Region Free HD-DVD Blu-ray combo player

[Daniel_BMS]

Does anybody know of a region free HD-DVD Blu-ray player?

[Viking61]

LG BH200 can be made regionfree for DVD and region switchable for blu-ray. HD DVD is already regionfree. Maybe you need to have a TV that supports PAL to watch region 2 or 4 DVDs.

[jman98]

There are no HD-DVD/BluRay combo players and never were.

I am somewhat skeptical about Viking61's claim. In the past ALL BluRay players that were capable of becoming region free for BluRay play required a hardware modification that someone (the seller or you the buyer) had to do. Maybe that is what he means. Typically in the USA if you must have region free BluRay playback you are limited to Oppo (again, someone has to mod the player so check to see if the seller has done it for you) or you can find an old Momitsu on Ebay and hope it still works OK (the North American sellers of Momitsu all modded the player before selling it). The BluRay licensing agreement specifically forbids making BluRay players that are region free for DVD and/or BluRay playback. A very few models do get sold that can be region free for DVD only, but I am highly skeptical that LG would make a player that out of the box is already region free for everything.

[usually_quiet]

There are no HD-DVD/BluRay combo players and never were.

I am somewhat skeptical about Viking61's claim. In the past ALL BluRay players that were capable of becoming region free for BluRay play required a hardware modification that someone (the seller or you the buyer) had to do. Maybe that is what he means. Typically in the USA if you must have region free BluRay playback you are limited to Oppo (again, someone has to mod the player so check to see if the seller has done it for you) or you can find an old Momitsu on Ebay and hope it still works OK (the North American sellers of Momitsu all modded the player before selling it). The BluRay licensing agreement specifically forbids making BluRay players that are region free for DVD and/or BluRay playback. A very few models do get sold that can be region free for DVD only, but I am highly skeptical that LG would make a player that out of the box is already region free for everything.

Between them, LG and Samsung released a few HD-DVD/Blu-Ray/DVD combo players, although some of the combo players they made weren't very good. I don't know if there were any from other makers. After Blu-Ray won the format war, that was the end of them.

http://www.amazon.com/LG-BH100-High-Definition-Blu-ray-Player/dp/B000NNK9LY
http://www.amazon.com/LG-BH200-Super-Blu-Ray-Player/dp/B000YB2IPK/ref=sr_1_1?s=electro...words=LG-BH200
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-BD-UP5000-HD-DVD-Blu-Ray-Player/dp/B000VDG0UK/ref=sr_1_1...d+combo+player

[Kerry56]

You could make an HTPC and use a blu ray drive that has both blu ray and hd-dvd capability. The LG GGW-H20L was one such drive. Run AnyDVD HD in the background and you are region free for both dvds and blu ray. I have this exact setup.

Finding a GGW-H20L might be an issue, since they are long discontinued. Ebay might be the only choice.

[Viking61]

There are no HD-DVD/BluRay combo players and never were.

I am somewhat skeptical about Viking61's claim. In the past ALL BluRay players that were capable of becoming region free for BluRay play required a hardware modification that someone (the seller or you the buyer) had to do. Maybe that is what he means. Typically in the USA if you must have region free BluRay playback you are limited to Oppo (again, someone has to mod the player so check to see if the seller has done it for you) or you can find an old Momitsu on Ebay and hope it still works OK (the North American sellers of Momitsu all modded the player before selling it). The BluRay licensing agreement specifically forbids making BluRay players that are region free for DVD and/or BluRay playback. A very few models do get sold that can be region free for DVD only, but I am highly skeptical that LG would make a player that out of the box is already region free for everything.

You are in your full right to be skeptical, but I have this player and know that it works without a hardware modification. LG made the BH100 and BH200 combo HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players. I used the method described in the link to change blu-ray regions:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1009104/lg-bh200-mini-faq-firmware-info-truehd-7-1-dts-hd-24...vd-multiregion

There are several other blu-ray players where you also can switch blu-ray region by a code on the remote. I bought the Asus O!Play BDS-700 after reading about the blu-ray multiregion on this very site, and can confirm that this player also is blu-ray region switchable out of the box. The Asus has a much easier way to change blu-ray region. Just to enter a code on the remote. Besides that the Toshiba BDX1100, BDX1200, BDX3100 and BDX3200 can do the same if you install the official Australian regionfree firmware.

[jman98]

There are no HD-DVD/BluRay combo players and never were.

