Sony BDPS790 Blu-Ray player and PAL DVDs

[AlexQcCa]

Hello!

I own many PAL Region 0 DVDs (legal DVDs) and they played well with my old Samsung DVD player.

When I upgraded to Blu-Ray my first 2 players (cheap brand and then Samsung) could not play my PAL discs. I tested with my TV a 3rd player the LG BP730 and this one read my PAL discs but the player is slot loading instead of tray loading which is a deal breaker for me.

I think the Sony BDPS790 would be a great player but I'm not sure it can read PAL region 0 DVDs.

Anyone can confirm if it can play PAL? If it does not play, do you know a tray loading player that do? I found the OPPO BDP-103 but it's a bit pricy for me.

Thanks!

[jman98]

I commend you for asking. NOTHING Sony or Samsung makes or sells in NTSC land can be made to play PAL discs or be made region free.

You'll need to admit what country you live in to get specific help and tell whether you just want DVD region free ability or also need Blu Ray region free ability. Philips still makes some cheap DVD players that can be made region free, although not all of their models have this ability.

[AlexQcCa]

I don't need region free. Region 0 should play anywhere without anything special. My problem is that PAL discs don't play even if the hardware can play it. It seem that some companies just lock this "feature" for whatever reason...

[johns0]

The only way you can play pal videos on that sony blu ray player is to convert them to mkv/mp4/avi and put them on a usb drive or burn to data disc

[jman98]

I don't need region free. Region 0 should play anywhere without anything special. My problem is that PAL discs don't play even if the hardware can play it. It seem that some companies just lock this "feature" for whatever reason...

I wrote THREE sentences above. Read them again carefully.

You didn't tell me where you live. No recommendation for you.

Yes, in the USA and Canada there are 2 things going on. The first is that there is a presumption that NOBODY would ever want to see PAL videos as that's stuff that might be in (gasp!) other languages or be those crazy movies that have plot instead of just blowing stuff up. Destruction good. Plot bad. The second is that Hollywood literally does NOT want you to buy ANY DVDs or BluRays from foreign markets for a variety of reasons, most of which are crazy but a few actually have logic behind them (ie. they license films in foreign markets for those markets only and don't want you buying discs outside your region and thus cut out the local supplier who paid good money for the rights to sell it to you where you live). I'm American so I can say this, but Americans in general are xenophobic and fear "weird" foreign cultures, so honestly the number of people who want to see movies from PAL countries is pretty low. I have no trouble finding friends who REFUSE to watch ANY movie that is subtitled. That British movie from a few years ago "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" could be called "wildly successful" in the US market. Care to guess how much it made here in the theaters? Just over $46 million. And it was a big hit compared to typical foreign films AND it was in English. This just illustrates how few people here care about anything that isn't Uh-mer-i-kan.

[AlexQcCa]

Yeah sorry I read fast and English is not my main language. I'm a French-Canadian so I'm "one of the few" in Region 1 that don't only watch "local" (USA) content.

I know that my PAL DVDs are something "weird" here, but the music label who make these shows on DVD often only release them on PAL region 0 DVDs thus my quest to find a Blu-Ray player with the same features as my 7 years old DVD player.

I just ordered an Oppo BDP-103 which will do all that I want (and it's made in USA I think).

[turk690]

I know that my PAL DVDs are something "weird" here, but the music label who make these shows on DVD often only release them on PAL region 0 DVDs thus my quest to find a Blu-Ray player with the same features as my 7 years old DVD player.

The vast majority of TVs for sale in North America can't display PAL/25fps. Since you said you were successful playing PAL DVDs before, was that outside North America or do you have a TV that displays PAL/25fps?
Some Philips blu-ray players sold in USA/Canada convert PAL DVDs to NTSC on the fly. But they may only read region 1 or no-region DVDs. But that is an exception. I have two older Sony BDP-S370 players, one intended for use in region A areas, and another for region B. The one for region A plays only blu-ray A or DVD region 1, or no-region code for both, and only if they are 29.97fps or 24fps. The other plays region B or no-region blu-ray, and all regions DVD, as well as all legal frame rates associated with both (29.97, 25, 24).

[turk690]

I just ordered an Oppo BDP-103 which will do all that I want (and it's made in USA I think).

It's also Cinavia-infested.

[_Al_]

Some nerdy/boyscout solution to play PAL DVD's in NTSC country on TV, you do not have to take it seriously even though it works:

If you have home network and some media player with network capabilities situated by your TV, install AnyDVD on your PC, put DVD inside your PC optical drive, that drive has to have sharing enabled or just share VIDEO_TS (you can set it like that permanently even there is no DVD inside) and your network player will load it and play on any TV over your network. It works, especially with no Hollywood DVD's not that desperately protected DVD's. User of that PC might not even notice that somebody is playing that DVD on that PC, because DVD playback will not take much resources, less than BD.

