Which (already modded) multi region Blu-Ray player?

[philiptech]

I know this is not a new question by any means but I am currently deciding which Multiregion Blu-Ray Player to get from what I have seen Oppo seems to be the one with the most positive customer reviews but I saw on the page of the one WhatHiFi reviewed that some people think Oppo is a bit of a Apple in terms of some of their customers feel strongly about the product and perhaps overlook some of it's negatives.

I know you can buy the player (whichever one I choose) as standard and then MOD it yourself but I would rather get a player with the moddifications already done. I also would like it to be able to play all regions for Blu-Rays and DVDs.

So any help here would be greatly appreciated

 

[bigboss]

You can buy the Oppo multiregion for blu-rays & DVDs for £599 here: http://www.ideal-av.co.uk/ItemPages/oppo.htm

You can buy more brands of players here: http://www.mrmdvd.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=159

What's the rest of your system like? Do you want a universal player which plays SACDs as well, apart from some other formats, or are you happy with just blu-rays & DVDs? What's the percentage of anticipated DVD viewing?

 

[philiptech]

You can buy the Oppo multiregion for blu-rays & DVDs for £599 here: http://www.ideal-av.co.uk/ItemPages/oppo.htm You can buy more brands of players here: http://www.mrmdvd.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=159

What's the rest of your system like? Do you want a universal player which plays SACDs as well, apart from some other formats, or are you happy with just blu-rays & DVDs? What's the percentage of anticipated DVD viewing?

I kept hearing the ter SACD and have just done some research on the format very recently I started listening to FLAC on my PC instead of mp3 so I think I am starting to prefer higher quality audio so having the SACD capability would be nice. I also remember one thing I saw about the OPPO that put me off a bit one of the features is 3D and due to health reasons I won't be able to use that feature and as no doubt that is part of the price tag I wanted to make sure that it really is the best player unless their is a equal or better minus the 3D. As for what my set up is like I will be plugging the player directly into my TV and using my TVs built in speakers due to it being in a small area plus my hearing is really good so the sound is fine for me. In terms of the percentage of DVD viewing that is hard to say as for me I will always choose Blu-Ray if 1. It is good quality picture and sound. 2 it has the same number of extras as the DVD version.

Also in regards to my TV will I need a player that can switch betwen PAL and NTSC?

 

[bigboss]

If you're planning to use your TV's speakers, then I don't think you'll benefit from a blu-ray player with superior sound performance, as sound will be compromised in any case due to your TV's speakers.

Sony S380 is an excellent player which plays SACDs as well. I'm not sure where you'll get one which is multiregion for blu-rays as well. The S480 is available in the link I've provided for £299.

How important is blu-ray multiregion for you? If you don't have zone A discs already, then I don't see any point in spending a £100+ premium over a normal player (unless you want specific blu-rays available in the US only....which is not very much).

The players can be made multiregion for DVDs without any hardware mod.

Also, remember that making a player multiregion (or multizone) for blu-rays requires a hardware mod, which will certainly invalidate your warranty.

 

[philiptech]

If you're planning to use your TV's speakers, then I don't think you'll benefit from a blu-ray player with superior sound performance, as sound will be compromised in any case due to your TV's speakers.

Sony S380 is an excellent player which plays SACDs as well. I'm not sure where you'll get one which is multiregion for blu-rays as well. The S480 is available in the link I've provided for £299.

How important is blu-ray multiregion for you? If you don't have zone A discs already, then I don't see any point in spending a £100+ premium over a normal player (unless you want specific blu-rays available in the US only....which is not very much).

The players can be made multiregion for DVDs without any hardware mod.

Also, remember that making a player multiregion (or multizone) for blu-rays requires a hardware mod, which will certainly invalidate your warranty.