Between them, LG and Samsung released a few HD-DVD/Blu-Ray/DVD combo players, although some of the combo players they made weren't very good. I don't know if there were any from other makers. After Blu-Ray won the format war, that was the end of them.

http://www.amazon.com/LG-BH100-High-Definition-Blu-ray-Player/dp/B000NNK9LY
http://www.amazon.com/LG-BH200-Super-Blu-Ray-Player/dp/B000YB2IPK/ref=sr_1_1?s=electro...words=LG-BH200
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-BD-UP5000-HD-DVD-Blu-Ray-Player/dp/B000VDG0UK/ref=sr_1_1...d+combo+player

I stand corrected. I do not recall ever hearing about such players back in the day and I am actually one of the people who bought an HD-DVD player.

[KBeee]

Of course all this discussion is moot if the OP really wants a DVD/BluRay player instead of a HD-DVD/BluRay player

[Daniel_BMS]

LG-BH200 it is.

[Chopmeister]

The Toshiba BDX1200 and BDX3200 blu ray players can also be made region free for both DVD and blu ray, without hardware modification. It requires the loading the Australian firmware onto the players. I think the version that did this was originally supplied by the manufacturer in Aust (their government takes a very dim view of region locking as a trade barrier), and was also downloadable from the manufacturers website. While it may have been removed, there are bound to be copies floating around the internet. It's the "ky" firmware you want.

I have one of these players, and confirm that the Aussie firmware does enable the region-change menu off the remote.

Other players in this (NZ/Aust) market that I am also aware are region free for BR without hardware mod (but haven't tried) are the Soniq B100 and the Veon VN2916BR, both of which apparently use a hack code on the remote.

[Daniel_BMS]

Can you confirm that the Toshiba BDX1200 and BDX3200 can play HD-DVDs?

[Viking61]

Can you confirm that the Toshiba BDX1200 and BDX3200 can play HD-DVDs?

Sorry that I was not very clear in my earlier post. The LG BH200 can play HD DVD, blu-ray and DVD discs. The other models I mentioned (the Toshiba BDX models and the Asus) can NOT play HD DVD. I mentioned them because you are able to switch blu-ray region on them.

[DavidEC]

There are no HD-DVD/BluRay combo players and never were.

I am somewhat skeptical about Viking61's claim. In the past ALL BluRay players that were capable of becoming region free for BluRay play required a hardware modification that someone (the seller or you the buyer) had to do. Maybe that is what he means. Typically in the USA if you must have region free BluRay playback you are limited to Oppo (again, someone has to mod the player so check to see if the seller has done it for you) or you can find an old Momitsu on Ebay and hope it still works OK (the North American sellers of Momitsu all modded the player before selling it). The BluRay licensing agreement specifically forbids making BluRay players that are region free for DVD and/or BluRay playback. A very few models do get sold that can be region free for DVD only, but I am highly skeptical that LG would make a player that out of the box is already region free for everything.

Between them, LG and Samsung released a few HD-DVD/Blu-Ray/DVD combo players, although some of the combo players they made weren't very good. I don't know if there were any from other makers. After Blu-Ray won the format war, that was the end of them.

http://www.amazon.com/LG-BH100-High-Definition-Blu-ray-Player/dp/B000NNK9LY
http://www.amazon.com/LG-BH200-Super-Blu-Ray-Player/dp/B000YB2IPK/ref=sr_1_1?s=electro...words=LG-BH200
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-BD-UP5000-HD-DVD-Blu-Ray-Player/dp/B000VDG0UK/ref=sr_1_1...d+combo+player

Comment: The Samsung is a piece of and they would not even fix mine under warranty, even with the last firmware released in 2009 it would lock up on every Blu-Ray I tried feeding it ... it would play HD-DVD 's and DVD's with out an issue ...with Blu-Rays it would load up to the point of the main/play menu and would start the movie.. but with in less than five minutes into the movie it would lock up which would require unplugging to reset.

[Viking61]

Comment: The Samsung is a piece of and they would not even fix mine under warranty, even with the last firmware released in 2009 it would lock up on every Blu-Ray I tried feeding it ... it would play HD-DVD 's and DVD's with out an issue ...with Blu-Rays it would load up to the point of the main/play menu and would start the movie.. but with in less than five minutes into the movie it would lock up which would require unplugging to reset.

I have the LG BH200 and haven't experienced such problems. It even plays some HD DVD discs that Toshiba HD DVD players struggle with. As this is not my main player, I haven't used it very much for blu-rays, but the ones I have watched played without problems.

[hech54]

This is one of those threads I personally wish never happened. This is going to cause SOOOOO much confusion to some newbie in the future, it's frightening.....and much of this stuff is complete hearsay.