Region Free Blu-Rays

[Kiba.]

The range of Blu-ray available in the UK is not so large that we're not tempted sometimes to go for imports from the USA. This site provides a handy list of which titles are Region Free and which are Region A-Locked (and therefore unlikely to play on your BD player without it having been modified).
http://bluray.liesinc.net/

This thread can also be used for discussing which Region free "A" titles are worth purchasing.

[jaykays hat]

I have bought a few region free blu-ray's from DVDworldUSA.com, only ones that are not out here yet and I wanted them quicker. With regards to modifying your blu-ray player to play region A locked discs I didn't think you could modify a blu-ray player to do this?

[Jeffbiscuits]

I didn't know BD players could be chipped or modified either. I thought we were stuck with what we got.

[Kiba.]

Originally Posted by jaykays hat

With regards to modifying your blu-ray player to play region A locked discs I didn't think you could modify a blu-ray player to do this?

I don't think you can, but I'm assuming that eventually some blu-ray players here will be able to play the Region A's. Puzzlingly, some locked Region A's appear to sell to UK buyers, so whether they've got advanced mods or a whole separate player to play them I don't know.

Can you play Region A on a PS3 or does the region locking stop you there too?

[morris]

Wikipedia, under Blu-ray Region Codes:
In circumvention of region coding restrictions, stand-alone Blu-ray Disc players are sometimes modified by third parties to allow for playback of Blu-ray Discs (and DVDs) with any region code. Instructions ('hacks') describing how to reset the Blu-ray region counter of computer player applications to make them multi-region indefinitely are also regularly posted to video enthusiast websites and forums. Unlike DVD region codes, Blu-ray region codes are verified only by the player software, not by the optical drive's firmware.

The last sentence is particularly interesting and would be even more so if I knew what it meant.

[jaykays hat]

I know you can get multi region blu-ray players but that normally means that they play other region dvd's and not the blu-rays?

[Kiba.]

My understanding is that Blu-ray players are modifiable (to playing other BD Regions) but by doing so, you void any warrantee on your machine so it's risky unless you have the technological savvy to be able to get it right.
Any decent blu-ray player should be able to handle other region DVDs imo, but of course you always check when you buy.

Originally Posted by morris

Unlike DVD region codes, Blu-ray region codes are verified only by the player software, not by the optical drive's firmware.

That is interesting. So if you can get past the lock in the software, there's nothing technical to prevent your machine from reading the different region blu-ray. God. Why do movie studios have to be so damn greedy when we're willing to pay for their products?