All-Region DVD and Blu-ray Player Advice

["membrillo"]

hm. thanks for the info.

man, i don't know about these players. looks like unless i'm willing to drop some bigger coin on one, it's not even worth messing with.

I've had the Panasonic BD60 for about two years and its played every disc I have thrown at it without any problems thus far. They have come down in price because I paid ~$475 so at this price I'd say its a steal. They don't load as fast as newer players, but its no dinosaur. And it definitely ain't no Sherwood.

[skeets kelly]

[quote=""membrillo""]I've had the Panasonic BD60 for about two years and its played every disc I have thrown at it without any problems thus far. They have come down in price because I paid ~$475 so at this price I'd say its a steal. They don't load as fast as newer players, but its no dinosaur. And it definitely ain't no Sherwood.[/quote]
yeah, but if i get a player that needs the extra converter, then i might as well just pony up for a better player that already has it built in.

so far my verdict on blu-ray: more trouble than it's worth.

[manicsounds]

My BD player busted so it's out for repair, so I hooked up my spare one I got, a clone of the Momitsu 799, looks like this:


Avoid!!!

This little thing is SO noisy during playback that it seriously hurts my ears watching a movie. I think I might have some ear damage due to this little thing.... I'm serious about it.

[Perkins Cobb]

Yeah, my Momitsu clone (the dreaded Sherwood) is so noisy that when I use it I have to put it on the floor and push it away from the TV as far as the HDMI cable will reach.

[perkizitore]

You should cover it with a blanket or something if you are not afraid that it might catch fire!

[Perkins Cobb]

That's WITH the blanket over it.

[manicsounds]

The one above, my spare, I keep at my workplace, which is kept behind a glass cabinet, and that muffles the sound enough from the machine that there is no problem. My ears are still ringing terribly from the high pitch sounds from that thing. Can't wait for my original player to come back from repair...

[mfunk9786]

Wow, my Sherwood definitely makes audible noise, but it's nowhere near loud enough for me to even give it a second thought.

[Michael Kerpan]

My biggest worry regarding my Sherwood is not the noise (nothing like some of the other reports) -- but the fear that it will just stop working again sometime soon.

[Perkins Cobb]

That's WITH the blanket over it.

Perkizitore asked via PM if I was kidding about this. Sadly, no, I was not.

[manicsounds]

It may be just me, but I do have very sensitive hearing. I get terrible earaches from the high pitch mosquito noise, the ones at department stores and convenience stores, also I can't stand the noise of styrofoam (even just thinking about it makes me cringe with fear, like BOLT), so any kind of high pitch sound is pain to me. It's been a week, and still no news on the repair.

[nick]

It's not just you manicsounds, I have one of those little BDP-799's as a backup for my BDP-899 and it's ridiculously loud. I took it apart one time to see what the heck was going on; I discovered that there were more fans in the 799 than in the 899. The ironic thing is that the 799 overheats like crazy while the 899 stays relatively cool. I've considered selling the 799 but my conscience won't allow me to sell something that noisy to an unsuspecting victim.

[manicsounds]

Well, I finally got word about the broken machine. They told me that the cost is $200 (!) for a new machine. (Which by the way is A LOT more than I originally paid for). When I told them that I didn't want a replacement, but just a repair, they said they would have to install a new drive, and the cost would be pretty much the same.

That is WAY too much for a 1.1 machine, and currently in Japan, there is nowhere that is selling them. I think I'm just going to give up on that machine and tell them to send it back to me broken...

There is a new machine from Japan by a maker called "Greenhouse" (how eco friendly) and the machine is SUSPICIOUSLY region free:



Available for less than $100, 2.0 Profile player, PAL/NTSC capability, but I can't find any store besides online that sells it. Which is a problem, as I want to test it out to see if it is region free or not. I finally found 1 store in Tokyo that sells it, so crossing my fingers for them to let me fiddle around with it first.

[manicsounds]

...and my hunch was WRONG!
I purchased the Greenhouse player this morning, couldn't test it out in stores so I took a chance. Completely region locked.... BD is locked, DVD is locked.... but it does PAL/NTSC, 50hz/60hz.

Although strangely, on the main menu, there is a section that says "country code" which you enter a 4-digit code. The code was "0000" (Yeah, I'm serious!) and it lets you choose a country, and even doing that, nothing changed! i really don't know what that function is for...

