Aussie BD Player on a U.S. HDTV?!?!?!

[Embracemedic]

I just moved back to Australia from The States and brought with me all my HT Equipment and my HDTV. I am interested in purchasing a region free dvd player, however I have noticed that BD players can be region unlocked provided the correct code. I just found a Samsung BDP 1500 on clearance for $138. This is only $20 more than the Pioneer DVD Player I'm considering. I'm told that the Pioneer will display at both 50 and 60hz (according to a JB HIFI associate). I understand that Aussie TV's run at 50HZ while U.S. TV's run at 60HZ. My question is, will the Blu Ray player from Target display on my U.S. TV? ANY help is appreciated. Thanks!

[edDV]

Provide details on the HDTV such as make, model and a URL to specs and the manual.

Do you have a PAL DVD player to test 50Hz display capability?

For a standard def PAL DVD test...

1. Composite/S-Video PAL
2. Analog component PAL (test interlace and progressive modes)

If the DVD player has upscaling to HDMI, test 720p/50 and 1080i/25.

The NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner won't work there. You will need a local stand alone tuner or cable/sat box.

[Embracemedic]

Thank you edDV for your quick reply! What I can provide you right now is:

TV - Sony KDL-46XBR4
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=KDL46XBR4 (The Manual is there)

Unfortunately the TV is on it's way. I had to ship it via ocean freight so I cannot test anything out yet. I just would like to buy what I need now to have it all ready when it arrives. Plus I would hate to miss on that $138 BD Player. My main goal is to have a universal dvd player to play my u.s. collection as well as any dvd's I may acquire here. I want a nice upconverting one. However when I saw the Samsung BD player and realized it could be region unlocked I figured that would be even more useful as it will upconvert as well as play my Blu-Rays from the states and here.

Thanks again for any help edDV.

[jman98]

I just moved back to Australia from The States and brought with me all my HT Equipment and my HDTV. I am interested in purchasing a region free dvd player, however I have noticed that BD players can be region unlocked provided the correct code. I just found a Samsung BDP 1500 on clearance for $138.

I'm just going to be blunt here. If someone you knew bought a lottery ticket and won a million dollars, would you conclude that everyone who buys a ticket becomes a millionaire? You really have no idea what long odds you are facing here. First of all, almost none of the BluRay players can be unlocked for DVD region free play. I've heard of this working on maybe 3 to 5 models at most and none of them were made by Samsung. And none of those that it actually worked for could unlock BluRay region play. NONE of the major manufacture BluRay players available in the USA, NONE OF THEM, can be unlocked. The only BluRay players I've ever heard of that can be unlocked were sold in region 2 or 4. Oppo and Momitsu do have some players that can be unlocked for BluRay and DVD play that are available in the USA, but the Oppo requires you to change the firmware to get this to work. The Momitsu required some hardware changes that the sellers have already done for you to make this work.

There is no freakin' way at all that this Samsung player you keep talking about can be unlocked. You will find out sadly after you buy it.

[MOVIEGEEK]

This is why you should sell your tv's and buy them when you get to another country(esp.NTSC->PAL), if you were moving to Canada or Mexico it would be fine. The power, tuner and format difference is not worth the cost of shipping...not to mention trying to sell a NTSC tv in PAL land.

As for DVD just buy a Philips for region-free/multi-system playback.

[edDV]

Thank you edDV for your quick reply! What I can provide you right now is:

TV - Sony KDL-46XBR4
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=KDL46XBR4 (The Manual is there)

Well there is one bit of good news, the KDL-46XBR4 accepts 1920x1080 24P input from a Blu-Ray player but I'm not sure about region issues connecting a PAL market player to a US model TV with HDMI.

The 120Hz features are inappropriate for PAL playback. You will have to test PAL60 to see if that works. The spec sheet gives no hint of 50Hz video compatibility and 576i/576p are not listed. Your main hope is that the Sony will accept PAL frame rates and 720x576 SD.

The power supply is spec'd 120v to 240v, 50/60 Hz. so at least you won't need to buy a transformer.

Sony may be blocking PAL frame rates on that expensive model to prevent exactly what you are doing. You are more likely to get PAL support on the cheaper brands.

[Embracemedic]

Hey fellas. Thanks for all the feedback! I notice there's some confusion as to why I mentioned the Samsung BD Player. My initial intentions were to buy a region free dvd player. I have found the cheapest to be $116 AUD made by pioneer. I have verified that it will play on any tv type and is region free out of the box. I just so happened to see the Samsung on clearance and figured if there is a way to unlock that for DVD's then that would be great. This can definitely be done as I have found on several different forums.
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/samsung-bd-p1500/9441
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/1221145.html
Now, I thought a step further and wondered, wouldn't it be great if that same blu ray player played all my blu rays, which I am currently using my U.S. PS3 for. I know that the games are all 100% region free and about 80-90% of blu rays are. If not, no sweat, I'll just get the pioneer dvd player and be done.
Oh and BTW, there are many many region free blu ray players on ebay. The descriptions clearly state 50/60hz, dual voltage and all region playback. I just went on and typed multi region blu ray player and bam.
As far as selling my TV in the Stated and buying one here... well TV's here are so damned expensive. For example the Samsung LED LCD 46" goes for $3291AUD here while in the states it goes for $1749US = $1965AUD. Thats a difference of $1330. It cost me $1600 to ship my TV, Pioneer 7.1 receiver, Def-tech mythos 1's, mythos 3, gems and supercube II 4 totes full of movies and games annnnnd not to mention my other belongings. It seemed more economical to do it this way for me. No sense in selling my things for 1/2 what I payed only to get here and pay nearly double for it all again. I was prepared for the challenges and have pretty much beat them all.
Again thanks for all the help and reading through all this. As always any help and advice is very much appreciated.
Oh edDV! Where in Norcal are you?? I just left Modesto... heh

[MOVIEGEEK]

I just left Modesto... heh

I don't blame you for moving.
Good luck down under.

[MJA]

I just left Modesto... heh

I don't blame you for moving.
Good luck down under.

anything to do with the History Channel Gangland series?

[Embracemedic]

hahaha... nooooo

[edDV]

I'm up north on highway 49.

When I was in the South Bay, we had several employees that commuted from Modesto. They arrived 4:30 AM and returned 2:30 PM. A tough commute.

[craigarta]

Well at least you can use it. Or you may had to see if you could somebody stationed in Geraldton or Pine Gap.
Not sure if they have 220 and 110 power outlets in the barracks, like we had when I was stationed in Germany