• Most new users don't bother reading our rules. Here's the one that is ignored almost immediately upon signup: DO NOT ASK FOR FANEDIT LINKS PUBLICLY. First, read the FAQ. Seriously. What you want is there. You can also send a message to the editor. If that doesn't work THEN post in the Trade & Request forum. Anywhere else and it will be deleted and an infraction will be issued.
  • If this is your first time here please read our FAQ and Rules pages. They have some useful information that will get us all off on the right foot, especially our Own the Source rule. If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to one of our staff for further details.
  • Please read our Rules & Guidelines

quality region-free blu-ray players

ThrowgnCpr

awol
Staff member
Messages
15,090
Reaction score
36
Trophy Points
133
anyone have any suggestions for quality region free blu-ray players? Need to finally buy a player, but I want to be able to import stuff, as I do with a lot of DVD material. Looks like you can get mod kits for Oppo players, but I don't want to spend that much. any suggestions?
 

ThrowgnCpr

awol
Staff member
Messages
15,090
Reaction score
36
Trophy Points
133
funny coincidence. I see Jay suggested the Oppo player with the region mod kit. I've read that's easy to do, and Oppo is known for stellar quality, but I don't really want to dump a ton of money into this (that option would probably be $500-$600)
 

AvP

Well-known member
Faneditor
Cover Artist
Messages
3,199
Reaction score
3
Trophy Points
53
I think most films are region free.
 

lpd

Well-known member
Messages
297
Reaction score
0
Trophy Points
21
yeah these days most Blu ray discs are region free, I like Panasonics, usually good at picture quality and upscaling standard dvd's, the older models can be picked up for buttons these days as everyone gets the 3D versions now. What ever you end up getting double check it'll play AVCHD as some dont. PS3's are not region free.
Ebay's a good place for the cheap.
 

reave

Well-known member
Staff member
Messages
4,404
Reaction score
207
Trophy Points
68
I would guess that some players would have a hack, like a lot of dvd players do.

Most discs are region free now.

PS3 is the best value for a high quality BD player, imho. You can get a new 160gb version for 249.
 

dark jedi

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
441
Reaction score
0
Trophy Points
26
PS3 is a good value for the money, but unfortunately are not region free, the cheapest region free players are the Insignias from Best Buy, but then you would have to roll back to an earlier firmware update, the later versions have taken the region free away, I think there are 2 different models, and Best Buy carries or at least did, carry both models, and last I checked, which was a few months ago, they were in the $75-$90 range.
 

elbarto1

Well-known member
Faneditor
Cover Artist
Messages
3,629
Reaction score
1
Trophy Points
53
like most users have mentioned - most BR's are region free - but like DVD theres always a handful of quality titles that just plain arent available and/or have nicer releases in other regions.
I learned that the ps3 isnt region free the hard way when I imported a UK copy of Battle Royale only to find it wasnt playable. I then had to hunt down the fancier limited edition version that was region free but at a much heftier price.
 

TM2YC

Take Me To Your Cinema
Staff member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
14,871
Reaction score
2,384
Trophy Points
228
Has anybody bought a region-free Blu-Ray player recently? and would reccomend it?

I was looking at something like this.

I've now got enough regionA-locked titles in my collection, that only being able to play on my Laptop is getting annoying.
 

Kal-El

Well-known member
Messages
4,331
Reaction score
17
Trophy Points
43
Looks good actually :) I do agree that most Blu's come region free nowadays. The last ones I had imported was the Highlander TV seasons 1 through 3 set, and they were A and B compatible.

Usually I just check blu-ray.com to see if anyone confirmed a specific region. But a region-free player next to my PS3 would be handy :)
 

ThrowgnCpr

awol
Staff member
Messages
15,090
Reaction score
36
Trophy Points
133
yeah, I'm glad to see this thread brought back from the grave.
 

sgp1428

Well-known member
Messages
133
Reaction score
5
Trophy Points
23
I may be wrong here but in the UK it seems that any all zones (Zones A, B etc) Blu ray players are chipped by a third party meaning you couldn't buy a all zone player direct from Sony, Samsung or whoever but only from a supplier who has access to these modified units..... DVD Regions are a different story, region 1, 2, 3, etc can be changed to region free without major modification.
 

TM2YC

Take Me To Your Cinema
Staff member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
14,871
Reaction score
2,384
Trophy Points
228
sgp1428 said:
I may be wrong here but in the UK it seems that any all zones (Zones A, B etc) Blu ray players are chipped by a third party meaning you couldn't buy a all zone player direct from Sony, Samsung or whoever but only from a supplier who has access to these modified units..... DVD Regions are a different story, region 1, 2, 3, etc can be changed to region free without major modification.

Yes that's what I've discovered. There seems to be a range of decent looking hardware-modded players on Amazon (Like the one I linked too above) with this "ICOS" chip. Apparently it still works regardless of future firmware upgrades.

A bog standard Region-B Blu-Ray player is about £50 and these modded ones retail for £150-£200. So they aren't cheap but if it works right, I'll take the hit I guess.
 

Vultural

Well-known member
Donor
Messages
3,073
Reaction score
3
Trophy Points
43
For years, I bought my players direct from Hong Kong.
The last one I got, however, was from eBay.
The unit was tweaked out to play all regions and codes.
Think I paid about $250 - $300, and that included a three year Square Trade warranty.
As a rule, I seldom buy extended warranties, but I make exceptions for modified hardware.
 

TM2YC

Take Me To Your Cinema
Staff member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
14,871
Reaction score
2,384
Trophy Points
228
519G6ZbxGCL._SX450_.jpg


I got this region-free BR player from Amazon in the end (It was about twice the price of the same player un-modded. But I was okay with that). I've been playing with it this morning and so far, it works perfectly :).

DVDs from all regions play as normal (As this is a simple software mod I believe), while Blu-Ray playback requires you to select which of the 3 regions (A/B/C) you are going to use before turning the player on. You do this by either pressing the yellow/blue/red buttons on your remote to switch the player on. So instead of pressing the on button, you just press one of those three. So it's practically no different to unchipped operation.

So I can fully reccomend these ICOS modded Sony BR players (Other brands are probably good too) to anyone who is thinking of buying a region-free player. I purchased from MULTI-SYSTEM ELECTRONICS through the Amazon marketplace. Great service and super quick delivery.
 

TV's Frink

You Catch On Pretty Quick
Staff member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
23,676
Reaction score
406
Trophy Points
193
Every time I see this thread title pop up, I think it's spam until I see who made it.

At which point I know it's spam.
 

Jrzag42

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
4,000
Reaction score
1,019
Trophy Points
138
For the second time I just bought a secondhand dvd without checking the region, only to find it not working on my shitty old (10+ years by now) Toshiba blu ray player. I need to find a cheap region free (or at least region 2) player. I don't know where to begin looking for one. Right now buying stuff in person is preferable. Is there a good way to tell that a player is region free just by looking at it (unboxed)? I have no idea what I'm doing.
 
Top Bottom