Why do people crave region-free Blu Ray players?

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rkrpxz

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A lot of posts in this forum are about people wanting to buy region-free Blu Ray players or hacking/modding their current Blu Ray players to make them region-free. Do people really buy DVDs and BDs from many different countries / regions?

Initially, I started going down the same route (trolling these forums for tips/advice about region-free BD players), but I'm rethinking this now. Currently, I have only one Blu Ray disc (actually the entire Star Wars set, so that counts as more than one, I guess) and many (approx. 100) DVDs. Almost all the DVDs were purchased in the US.

Recently, I checked out the Sony S490 Blu Ray player in Reliance Digital. It was able to play my Blu Ray disc as well as two of my DVDs (all purchased in the US) without any problems.

Currently, I do not foresee buying DVDs / BDs from countries other than India or USA. So, my question is: in my situation, do I really need to buy a region-free Blu Ray player or will the S490 suffice?

Thanks in advance for any tips / pointers.
 
Most of the disks are region free so they will play in a BDP bought here. But there are many forum members here who import BDs from amazon UK which are sometimes region B locked like the LOTR extended edition. UK price is comparatively lower than Indian and US price. Also amazon uk will ship to India. So it makes sense to go for a region free bdp, or a bdp that can be made region free later.

Most of my movies are in mkv format so I sold my BDP. Recently I bought a BD writer and with the help of AnyDVD HD I can play any region disks on my HTPC. If you have a PC you can invest in a BD writer.
 
rkrpxz said:
A lot of posts in this forum are about people wanting to buy region-free Blu Ray players or hacking/modding their current Blu Ray players to make them region-free. Do people really buy DVDs and BDs from many different countries / regions?

Initially, I started going down the same route (trolling these forums for tips/advice about region-free BD players), but I'm rethinking this now. Currently, I have only one Blu Ray disc (actually the entire Star Wars set, so that counts as more than one, I guess) and many (approx. 100) DVDs. Almost all the DVDs were purchased in the US.

Recently, I checked out the Sony S490 Blu Ray player in Reliance Digital. It was able to play my Blu Ray disc as well as two of my DVDs (all purchased in the US) without any problems.

Currently, I do not foresee buying DVDs / BDs from countries other than India or USA. So, my question is: in my situation, do I really need to buy a region-free Blu Ray player or will the S490 suffice?

Thanks in advance for any tips / pointers.
Click to expand...

baijuxavior said:
Most of the disks are region free so they will play in a BDP bought here. But there are many forum members here who import BDs from amazon UK which are sometimes region B locked like the LOTR extended edition. UK price is comparatively lower than Indian and US price. Also amazon UK will ship to India. So it makes sense to go for a region free BDP, or a bdp that can be made region free later.

Most of my movies are in mkv format so I sold my BDP. Recently I bought a BD writer and with the help of AnyDVD HD I can play any region disks on my HTPC. If you have a PC you can invest in a BD writer.
Click to expand...

Ahh! One of my THE FAVOURITE topic again. :)

"rkrpxz" asked a very moot question - "why"? The answer is perhaps multi-fold but as I suspect, the real answer is somewhat psychological in nature. People like to be free of bondage of any kind. People don't like to wear seat belts in car and even much less on a flight. As soon as a flight lands and seat belt sign is OFF there is a unison of clinks/clanks/snaps heard all around. Hey people, what's the rush? Consumers in USA, Europe, ANZ, etc. who rarely travel or import discs are very happy with the region locked players because most of them do not even know what region code is - people in USA most of all. Forget region code, they do not know that there is stuff known as NTSC and PAL and SECAM. Basically, these are people who are living in the Matrix.

For people who are world travellers, buy or import from various parts of the world, the region/zone locking becomes a great hindrance. Imagine paying for something that you cannot consume? So for such people the "region free" context is important. But you should not go by the opinion on the forums. Forums like ours is a community where the number of members to the worldwide consumers is like a drop in the ocean. You will find that members in any AV forum like ours dedicated to plasma, addicted to "region free" stuff, bashers to brands such as Bose, etc. while the majority will buy LEDs (not that LED is worse off to plasma, please :)), buy the cheapest players, going the HTiB way from likes of Sony, Samsung, LG, etc. Basically, people are not technology oriented - they want plug and play - who would like to be challenged by connecting a full-fledged AVR to separate components?

So back to the question? Is region-free player really necessary? A big "NO" and a small "YES". 99% of the people do not need a region free player. You (rkrpxz) have put your specifications properly. You say that you have discs from USA only and do not foresee buying anything in future. BD Players sold in India are locked to Zone C for BD and (usually) region-free for DVDs. So in your case, as long as status quo does not alter, you are quite safe to go with the Sony.