In regards to how important the multi region capability is there are several movies and tv shows that I was planning to buy but found out through reading reviews that they either removed scenes from the Movies or TV shows or removed extras which as I mentioned in my previous post I enjoy as well as the main movie/TV show I am not the sort of person to buy something if I can't use it so I have not bought any region 1/A discs yet until I find a compatible player that will work I don't want to waste money on something if I don't have the device to play it on. Also as mentioned before I would rather buy a player where the hardware MOD was already installed.

If what you were saying above is that multiregion Blu-Ray Players that are capable of playing SACD are rare then multiregion is my first priority.

 

[bigboss]

If you don't want SACD capability, Panasonic BD75 is a cracking player which isn't 3D & can be bought multiregion for blu-rays. This would offer the best value for money in my opinion.

 

[philiptech]

Is this the panasonic you are referring to?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMP-BD75EB-K-Booting-Blu-Ray-Player/dp/B004MPQR4M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319370488&sr=8-1

I ask as it does not mention multi region on the product page.

 

[bigboss]

Blu-ray players are not multiregion out of the box. All manufacturers region lock them. The dealers make them multiregion. Amazon never does it.

Extremely few dealers do hardware mods to make the player multizone for blu-rays. I'm only aware of the 2 I've provided links for.

You can get the Panasonic multiregion here.

 

[bigboss]

Here's the thing about blu-ray players.

1) Manufacturers are required to region lock the players before selling in the UK.

2) A lot of dealers make them multiregion for DVDs which requires just inputting a code via remote. Sometimes, the multiregion capability is lost with firmware updates (although my player hasn't lost its multiregion capability despite 2-3 updates).

3) Making the players multizone for blu-rays as well requires a hardware mod. This invalidates manufacturer's warranty. The multiregion capability is retained despite firmware upgrades. Very very few dealers do this.

 

[philiptech]

I just wanted to say thank you for helping me out with this decision I have just been reading the specs of the panasonic and it does seem a perfect fit even with one nice feature which I never even mentioned as it was a feature I could live without but would like if it was possible the networking and MKV playback capability and after looking on wikipedia it seems that while some artists I recognise and like have released SACDs most have not so I would still have to get the majority of my music as audio CDs anyway and as you say while I am sure the sound is not terrible it is pointless going for the increased sound detail when the TV speakers would make it seem lacking.

In regards to the warrenty I get what you are saying I alreeady have a PS3 (which from what I hear has long since been bettered in terms of Blu-Ry playback) so if something was to go wrong it would not be crippling as I stll have a region 2 capable player.

I just wanted to be sure that I was going in the right direction in terms of the choice of player as this is going to get a lot of use.

Thank you once again you clearly know how to buy a product as you successfully managed to narrow down my choices and helped me seperate what I wanted from what I needed I really appreciate your asistance and am going to order the Panasonic tomorrow.

 

[bigboss]

Glad to be of some help. Enjoy your purchase! :cheers:

 

[seasiders rock]

Blu-ray players are not multiregion out of the box. All manufacturers region lock them. The dealers make them multiregion. Amazon never does it.

Extremely few dealers do hardware mods to make the player multizone for blu-rays. I'm only aware of the 2 I've provided links for.

You can get the Panasonic multiregion here.

With one exception. The Tevion sold by Aldi, a rebadged Momitsu.

Multi Region Blu Ray out of the box with a simple code change on the remote.

HMV and E buyer both had rebadged Momitsu players that were multi region.

At less than £120 the Tevion was a bargain, mine is coming up to 2 years old and is still going strong, i also have a Sony BDP350 and there is not a lot of differance with picture quality.

There was a thread about the Tevion, most people dismissed it out of hand, which was a shame because it,s a very good player.

 

[bigboss]

Yes, I'm aware of the Tevion/Momitsu player. I don't think it's sold anymore.

 

[cinemafan]

Hopefully the Tevion will become available again from Aldi, a low cost solution by all accounts. Not everyone wants to spend £600 on the Oppo after all, but we still need a multi-region BD player.