Multiregion BluRay?

Before going to blu ray I always went for multi region. Bought back a few DVDs from the States when visiting and occasionally imported. Now I'm not bothered. My blu ray plays nearly all my old DVDs. Such good value - I have two Sony models BDP S550 and S350. Still selling. Best prices £243 and £125 respectively. If you have to pay over £500 for a multi region that's a lot of imports you need to get to justify the extra or you have a lot of non region 2 in stock.
 
This is my problem - I have an extensive DVD library of R1/2/3/4 titles... that part isn't an issue (you can easily get a region locked BluRay that's region free for DVD)

My BluRay collection (when I start it) will inevitably stretch to stuff outside Zone B simply because that's the way I am. The whole region coding thing is a barrier to trade - as found by the Governments of both Australia and New Zealand (it's actually declared illegal in NZ) - I'm being denied the freedom to watch Japanese movies :evil: Oh well that's probably me off BluRay until there is a region free player at £sensible.
 
It surely won't be long.
When watching films (not that I have many) I'm not convinced that the quality is much better than ordinary DVDs - which are pretty good anyway.
I have several operas in blu ray. These are stunning. Have no idea why they seem so much better than general films.
I still have my multi region players - just in case.
 
Upscaling DVD playertastic!

It's an LG DVX492H - which wasn't multiregion when I bought it (£40) - but it is now... and it only cost me a blank CD-R to do the multiregioning :)

Compared to non-HDMI connection it was fab at "standard" resolution, but cranking it up to 1080p - it's sock-removing stuff.
 
Well done!

Although I have blu ray I am not convinced it was worth the bother. And the blu ray DVDs! What a palaver. It seems to take so long for a film to start! From the moment you put the disc in there are additional little routines that seem to go on for ever. With the old VCRs you had much more control. This is one area of new technology that is not an improvement in the watching experience.

I think you have done the right thing for now.
 
Further update - just tried playing a DivX file from the USB (Top Gear Australia if you must know) and it's pretty damned fine at that too.... £39.97 at Tescos (normal price £47.97 / Asda £50 / Amazon £70+) - a winner if ever there was one.
 
Just for info when you move down the BluRay path there's a couple of internet falsehoods to make clear.
when outputting native 1080p/24 one player is as good as any other a £1000 Denon will look exactly the same as the £99 Philips Richer Sounds are selling. (Have a look at the recent blind test done on AV Forums for loads of techy stuff on this if that floats ya boat!)

The Sony 350 (or the new 360) came out tops in their test (Mostly for SD up-scaling and Audio reproduction) I have a 350 and can't fault it's performance.

A lot of Blu-Rays are region Free It's seems to be a certain studio and distribution rights getting in the way that causes region coding to rear it's ugly head.

Here <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://movietyme.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://movietyme.blogspot.com/</a><!-- m --> and <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/</a><!-- m --> for good info on whether a disk is region coded.
 
hunnymonster said:
Thanks for that - pain in the bum having to check the titles - kind of puts the kybosh on any impulse purchases... even with mobile web access there's a lot of scrolling etc required :(
Click to expand...


It does, but because there is no PAL/NTSC 50hz v 60hz crap any more you'll find that most Region free releases are identical to the US Zone A counterparts right down to having the FBI and US ratings on screen at start-up and not the UK ones. The only US disks I buy these days are the rare ones with a lot more extras but still Region Free, or movies which have yet to get a UK release, again quite rare.
 
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£50 HMV instore, crazy.
 
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