But my own case is diametrically different. I travel a lot. I buy a lot - from almost everywhere. I import a fair bit. Even then I survived with a Region A/1 player (my Sony) for over 3 years. This is because in general over 80% of BDs are region free and I made sure that I purchased either Region A or region-free BDs. For DVDs, my Sony BDP-S360 still could not play Region 2 DVDs but I managed because I had (still have) the region-free DVDP (Pioneer DV-301K). But I still craved for a situation where I could buy/import anything I liked (human psychology back to play). Hence I got the Panasonic DMP-BDT220 and made it region free by firmware update.

But buying region-free player is not the only solution. Often the cost of a region-free player (or making it region free by DIY) is fairly expensive. I often suggest to people that they can buy two players - one for Region A and other for Region B (Region C really does not matter). The cost will turn out more or less the same and there are no hassles involved. The only disadvantage is that there is additional equipment to manage.
 
I totally agree, I am surviving even with a Region C player (same S490). As it is already mentioned that 80% plus movies are region free. The out of the balance another 5% are either region free in US or UK. So approx 10-15% are Region locked due to various reason. Primary reason for importing the same is that they are normally cheap outside and also the availability of titles are much better. So even if you order some title from abroad, just refer the title in forum like Blu-ray.com and you'll know whether it is region free or not (BTW, Warner, one of the biggest studio, always releases Region free). So for movies which are region locked can either be bought in India (whenever available) or you can go for the DVD (if it is region free).

But are you sure that your player S490 is region free for DVD (or may be the DVD you are having are region free)? As far as I know S490 is region locked for DVD as well, but can be made region free for DVD by remote hack.
 
I really doubt that.. I tested a DVD I got as part of HUGO Blu Ray triple play (3D BD+2D BD+ DVD). The BD was region free. The DVD was Region 1 and was giving region code error. I got URC-3940 Remote from Flipkart and made it Region free by the Remote hack available online for all Sony BD players. Now it is playing the DVD.

I have a feeling though the DVD was marked as Region-1, still it is region free hence it played on your S490. There might be some other DVD which it might refuse to play.

In any case if it can play all other region DVDs then you are saved from the hassle of buying a URC (costs between 700-1000). ;)
 
When region coding was implemented for the first time in DVDs, it was rather simple. The DVD player sent a "question" to the DVD to check its region code. The region code in the DVD was encoded into the first sector. The laser read the DVD region code and sent a reply back to the player. If the player's region code and the DVD's region code matched, the DVD could be played. So too, if either of the two were region-free, the DVD could be played. Next it was dependent upon the PAL and NTSC but I will not get into those details. This type of region coding could be easily fooled or overcome by software. All the software had to do was to "change" the region code of the DVD drive. This was achieved by sending a few signals from the remote. Some DVD players were built region-free and needed no further such codes (hacks).

On the other hand, the blu-ray zone coding is more robust and somewhat "immune" to such hacks. The blu-ray zone code is embedded into the hardware of the device circuits and not the drive. The zone checking method is the same. But it is no more possible to alter region code as easily as that with the DVD player. The sophisticated region code mechansism can implement multiple region codes for different content in the same disc. Blu-ray zone free mods use additional piggy-back PCBs that bypass the region/zone checking mechanism. Players such as from Panasonic and Toshiba use firmware to verify region codes. By hacking the firmware, the region/zone code can be altered.

Refer: http://www.eclipsedata.com/PDFs/080828 BD Region Code Analysis - Informational.pdf
 
manoj.p said:
Because people always crave anything that's not easily available, thinking it will be good when they need it. :lol:
Click to expand...

Yes very true.
I recently got a very good LG BP 420 player free with my HT system.It is very good in terms of streaming movies from HDD,external HDD playback ,3D playback, internet connectivity etc .. but just for the fact that it is not a region free player It was always playing in my mind to sell the existing player or buy a new region free player for the proposed region locked blu rays which God knows how many I would get in future.

Finally thanks to the forum , I'm happy that I have decided to retain the existing player and be smart while selecting blurays purchase in future :) :)
 
harshi_n said:
Yes very true.
Finally thanks to the forum , I'm happy that I have decided to retain the existing player and be smart while selecting blurays purchase in future :) :)
Click to expand...

That is the right/ wise decision, in fact very soon many studios might go the Warner way of releasing the titles Region free, as they have nothing to loose, specially if it is an old release. Only in very few latest release, they might loose some theatrical revenue if the movie is not released in some parts of the world, but the number of titles being imported to such places is so minimal, that you can count it as nil loss of revenue. These days it is digital prints that are being beamed in the cinema halls, so it is easier to distribute, so the releases across world happens almost simultaneously (max 1-2 months gap and shrinking rapidly). Hence there is hardly any release that happens after the Home video release (which normally happens after 3-4 months of the theatrical release) in any parts of the world nowadays.