Anyway, struck out with this machine's capability. I might have to settle with getting an Insignia imported or something. Good idea to do that? I know those machines are under $100 recently.

[domino harvey]

Did you try the Insignia/Sherwood codes?

[manicsounds]

Dom,
I tried every code there is in every fashion, but no go for anything. And my busted player is a Momitsu/Sherwood clone, so I know how to enter the codes. Nothing.

On the other hand, the machine itself is very quiet, is not overheating, nice display, great PAL to NTSC conversion, easy to use, and quick loading times. If there is some secret method to make this thing region free, this machine would be king!

I emailed RWC and told them that I just want them to send back the broken machine to me, along with the Scott Pilgrim BD that was stuck inside. They said they are sending it in the mail today, and with no charge for looking at the player, which I guess is nice. I might have better luck trying to fix it myself, actually.

True story here, but back years ago at someone's house party, I fixed the person's stereo just by using a screwdriver and tinfoil. I was called MacGyver by all the drunk people.... Wonder if I'll have the same luck if I try fiddling around with it myself.

[manicsounds]

Took it apart myself but I couldn't find anything wrong.



I guess I'll take it somewhere for repair and see what they can do about it....

As for my new BD player (which is apparently region-locked),
I asked the company Greenhouse about what this "Country Code" thing was and they told me it was for the parental lock and how it is different for each country's guidelines and not for region code.

I politely asked back if there was a way to change region code (like they would tell me, but I took a chance), and they said it can't be done.

[skeets kelly]

aw shit. just ordered one of these:

http://www.220-electronics.com/dvd/Pion ... bluray.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[manicsounds]

Well, I won an ebay auction (via sekaimon) for an Insignia BD player. With the total cost of the player plus shipping to Japan, it comes to roughly $80 or $90, so much cheaper than what I'm expecting for the repairs on my busted player. And that means when I get the pacakge, I will then get rid of my region locked player, which I'm had for about a few weeks now.

The last update is that my Gaudi BD player has the same setup menu screens as the Canadian SEIKI region free, and the Australian SONIQ region free, but the region changing codes don't do anything at all. If I can only downgrade that player's firmware.. MAYBE, but I guess I don't have to worry about it anymore.

[marnum]

[quote=""membrillo""]I've had the Panasonic BD60 for about two years and its played every disc I have thrown at it without any problems thus far. They have come down in price because I paid ~$475 so at this price I'd say its a steal. They don't load as fast as newer players, but its no dinosaur. And it definitely ain't no Sherwood.[/quote]
I have the same multi-region BD player and it used to work like a charm, but now I have encountered a problem that concerns only Fox Noir Collection: the player says "This disc is not formatted for this region". What the heck - a (hacked) US BD player cannot play R1 DVD discs? I'm quite a newbie at this so all and any advice is welcomed.

[manicsounds]

Fox USA commonly puts "region code enhancement" on their discs. This means on some non-region 1 players or multi-region players, the discs will NOT play.

The only way to get them to play is to change your player's region from Region 0 to Region 1.

Do you know how to do that?

[marnum]

OK. Arigato for clarifying things out. But no, I have no clue how to change the region coding. I tried to google but no luck. Looks like I better contact the Swedish seller I got the player from.

[manicsounds]

I finally got word from the repair place, and they said they couldn't repair it, and contacted the company itself, and they got the same message I got: No repairs, but we will sell you a brand new one.

But then, they said a new one would be $400(!!!) For a 1.1 profile clanker? No way! I told them to cancel the repair/replacement.

I'm still waiting for the Insignia player I bought from Ebay/Sekaimon.
But it's been more than 10 days, and Sekaimon still hasn't received the player.... but I'm a patient person. Just hope the player gets here before the nuclear holocaust gets here...

["membrillo"]

OK. Arigato for clarifying things out. But no, I have no clue how to change the region coding. I tried to google but no luck. Looks like I better contact the Swedish seller I got the player from.

I'm not quite sure, but I don't think there is a way to manually change the Region for DVD. I'll double check when I get home.

[marnum]

[quote=""membrillo""]I'm not quite sure, but I don't think there is a way to manually change the Region for DVD. I'll double check when I get home.[/quote]
Thanks, please let me know if you got something.