Home Video (VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, 4k)

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What’s the cheapest/easiest way to get a non-region locked Blu Ray player? (lemmy.world)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have a couple of Eureka! releases - “Region B” - that I’d like to watch. My (US) PS4 won’t play them, and apparently there’s a limited number of times you can change the region on it.

I see that Blu Ray drive peripherals exist for computers, but my TV is my computer monitor and a separate player seems like a smarter option.

I don’t tend to buy things new, and get most of my tech from thrifting. Are there any particular brands of Blu Ray players that are more likely to be region free? Is there a quick way of looking at a Blu Ray player and determining what region it can play?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Using a PC

I can emulate any region I want if a disk is region protected.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 17 minutes ago

When I'm away from home, I watch blurays with my laptop, an external BD drive and PowerDVD. You can only change Blu-ray regions five times but there are a couple of PowerDVD system files to delete and this resets the counter.

After researching, it seems Blu-ray drives are all region free but it's the software/firmware of the device controlling it that determines the region settings.

This does not apply to DVDs where the region settings is in the drives firmware but can be bypassed with things like AnyDVD I think.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I don't know about "cheap", but 220 Electronics is known to sell region-free Blu-ray players.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

I bought my multiregional Blu-ray player from them - reliable and the best price I could find when shopping around.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

I can also vouch for them. I'm very happy with the Panasonic DP-UB820 I bought from them.

[–] CobraChicken3000 2 points 4 days ago

Same as EMPEROR, I purchased my Sony UBP-x800m2 from them and, even though it was not cheap, I use it nearly every day (including Region B discs). So, I would say that it was worth it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I believe all 4K blu ray players are region free. I have a Samsung from 6 years ago and it plays 3 regions of 4k discs I have just fine. I want to upgrade to a Panasonic DPUB820K and that seems like it will be the same.

Though maybe it's 4k blu rays aren't region locked?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Though maybe it's 4k blu rays aren't region locked?

Yes, this is correct. The discs are region-free, not the player.

And if you want, 220 Electronics is selling a region-free version of the Panasonic UB820.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

I see that Blu Ray drive peripherals exist for computers, but my TV is my computer monitor and a separate player seems like a smarter option.

Wouldn't it be smarter to just use the PC that is already connected to the TV? It would be easier to find one that isn't region locked and would likely also be cheaper than a standalone. Assuming it's a desktop you could put a front bay drive into, anyway.