So bottom line is if the studios becomes wise they will be releasing the title region free for easier and better distribution.
 
manzb said:
That is the right/ wise decision, in fact very soon many studios might go the Warner way of releasing the titles Region free, as they have nothing to loose, specially if it is an old release. Only in very few latest release, they might loose some theatrical revenue if the movie is not released in some parts of the world, but the number of titles being imported to such places is so minimal, that you can count it as nil loss of revenue. These days it is digital prints that are being beamed in the cinema halls, so it is easier to distribute, so the releases across world happens almost simultaneously (max 1-2 months gap and shrinking rapidly). Hence there is hardly any release that happens after the Home video release (which normally happens after 3-4 months of the theatrical release) in any parts of the world nowadays.

So bottom line is if the studios becomes wise they will be releasing the title region free for easier and better distribution.
Click to expand...
Some pointers:
1. Not just Warner. Paramount, Sony, Columbia, Tristar, Disney (99%), Pixar, Universal, etc. are all releasing region-free BDs.
2. Surprisingly new movies are being released mostly (98%) region free while older movies are region locked.
3. Movies that tend to have "sensitive/controversial/restricted/adult" are more likely to be region locked. As I stated in my [post=470021]previous post[/post], parts of BD can be region locked. Thus the BD may have the full content and bits and pieces locked out wrt regional policies.
4. Of course, some studios may just keep releasing region locked BDs only.
 
Thad E Ginathom said:
Imagine if they'd thought up this region nonsense for music CDs!
Click to expand...

Thank God that they didn't.

The restriction on hdtracks download location does irritate me but then that is a different issue.

For the OP, I have DVDs from various countries and now the same will happen in future with BluRays too. I have recently bought a region free BluRay player.
 
Last edited:
Phew! It is so much easier with an HTPC - just install anydvd hd or makemkv and just play any bluray from whatever region without having to worry about what region the bluray drive is!
 
^^ I'm enjoying my HTPC with blu-ray writer and anydvd hd. Tried Step UP 3D borrowed from forum member 'krishnendu'. I tried TMT5, but in 3D mode the display goes blank. So tried WinDVD 11 and the 3D experience is great.

With anydvd hd, I have to manually select the blu-ray region even if the software is set to automatically detect the region. Once the region is entered it is remembered by anydvd for future.
 
just4kix said:
Ahh! One of my THE FAVOURITE topic again. :)

"rkrpxz" asked a very moot question - "why"? The answer is perhaps multi-fold but as I suspect, the real answer is somewhat psychological in nature. People like to be free of bondage of any kind. People don't like to wear seat belts in car and even much less on a flight. As soon as a flight lands and seat belt sign is OFF there is a unison of clinks/clanks/snaps heard all around. Hey people, what's the rush? Consumers in USA, Europe, ANZ, etc. who rarely travel or import discs are very happy with the region locked players because most of them do not even know what region code is - people in USA most of all. Forget region code, they do not know that there is stuff known as NTSC and PAL and SECAM. Basically, these are people who are living in the Matrix.

For people who are world travellers, buy or import from various parts of the world, the region/zone locking becomes a great hindrance. Imagine paying for something that you cannot consume? So for such people the "region free" context is important. But you should not go by the opinion on the forums. Forums like ours is a community where the number of members to the worldwide consumers is like a drop in the ocean. You will find that members in any AV forum like ours dedicated to plasma, addicted to "region free" stuff, bashers to brands such as Bose, etc. while the majority will buy LEDs (not that LED is worse off to plasma, please :)), buy the cheapest players, going the HTiB way from likes of Sony, Samsung, LG, etc. Basically, people are not technology oriented - they want plug and play - who would like to be challenged by connecting a full-fledged AVR to separate components?

So back to the question? Is region-free player really necessary? A big "NO" and a small "YES". 99% of the people do not need a region free player. You (rkrpxz) have put your specifications properly. You say that you have discs from USA only and do not foresee buying anything in future. BD Players sold in India are locked to Zone C for BD and (usually) region-free for DVDs. So in your case, as long as status quo does not alter, you are quite safe to go with the Sony.

But my own case is diametrically different. I travel a lot. I buy a lot - from almost everywhere. I import a fair bit. Even then I survived with a Region A/1 player (my Sony) for over 3 years. This is because in general over 80% of BDs are region free and I made sure that I purchased either Region A or region-free BDs. For DVDs, my Sony BDP-S360 still could not play Region 2 DVDs but I managed because I had (still have) the region-free DVDP (Pioneer DV-301K). But I still craved for a situation where I could buy/import anything I liked (human psychology back to play). Hence I got the Panasonic DMP-BDT220 and made it region free by firmware update.

But buying region-free player is not the only solution. Often the cost of a region-free player (or making it region free by DIY) is fairly expensive. I often suggest to people that they can buy two players - one for Region A and other for Region B (Region C really does not matter). The cost will turn out more or less the same and there are no hassles involved. The only disadvantage is that there is additional equipment to manage.
Click to expand...

Hi,..even i have bought Pana BDT-220 ( Region A) yesterday...can you pls tell me how did u made your region free !!
 
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