I have a Playstation 3 for Blu-Rays and regular dics.
I also have a Phillips DVD player which was bought because it supports SACDs (I run the channels into my receiver’s ’direc’t inputs.)
In addition I have an older Toshiba 4900 DVD player which, according to some websites, is apparently easy to hack into a region-free player, if only I could find a working link for the actual software needed.
Region-free Blu-Ray….don’t know if they exist. Maybe Oppo will make one.
A cheap, working one.
I use a playstation 3. I mostly watch just DVDs and not much blu-ray, but it upscales DVDs very nicely.
I had a PS3 for a while, but got rid of it because it sounded like a jet engine. I currently have a bunch of cheap dvd players, all of which are region-free. I used to have a Linn Movie System which cost about $3000, then I had an Arcam Solo Movie System also about $3000 and I can tell you that in general you’re much better off with a good old Toshiba dvd player for about $100 – you could buy 29 of them and still be saving money on those expensive machines :o) I also have a Toshiba HD-DVD player and about 60 HD-DVDs. I was very sad Toshiba lost the hi-def format war…I thought theirs was a superior product, but I knew Sony would win because Blu-Ray is a catchier name.
A Magnavox region-free DVD player I bought at an online auction for NZ$30. It’s works fine
This here computer… * pats monitor *
I have a Samsung Blu-Ray player with netflix streaming and a Malata DVP520 region free dvd player with pal the ntsc convertor.
to: Rumplesink – I disagree with you about the format war, I think that Blu-ray is far superior to HD-DVD as it can hold a lot more info 25GB per layer vs 15 GB per layer. Also Sony deserved the win as their superior BETAMAX was beaten by the crappy VHS.
A lot of BD DVDs are encoded for ALL REGIONS so I’m not sure how critical a region-free player is.
I myself just have a normal Panasonic Blu-Ray player.
Claus:
Do some more research online. You may not need any software. Just codes that you can punch in when the tray is open. It’s been awhile but I’ve freed up a couple of players this way.
Straw,
Thanks for that; I have heard of the codes, so maybe I can get this one to be ‘universally acceptable’. Just got to find it.
I have a cheap (99$) external dvd player for my computer. It’s my second one. The first started making annoying noises so I got the new one, but I still use the older one to burn copies. Figure it will get me some extra mileage out of the new one. The internal DVD drive on my desktop stopped working long ago.
Before I moved across the country I used to have a Malata all region, but I’m not sure what’s become of it. My younger brother probably nabbed it, and he can’t appreciate the all region capability!!!
iBook G4 :)
Let’s see a lot of shit, that surprisingly still works
Xbox 360 so I can think I’m watching HD
Samsung DVD/VCR Player, not bad except no fucking pause button
A five-year old Windows XP laptop, it works… just barely
and and Ipod Nano with two speakers on either side
The playstation 3 for US and JPN Blue rays and r1 DVD’s
The XBox 360 vor r2 PAL/JPN DVD’s
Sadly my iMac for every region not mentioned above.
Bush Blu-ray, and a multi-region Bush which is currently threatening to do one. Also have a Panasonic which I may have to search out a hack for.
PS3.
@Bº Judge – Yes, the storage capacity of BD is superior, and so is the ideal format if you want to archive lots of information onto disc format. Other than that hd-dvd was superior imo. Even if the quality wasn’t better on hd-dvd it should have triumphed because it didn’t go down the region coding route – which is EVIL.
@Fredo – I would imagine region encoding isn’t too important for someone in the US, but it is extremely important for those of us outside the US, for obvious reasons.
I bought a PS3 a year ago and I’ve only used it for DVDs so far. It just sits their being expensive. Plus it sounds like a vacuum cleaner.
I also have a super-compact Japanese Tico DVD player for Region 2 discs. That one was super cheap and isn’t worth much, but it get the job done.
SONY BD350
PS3 for Blu Rays
Toshiba SD 3990 region free dvd player.
Cyberhome 300, region free. Cheap as hell.
I’m confused about a couple points. I was told by the owner of an electronics store that there was so such thing as a region-free player as such, but that virtually all players could be rendered region-free by looking up the unlock code.
I’ve had no problem playing British DVDs on a region-unlocked American player. But I have friends visiting from Britain who are convinced that it’s more complicated than that going in the opposite direction — something to do with incompatible scan rates and color systems. If they buy Region 1 DVDs here, will they be able to play them on their television if they can figure out how to unlock their player? Failing that, would they be able to at least play them on their Mac?
It’s more complex playing British stuff on American systems than vice versa, because it’s easier to play NTSC stuff on PAL equipment than the other way around apparently. Almost all British DVD players will handle both.
Much less complex now of course. Most big modern TVs handle both. And of course your multi-region players tend to have the PAL<>NTSC thing covered too.
The problem comes when you have a standard Region 1 American DVD player plugged into an older TV and then you order a region free British disc thinking it’ll work with no problems. Then you’ll run into the PAL problem.
But really, it’s much less of a problem than it used to be.
Runy of the mill Sony. Really need a region free player.
Oh, region-free Oppo BDP-83 (mostly for it’s excellent upscaling of DVDs, DLNA, SACD and playback of most stuff from USB – I think it does Blu-Rays too…).
Actualy, DLNA is still a bit dodgy though, so I use a cheap Buffalo thing to stream pretty much everything from the computer (it handles ISOs, all types of music, avis, whatever I can find without transcoding).
Playstation 3 for me.
I have about six DVD players within five feet of me right now.
The one I use is just a regular DVD player. I use it over my computer because my TV has a bigger screen, and over my video game systems so I don’t have to switch it out to play video games when I may be halfway through the film.
I need to get a region free player too.
My PS3 slim is becoming my main Blu-ray player as I moved my other one to the bedroom. As for DVD, my main DVD player is a Phillips (the one from Target or Wal-Mart for $39, that plays Divx) that with a push of a few buttons, becomes an all region player. But I have a lot of DVD players for each room (not inc. game consoles that play DVD).
A cheap Panasonic BD060 is what my family and I use…all I can say is it works. I have to admit I was a little bummed out by not having Netflix on it, but I’ve survived without it.
Redrum4
What kind of DVD player do you have?
I have a blu-ray player, and a separate, cheap, region free dvd player, but am looking for a region free blu ray player