they'll never know.

One side effect of having an Oppo: it does the best job upscaling DVDs of any player I've ever owned. You might be surprised how many of your old DVDs are now "good enough" to keep around.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Mike, I know you're not a 3D guy but if you ever change your mind on that one, there's a U.K. 3D import called "A Turtle's Tale" that's not only a charming kids movie but also has the best CGI 3D I've ever seen.

Not sure if you're a James Cameron fan but if so, Germany has a BD release of Strange Days that's pretty good. (U.S. is still DVD only with a non-anamorphic laserdisc master)

 

[Mark-P]

It's probably heresy to say this, but another advantage of being region-free is that I import a lot of titles from Europe that are much cheaper than their Criterion and Twilight Time counterparts. So in addition to getting things that aren't available here, I'm saving money on titles are ARE available here as well.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Heresy? Each week I put together a list of new releases to help everyone here save a few $$$.

I've loved some of the prices I've seen at Amazon.uk

In fact, I just ordered The Lost Weekend and Hamlet (1948) from there. (Thanks, Mark! )

 

[dvdclon]

I bought my player directly from Oppo and use the external mod which was purchased separately. Not only is that cheaper, but it also has the benefit of not voiding the warranty. Oppo has incredibly good customer service and they basically give a lifetime guarantee on the player. If you bought it pre-modded from a reseller, no warranty. Buy it from Oppo and if anything ever goes wrong, just unplug the chip and send the player to Oppo and they'll never know.

One side effect of having an Oppo: it does the best job upscaling DVDs of any player I've ever owned. You might be surprised how many of your old DVDs are now "good enough" to keep around.

Something I rarely see mentioned is Oppo's error handling. I have DVDs with a bad spot that hangs up any other player and forces me to pull the power to regain control. My Oppo 93 pauses on the bad spot but searches ahead for good data and then jumps to it. Pretty neat if you have OOP or otherwise irreplaceable discs.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Heresy? Each week I put together a list of new releases to help everyone here save a few $$$.

I've loved some of the prices I've seen at Amazon.uk

In fact, I just ordered The Lost Weekend and Hamlet (1948) from there. (Thanks, Mark! )

The one I remember most is the DVD release of All Creatures Great and Small.

US release? $114. UK release? £25, which is, what, 40 bucks maybe? After shipping?

 

[DavidJ]

Mike, you're going to cost me money. I've thought about modding my players for years, but always manage to wait long enough that the urge subsides. Now, thanks to this thread that's not going to happen.

 

[Tino]

Any major issues with this Oppo?

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

A Few region-B suggestions that I've jumped on:

Deadlier Than The Male (1968)
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
Secret Of My Success(1986)
UFO TV Series's (1970, came to USA 1972).
Blame It On Rio (1983)

Another Region-B release which I caught on late-nite cable during my college youth (1979-1985), the French film Bilitis (1977) makes a great sleep-inducing aid, especially the music score. Except of course for hormone charged teen boys.

 

[Jasper70]

I have an Oppo 103 but I haven't bought the region free mod, yet. It does have an incredibly good upscaler for DVD, to be sure.

While not region B, the Beverly Hills Cop trilogy is available in the UK for cheap, part 3 is unavailable in the US on bluray.
I'm putting together an order right now, one I'm particularly happy to see is the bluray of the 1985 Fright Night. For cheap too.
For myself I have to check a few different resources to insure the releases I buy have English SDH. Been extremely satisfied with every purchase I have made from the UK.

 

[CraigF]

One side effect of having an Oppo: it does the best job upscaling DVDs of any player I've ever owned. You might be surprised how many of your old DVDs are now "good enough" to keep around.

I keep an older Oppo BDP around strictly for its DVD upscaling ability, trying to "preserve" it by using it for just that duty, it's so good at it, noticeably better than my newer Oppos. I must say though that the newer Sony BDPs (I have an all-region one) also do an excellent job at DVD upscaling, they sure improved a lot, but they lack the flexibility and setup options that make the Oppo have a clearly visible edge in refinement.

Mike: I hope it's OK to refer to blu-ray.com I'm sure it is, but what I do is go to their "deals" display page, select the UK flag, and select "Eureka" and "Arrow" under studios. For a start. You probably already do that...I remember your Paper Moon "saga" from some time ago.

I could recommend a lot of stuff, but have no idea of what you like. Keep an eye out for some of the Artificial Eye box sets, they are good value (often on sale) and good products. The Atom Egoyan Collection and the Francois Truffaut Collection are nice, for example. Woody Allen too. The network and itv studios labels also have some very decent product at good prices.

["eye out"...."Artificial Eye"...I made an accidental punny, boy I sure do amuse myself... ]