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  1. Hey,
    I was wondering if any of you know of a Blu Ray/ DVD player, that plays Blu Rays, Regular Dvd's and DVD-r, and the most important thing to me it can play both PAL and NTSC. So in a nutshell I'd like it to be able to play blu rays, dvds in both ntsc and pal format. Thanks.
    Last edited by Baldrick; 11th Feb 2010 at 12:42. Reason: Changed the title.
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    Originally Posted by xobituaryx View Post
    Hey,
    I was wondering if any of you know of a Blu Ray/ DVD player, that plays Blu Rays, Regular Dvd's and DVD-r, and the most important thing to me it can play both PAL and NTSC. So in a nutshell I'd like it to be able to play blu rays, dvds in both ntsc and pal format. Thanks.

    just google region free bluray
    simple as that
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  3. Banned
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    It's hard to tell if BluRay players can convert between NTSC and PAL for DVD playback. If you are interested in region free for both DVD and BluRay (such players can indeed do all that you want), you are limited to Momitsu and Oppo. Momitsu is rebranded in various parts of the world and is known as Hiteker in Europe.
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  4. Always Watching guns1inger's Avatar
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    The PS3 can do all that, except that it cannot (yet) be made region free.
    Read my blog here.
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    The brand new Oppo BDP 80 ($200 cheaper than the 83) also plays PAL DVDs and converts the output to NTSC if you want. This doesn't involve any hack or Mods. It's right there on the menus. However, unlike the OPPO DVD players, which were essentially region-free out of the box, the Oppo BluRay players require a hardware mod for region free. There's a DVD-only mod that is a simple plug-in, no cutting or soldering, so it shouldn't create warrantee issues. There's also a hardware mod that makes it region-free for all disks, including BluRay, but that one does involve soldering. Search on "region-free BluRay player" and you'll find all these.
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  6. All European players can output both PAL and NTSC for DVDs, it's part of the DVD region 2 standard. Not all can convert to PAL60 since a lot of TVs can handle an NTSC signal over here.

    BTW: There are no "PAL" or "NTSC" Blu-Rays. They are all encoded to the new standard that doesn't require any legacy information. I have yet to see a new release that wasn't 1080p.

    And most Blu-Ray discs are region free or region A and B. So don't kill yourself looking for a "hackable" Blu Ray player just for Blu-Rays. Do double check though that you can get the DVD part region-free.
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    Are you sure of the "region free or Region A and B" part of your reply? Looking at he disc front cover of "Push" that my friend loaned me to check out my player with and it clearly says "A" on it. Nothing at all about "A and B". What country are you in? Most of the forums I have been on in the past few days with region free player comments seem to say that the discs people are picking up are specifically "A" or "B". No region free discs at all and no "A and B" discs at all. The discs I am most interested in come from the UK and are all listed as "Region B" only. There are no Region "A" releases of the series or movies in question so having a region free BD player is of vital importance.
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  8. Many blu rays out there are region free even when marked otherwise i have purchased several Region A marked discs that play just fine on my Region B ps3....

    check this site.

    http://bluray.liesinc.net/


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  9. I only have one region B locked disc and that is Colo(u)r of Magic. All other blu-ray discs are region free or A + B:
    http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=50447
    http://www.blu-ray.com/
    http://movietyme.blogspot.com/

    In German but you get the drift:
    http://www.bluray-disc.de/blu-ray-filme/the-colour-of-magic-uk-import-ohne-dt-ton-blu-ray-disc

    So far these sites have all been 100% correct.
    Once I found out about the region-freeness of Blu-ray I stopped worrying about it and got a Philips 7300 (not sold in the US I think) that can unlock the DVD region with the remote and I have been very, very happy.
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    From the DTV forum site....many discs are region locked (listed in red). Great that you can find some that aren't. For me though, the titles I am most interested in are definitely region locked. Since you are in Germany, the situation with releases may be different than it is in North America where many studios are still region locking the discs. You will still need one of those region free players if you are a big film collector and like to watch films released in other countries....
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    Originally Posted by dvd3500 View Post
    Once I found out about the region-freeness of Blu-ray I stopped worrying about it and got a Philips 7300 (not sold in the US I think) that can unlock the DVD region with the remote and I have been very, very happy.
    You're happy for now. But do note that many US discs are indeed coded only to region A. And I own a region B BluRay disc from the UK that will only play on region B players, but my Momitsu does the trick. It all depends on what discs you buy and what your interests are, but BluRay discs are hardly region free. Only Asian produced BluRay discs at this time seem to deliberately make themselves able to play in all 3 regions. It's pretty hit and miss with discs made in other parts of the world. Let's just say you've been lucky so far.
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  12. On :
    http://bluray.liesinc.net/
    just over 30% of the Blu-rays are region locked.
    Most of those are US and Canadian releases.

    That means 70% are region free. In fact Region A & B makes up almost 80%

    http://www.blu-ray.com/
    Lists over 40% of their movies (over 1300) as region free, however they also list a ton of movies that are in region A and B.