[Constant Gardener]

You don't even need that. Connect PC to TV, play PAL R2 DVD with VLC, which doesn't worry about region. Or you can buy a cheap Philips BDP2900 Blu-Ray player, with a verified hack. It evidently converts PAL to something that plays over HDMI; my TV claims the input is at 60 Hz.

I'm using an old gaming computer to play Blu-Ray discs with included-with-drive Power DVD (older discs; it chokes on new ones) since the family PS3 stopped playing Blu-Ray. Soon I'll add AnyDVD, or fix the PS3. PAL R2 discs are handled by a seven-year-old Oppo. The Philips is attached to another TV and so far plays everything.

[_Al_]

sure, I meant solution for not moving devices and laptops from ordinary, regular places at home and play that DVD,..., old stations could be noisy, and it is somehow clunkier solution as oppose you have that media player already there ...

[jman98]

I just ordered an Oppo BDP-103 which will do all that I want (and it's made in USA I think).

It's also Cinavia-infested.

Completely and utterly irrelevant to his needs. And legally Oppo has no choice - the spec now requires this. To comply, the MUST implement it.

And as I have pointed out before, people could actually (gasp!) buy movies instead of copying them for free and their bought copies will work anyway. So don't get your panties in a wad about a problem the original poster may not ever face or care about.

[AlexQcCa]

Yeah when I was young I copied everything because I didn't had the money to afford all I wanted. Now I work and have good pay and when I want something I buy it. This way I have support, it (hopefully) always work, don't need to pass countless hours to convert or play correctly and support the companies who make the product possible. IMO, when you pirate something you don't have the right to complain about anything (just like when you don't go vote to elections). So all these "region free" issues are not an issue for me. I only buy legal stuff that is available where I live. It just happen that I like foreign music made by small European label who only release PAL region 0 DVDs.

I only had Canadian TVs my whole life. I guess the were all NTSC only until maybe my current one (newer "smart" TVs that are more a computer than a TV). So I guess my cheap players did the PAL to NTSC conversion on the fly in the past.

[_Al_]

I only buy legal stuff that is available where I live. It just happen that I like foreign music made by small European label who only release PAL region 0 DVDs.

They don't even bother with protection there, not sure how it is with those french ones though, and DVD's can be really cheap, even less than $2 or so. DVD's keep audios of original spoken language. DVD sleeve is simple hard paper so it doesn't need too much space for storage or transport.

[turk690]

I just ordered an Oppo BDP-103 which will do all that I want (and it's made in USA I think).

It's also Cinavia-infested.

Completely and utterly irrelevant to his needs. And legally Oppo has no choice - the spec now requires this. To comply, the MUST implement it.

Ok I take that back; my mind wandered....;-( What I really meant to say was: can this Oppo play PAL/25fps DVD/BD and convert it to NTSC on the fly? I read reviews and specs but it's hard to glean from them if this unit can. That's totally relevant to what the OP needs, n'est-ce pas?

[AlexQcCa]

From the Oppo BDP-103 specs page:

PAL/NTSC Conversion - The BDP-103 supports NTSC and PAL systems for both disc playback and video output. It can also convert content of one system for output in another.

Universal Power Supply - The BDP-103 features a wide-range world power supply that is compatible with AC power from all regions. No worries about damaging the player due to incorrect power voltage.

I will receive it next Monday. Will update post with "true" results.

[hech54]

From the Oppo BDP-103 specs page:

PAL/NTSC Conversion - The BDP-103 supports NTSC and PAL systems for both disc playback and video output. It can also convert content of one system for output in another.

Universal Power Supply - The BDP-103 features a wide-range world power supply that is compatible with AC power from all regions. No worries about damaging the player due to incorrect power voltage.

I will receive it next Monday. Will update post with "true" results.

I don't own anything "Oppo" but:
"true results"?
If your old Samsung did exactly this....why would you doubt this once easy-to-find feature?

[hech54]

Oh and you better hope your DVDs really are "region free".
Have you read this on the Oppo site?

PAL/NTSC Conversion - The BDP-103 supports NTSC and PAL systems for both disc playback and video output. It can also convert content of one system for output in another. (Subject to DVD and BD region restrictions.)

[AlexQcCa]

I don't really doubt, but will be 100% sure when I see it.

[AlexQcCa]

Yeah I'm sure it's written Region 0 or Region All on all of the packaging. They always worked well on my computer (without any special software).

[jman98]

I'm not claiming to have any personal experience with this, but just reporting what I read. A web search will list hardware mods for the Oppo BDP-103 should AlexQcCa need to do that. But if his DVDs are really region free then he should be OK.

[AlexQcCa]

My new Oppo BDP-103 rocks! It does everything I need to do (plays PAL & NTSC as long as the region is OK). The picture quality is beyond what I expected. Regular DVD are upscaled to almost Blu-Ray quality. With the big companies "high end" players I tested it was not even close to what I have now.