cheapest way to play region b blu-ray's

[NicholasB]

Well I think that my prayers have been answered. It look like more cheaper options for all region blu ray and dvd players are now avaliable.

http://www.hkflix.com/hardware/xq/asp/pid.176/qx/details.htm

It looks like this player will play any region dvd or blu ray and even convert from pal to ntsc if necessary. So even those 1080i50 discs will probably be no problem. I still have to check and see if it will support the high definition audio formats either by bitstreaming or at least internally decoding them and sending the result as linear pcm. I'm guessing that it will since it is a profile 2.0 player and supports deep color (the deep color is a hdmi 1.3a format so usually the high def audio comes along as well).

I think that I know what to put on my birthday list for October, unless something better comes along beforehand.

- Nick

[NicholasB]

Well, I found an ebay auction saying that the Momitsu BDP-899 will support all the high defintion audio formats either by bitstreaming or by converting to linear pcm inside the player. I emailed HKflix to double check though and I'll post if for some reason it doesn't. So it looks like we have a blu ray player that will do everything that any other blu ray player will do for about the price of the PS3. This is great. Since the audio is going in and out sometimes on my Jaton region free dvd player and the remote isn't working that great anymore I was looking to get a new dvd player. Now the cost of the Momitsu doesn't seem so bad even though I already have a region a PS3.

Off the top of my head here are some blu ray's that I would like to get that are not avaliable in region a: Leon the Professional international version, Night of the Living Dead (original), Zatiochi (starring Takashi Kitano), Eden Lake and Martyrs.

[ntscuser]

North American fans might want to check out the Region-B "City of Ember" as there's no Region-A release and the Region-1 DVD is devoid of DTS audio or worthwhile extras of any kind. (I have both).

[jman98]

Off the top of my head here are some blu ray's that I would like to get that are not avaliable in region a: Leon the Professional international version, Night of the Living Dead (original), Zatiochi (starring Takashi Kitano), Eden Lake and Martyrs.

With regards to Zatoichi, be warned that Japanese BluRay discs typically do NOT contain any English subtitles. Definitely be sure that any Zatoichi BluRay has English subs (assuming here that you don't speak Japanese) before you buy them.

If you get the Momitsu, let us know what you think. I couldn't find any reviews from anyone who actually has it, but some people are starting to ask about it. I was going to hold out for Oppo Digital's upcoming BluRay player, but their statement that BluRay licensing does not allow them to make it zone free is troubling as until it actually comes out, nobody knows if the player will be able to be hacked into zone free mode or not.

[NicholasB]

jman98,

The Zatoichi blu ray is a UK region b (not locked) at 1080i50. So it has English subtitles.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zatoichi-Blu-ray-Beat-Takeshi-Kitano/dp/B001EBO97Y
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews43/zatoichi_blu-ray.htm

I too would very much like the Oppo Blu Ray player to be the answer. But, it sounds like there probably won't be something as simple as a hack to make it region free as a blu ray player. If it were possible to do this on the Oppo then I will definitely get one. It is supposed to have better upconversion than the Oppo 983 which is at the level of the flagship Denon's. Furthermore, the Oppo has PAL to NTSC conversion. I'm going to wait and see if the Oppo Blu ray will be region free hackable before I take the plunge on the Momitsu player. It looks pretty grim though. Here is a link to a beta tester that will answer anything you would possibly want to know about the player. Go to edit and type region coding.

http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-83-faq.html#where-can-i-buy-non-region-a-1-versions...of-this-player


I'll probably have to wait until September or October anyways so that I have the money. I think that we should have a good idea as to whether or not the Oppo will be hackable or not by then. There should also be plenty of reviews of the Momitsu or possibly a better blu ray player by then as well.

- Nick

[jman98]

Thanks for that watershade.net link, NicholasB. While I'm not enthused at the prospect of Oppo's player being BluRay locked, I'm even less enthused about it being DVD region locked. That makes it a "no go" for me unless someone finds a way to get around that.