    Any of the studios that backed HD DVD are almost always region-free, like Warner and Universal.

    You keep talking about "a series" or "a disc" so it's hard to find out when, if ever the movie/series will be released in your region.

    The point is the number of official, legal DVDs that I have been able to find that are completely region free are 7. The Tick Super Ultimate Edition in the UK (which was PAL but region free) and Dune 2 Disc Special edition from the UK (again PAL but region free).

    Every single DVD I have ever seen or purchase was region coded. It was part of the standard.

    While Blu-Ray has region coding, it is OPTIONAL.

    Is region coding a non-issue?
    No
    Is it much easier to deal with than with DVD?
    Yes and no. Yes because when compared to DVD at this time in its life-cycle you can pretty much get the same movie either in your region (and region-locked) or on a region free disc.

    Yes, there are still region-locked discs, but it is a heck of a lot easier finding that out than it was 10 years ago with DVD.

    Finally, if you really, really really want to see a Region B disc and you are in Region A there are lots of ways around it, which has been commented on multiple times.

    The point of my post is to let people know that depending on their tastes, they may not need a region-free Blu-Ray player. They may only need to find the "right" disc (i.e. a region free disc) or a little patience until the movie is release in their region.
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  13. Despite all of the comments about Region-Free players, you'll notice that the OP asked about machines that will play NTSC & PAL, not Region-Free machines.



    Roberta
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    My Curtis DVD 1102 (Momitsu clone) plays NTSC and PAL DVDs as well as DVDs and Blu Rays from all regions. This unit will also do a PAL to NTSC conversion as several people on various forums have said their TVs won't accept a PAL signal, yet their discs display just fine with the Momitsu and clones. It will also accept -+R/RW discs. Sounds like what he needs.

    "just over 30% of the Blu-rays are region locked.
    Most of those are US and Canadian releases.

    That means 70% are region free. In fact Region A & B makes up almost 80%"

    Guess being in Canada, I am out of luck when it comes to region free discs for the most part as the studio releases here are mostly region locked. That's why I got the Curtis. What would be most interesting is the dollar value or amounts of units sold that are region locked vs. no region or multiple region and if that is making a difference in sales. Is it good business practise to release a no region disc in one country vs. a region locked disc in another country? I don't think the producers will answer you that. They haven't up til now....

    "You keep talking about "a series" or "a disc" so it's hard to find out when, if ever the movie/series will be released in your region."

    This IS the problem. I went through some of those lists and the vast majority of discs I wouldn't be interested in BUT there were a few and those few were invariable region locked discs. You can check Amazon and a raft of other places for upcoming releases (I have been using TVshowsonDVD for years) but checking up on the region locking is something relatively new. It's nice though that there are sites up that do so. But even though there are such sites the actual numbers of discs reviewed is based on user reports which is a tiny number of overall discs be they BD or SD DVD. We need a comprehensive list but the producers aren't going to tell you that info. So it goes...
    Last edited by oldfart13; 25th Feb 2010 at 13:20.
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  15. Originally Posted by robertazimmerman View Post
    Despite all of the comments about Region-Free players, you'll notice that the OP asked about machines that will play NTSC & PAL, not Region-Free machines.



    Roberta
    Thanks Roberta, but for Blu-Ray NTSC and PAL are moot. NTSC and PAL are only important for DVD.
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    Blu Ray is only moot if you have a high definition TV. I don't so the question is relavent. I have to downconvert to watch anything that is in High Def whether that be Blu Ray discs or High Def MKVs. One day the price of the TVs will come down to where I want them but they aren't there yet (at least not in my community)....
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  17. Originally Posted by dvd3500 View Post
    Originally Posted by robertazimmerman View Post
    Despite all of the comments about Region-Free players, you'll notice that the OP asked about machines that will play NTSC & PAL, not Region-Free machines.



    Roberta
    Thanks Roberta, but for Blu-Ray NTSC and PAL are moot. NTSC and PAL are only important for DVD.
    Agreed.....and that's why I didn't say Blu-Ray NTSC & PAL.



    R
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  18. Banned
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    Originally Posted by robertazimmerman View Post
    Despite all of the comments about Region-Free players, you'll notice that the OP asked about machines that will play NTSC & PAL, not Region-Free machines.



    Roberta
    Not helpful at all. Yes we know. So what? Considering how important DVD region coding is, it's a valid response in thread, especially considering that some follows up did mention it.
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  19. Originally Posted by oldfart13 View Post
    Blu Ray is only moot if you have a high definition TV..
    I have a widescreen analog (CRT) TV. I have played US and European Blu-Rays and HD DVDs on it with no problem. Your system downscales the HD signal to your standard signal. i.e. 1080p -> 480i or 1080p to -> 576i .
    Thererfore moot...
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  20. Originally Posted by oldfart13 View Post
    We need a comprehensive list but the producers aren't going to tell you that info. So it goes...
    Thank goodness for this interwebby thingy, eh?

    If it's on the Internet it must be true!
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