Suggestions for 4K with region free Blu-ray playback (1 Viewer)

[dana martin]

Okay finally time to go all regional Blu-ray, slow up grades to everything else, so now I need a 4K player that can be region free on Blu-rays because I'm starting to pick up a lot of stuff from the UK that's region B locked. Back in the day I would have said the Oppo but I didn't pick one up the new one from France looks good but it appears to be only region B I Need A and B and possibly C looking for suggestions.

 

[Mark Mayes]

I have the Panasonic 820 from distributor 220 and am really happy with it.

 

[JohnRice]

Just an alternate suggestion. I have several Region B Blu-Rays and years ago had planned to use my Oppo BDP-103 for them, and got a hardware hack for it. Ultimately I didn't like the hassle of region changes, and instead stored the movies on an SSD and play them back that way. I can't go into the specifics here, but it's easy enough to find. Just something to consider.

As far as the other brand player you mentioned, I have one and can't recommend them.

 

[LouA]

I’ve heard good things about 220 Electronics. I’m looking at a Sony X700, but it doesn’t have particularly good ratings at Amazon, although Crutchfield audio likes it.
I’d love to find one that isn’t hacked.

 

[John Sparks]

220 Electromics is where I had my Sammy 8500 converted to Reg. Fr...highly recommended.

 

[jayembee]

FWIW, I have an LG 4K non-region-free player for my UHDs. I have a separate LG BD region-free player that I use for Region B BDs. It's a pain to change the region on it, so I just keep it set to Region B, and use the 4K player to play Region A discs. I don't have any Region C BDs, so I don't have to worry about those.

My region-free BD player will also play DVDs from any region without needing to switch regions, so I also use that for my non-Region 1 DVDs.

 

[Robin9]

I've found it much simpler to have two Blu-ray players and never need to switch regions. Obviously you have pay twice to begin but after that it's plain sailing.

 

[Worth]

It's not clear from your original post, but if you already have a region-free blu-ray player, I wouldn't bother getting a region-free UHD player, as well. UHD discs aren't region locked (with a handful of exceptions).

And if you don't have one, it might actually be cheaper to get a standard UHD player and a separate region-free blu-ray player.

 

[Bartman]

FWIW, I have an LG 4K non-region-free player for my UHDs. I have a separate LG BD region-free player that I use for Region B BDs. It's a pain to change the region on it, so I just keep it set to Region B, and use the 4K player to play Region A discs. I don't have any Region C BDs, so I don't have to worry about those.

My region-free BD player will also play DVDs from any region without needing to switch regions, so I also use that for my non-Region 1 DVDs.

I bought a AVS recommended simple LG Blu-ray player from Amazon UK, as a backup to my Seiki, just before the pandemic & before postal charges skyrocketed. Let me know if you need info!

 

[LouA]

I've found it much simpler to have two Blu-ray players and never need to switch regions. Obviously you have pay twice to begin but after that it's plain sailing.

So you can set it for a specific region, then forget about it and it will always play that region’s discs?
Most of my foreign discs will come from England.

 

[jayembee]

So you can set it for a specific region, then forget about it and it will always play that region’s discs?
Most of my foreign discs will come from England.

That's the way it works for me. When my region-free player is set to Region B, it'll stay set to B unless I use the remote to change it to "A" or "C".

 

[David Norman]

So you can set it for a specific region, then forget about it and it will always play that region’s discs?
Most of my foreign discs will come from England.

That's the way it works for me. When my region-free player is set to Region B, it'll stay set to B unless I use the remote to change it to "A" or "C".

That's the virtually all should work. I'm still with the separate Region Free BD player crowd. Use the 4K player for 4K discs and maybe Reg A BD if you want, then keep the Multiregion set as B always. Region C locked discs are virtually unheard of on most forums so that's not even a consideration most for most people.

If you have a Panasonic UHD you probably could play most Reg B disc anyway with the Panasonic Tope Menu remote
trick

 

[JayDomK]

That's the virtually all should work. I'm still with the separate Region Free BD player crowd. Use the 4K player for 4K discs and maybe Reg A BD if you want, then keep the Multiregion set as B always. Region C locked discs are virtually unheard of on most forums so that's not even a consideration most for most people.

If you have a Panasonic UHD you probably could play most Reg B disc anyway with the Panasonic Tope Menu remote
trick

If the region can be changed with the remote, what's the point of the region?

 

[Worth]

If the region can be changed with the remote, what's the point of the region?

It’s either a mistake or a deliberate hack that someone at Panasonic left in. It also doesn’t work with every disc.

 

[dpippel]

It also doesn’t work with every disc.

Herein lies the rub. When it works it's great. When it doesn't? No watchee. This is why you're much better off with a dedicated region-free player IMO.

 

[David_B_K]

I’ve heard good things about 220 Electronics. I’m looking at a Sony X700, but it doesn’t have particularly good ratings at Amazon, although Crutchfield audio likes it.
I’d love to find one that isn’t hacked.

I have this Sony X700 player from 220 Electronics. I think the Amazon ratings are pretty good - 4-1/2 stars from 2,229 ratings. It is very simple to change the region. When the eject tray is open, you press one of those colored buttons (yellow, blue, red or green) to set the region. I cannot say a lot about how well it works for the long haul because I have only watched one Blu-ray with it. I have tested that it does indeed switch and play region B Blu-rays, plays DVDs of any region, and plays SACD mulitchannel discs as well as files like MP4 files.

Before getting this player, I had a Sony Blu-ray that I used for region A and an Oppo region-hacked player for other regions. As others have said, switching the regions on the Oppo was a bit of a pain, so I just kept in region B/all-region all the time. With the Sony X700 I only need the one player, so I moved the others to other rooms.

 

[LouA]

Thanks for the info. Will most likely with the Sony from 220.

 

[mackjay]

I have the Panasonic UB820 also and the Sony 700x...both very good picture and sound. The Panasonic seems more solidly built and has more setting features....220 Electronics has them region-free

 

[LouA]

I have the Panasonic UB820 also and the Sony 700x...both very good picture and sound. The Panasonic seems more solidly built and has more setting features....220 Electronics has them region-free

Gee , maybe I’ll look into the Panasonic.

 

[SD_Brian]

I have the Sony UBP-X800, modified for multi-region. For the most part it works fine, but there are intermittent issues with playback, where I will put in a disc and see nothing on the screen but a bunch of digital noise. I can fix the problem by removing the disc, shutting off the player, and then pressing the yellow or blue button for the region I want to use. It's annoying, but easily remedied. The other negative on this player is that it does not support Dolby Vision for UHD playback.