Will a BD-player ignore DVD region restrictions?

[suirauqa]

I hesitate to ask what must be a very n00b question, but please help me if anyone knows the answer.

I read from Wikipedia that most BD-disc titles are region-free, and that the region restriction is enforced by the player software, not the BD-player firmware.

My question is: is this restriction pertinent/specific to only BD-discs? i.e. will a (or any) BD-player play DVDs from multiple regions, even if the software only allows Region 1 BD-discs to play?

[DB83]

Methinks you confuse the stand-alone player which has it's 'program' in firmware with a PC player which has it's 'program' in software.

You can, apparently, reset the counter on a software player for BD disks but I doubt that reset also applies for DVDs.

The stand-alone has no such 'reset' and would require a hack to play multi-region dvds.

[edDV]

BD-disc titles may or may not include a region flag. Most have that flag active.

BD players are firmware only no?

Or are you talking about a PC with player software?

[jagabo]

Standalone Blu-ray players are region locked for DVD playback, just like DVD players. A few can be made region free with hacks.

[fritzi93]

I read from Wikipedia that most BD-disc titles are region-free, and that the region restriction is enforced by the player software, not the BD-player firmware.

I looked it up (Blu-Ray Region Coding) and while the article says the majority of BD discs are region-free, the source citation doesn't actually say so. Surprise!

At any rate a whole lot of Blu-Ray discs *are* region-free:

http://bluray.liesinc.net/

[edDV]

I read from Wikipedia that most BD-disc titles are region-free, and that the region restriction is enforced by the player software, not the BD-player firmware.

I looked it up (Blu-Ray Region Coding) and while the article says the majority of BD discs are region-free, the source citation doesn't actually say so. Surprise!

At any rate a whole lot of Blu-Ray discs *are* region-free:

http://bluray.liesinc.net/

Surprising if true. I'd look for a second source confirmation before buying a Region B or C.

Why so few Region C on the list?

[jman98]

BD players are required to follow DVD region code restrictions as part of the licensing process for BluRay. Producing a region free player even only for DVD violates the license. This is why the very few BD players that are region free for BluRay and DVD playback have been modified after the player left the manufacturer to support this.