All-Region DVD and Blu-ray Player Advice

[jtlin]

Any recommendations for a reliable EU (not post-Brexit UK) dealer? Germany, Spain, France, Scandinavia, Ireland...?

Moved to Europe after 20 yrs in the US, with my collection in tow, but all region locked blurays are currently decorating the shelves, and DVDs are playable only with my macbook...

[Svevan]

Hey all. I’m looking for a multi-region DVD and Blu-Ray player that I can use for exhibition purposes. The Sony S3700 that’s been recommended seems nice, however I additionally need as few onscreen playback icons as possible. Can anyone tell me if this or any other multi-region Blu player out there is free of onscreen icons during playback? Thanks!

[tenia]

I'm unsure if that's the proper place to post since I'm not exactly looking for an All Region player, but it seems like a close-enough place : I had a Panasonic BDT-110 US BD Player to play all my Region A and it, well, pretty much burned down a month ago.

I'm now looking for a US BD player that would replace it, ie quite a run of the mill one, as I'm only looking to read Region A BDs with it (no SACD, close to no DVD, no SVOD, etc). I'm seen either the Sony BX370 or the Panasonic BD84 (which are both currently at $78 on Amazon). Do you know if there is any known problematic issue with any of them (or maybe a clearly better player) or if they would be a good suit for such a (rather standard) use ?

Side question : my region B player still is my good ol' French PS3, but I'm also looking to possibly replace it for a regular player (which would consume less electricity), and since I'm at it, it'd be a UHD player. I've seen UK multiregion UHD players that aren't that expensive (on Multi Region Magic), but am I right that UK players might have issues with BDs with 50Hz content that we can get in France ? If so, that would eliminate this option as its main use would be for French discs. (which is why I'm thinking about remaining simple here : one US BD player for Region A discs, and one French UHD player for everything else).

[therewillbeblus]

I still have my Sony BDP-S3700 from about a decade ago and use it all the time. I actually prefer it to my Panasonic UHD player in almost every practical way - the USB drive and subtitle system is great, and I've never had playback issues with any disc. The only caveat (maybe) is that it'll shut off when a disc is paused after a period of time (don't recall how long, maybe like 20 minutes?) whereas the Panasonic stays on indefinitely. But it'll stay on if a film on your USB is paused.

The BDP-S3700 is what I recommend and/or buy for relatives looking for a solid region A player every time

[tenia]

Thanks for the advice. It's also $80 on Amazon, so I'll keep an eye on it.

[therewillbeblus]

Thanks for the advice. It's also $80 on Amazon, so I'll keep an eye on it.

It was a bit cheaper around the holidays last year. That might be the going price now, but it may be worth checking around Black Friday if you want a lower price.

[tenia]

I might cave in earlier than that, as I have tons of Region A discs so I'd like not to be unable to playback them for too long, but I wouldn't have expected a lower price considering $80 seemed already quite low to me. Good to know !

[hearthesilence]

I'm impressed your PS3 is still running - if it was manufactured locally, maybe they did a better job with the heat sink? Otherwise, there's a notorious manufacturing flaw where the heat sink is mostly a goo that dries up and becomes ineffective, which is what happened with mine. As a result, the player wouldn't activate, IIRC it would simply beep and flash an indicator light. There's a ridiculous fix for it, but it's a huge pain in the ass and likely temporary. Regardless, it only lasted a year, so it convinced me to spend the extra money on an Oppo, which was indeed more reliable and has lasted more than a decade now.

Otherwise, I'd recommend the Sony UBP-X800, but it's approaching $300 new. (I've seen used units regularly for much less than $200.)

[senseabove]

The (free!) region free firmware patch for the 820 has been released, and while it ain't exactly pretty, it works. A kindly user wrote a step by step guide for using a virtual machine to run the patch.

[tenia]

The fan of the PS3 has actually started about 2 years ago being very active much more quickly than it used to. Before, it would only go turbine-mode during heatwaves, now it does so all year long (not straight away but after about an hour of use). I'm quite happy it's lasting that long, it's a solid BD player, so it's less money I spent on players so far, but it won't be eternal.

As for the UHD player, it'll probably either be the X800 or a UB820.

[AxeYou]

but am I right that UK players might have issues with BDs with 50Hz content that we can get in France ? If so, that would eliminate this option as its main use would be for French discs.

Doesn’t UK also use the PAL standard and thus have 25/50 fps content? There have been many 25fps BDs released in the UK, e.g. Arrow’s Dekalog, Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day, Second Sight’s Berlin Alexanderplatz.

FWIW my region-free modded US-model Panasonic UB820 can play 1080p & 4K 25/50fps content natively on a TV that supports these refresh rates.

Otherwise, I'd recommend the Sony UBP-X800, but it's approaching $300 new. (I've seen used units regularly for much less than $200.)

As for the UHD player, it'll probably either be the X800 or a UB820.

If you decide to go with Sony, make sure to get the X800M2. The base X800 model does not support Dolby Vision.

Some extra considerations re. Sony vs Panasonic:
- The consensus is the UB820 sees way fewer issues with disc freezing.
- If you fancy remuxing (e.g. alternative audio), X800M2 supports more formats with network-based playback, and is one of the only affordable devices that can play DV FEL remuxes.

[DeprongMori]

See my comments above regarding playback issues of certain materials on the Panasonic UB820 when considering this player.

[tenia]

Doesn’t UK also use the PAL standard and thus have 25/50 fps content? There have been many 25fps BDs released in the UK, e.g. Arrow’s Dekalog, Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day, Second Sight’s Berlin Alexanderplatz.

I might be misrembering, but my memory was telling me this, but maybe I'm mixing this up with either DVD players or US players.

If you decide to go with Sony, make sure to get the X800M2. The base X800 model does not support Dolby Vision.

Yes indeed, I'm only considering the M2 version as I was aware of the DV support (or lack of).

Some extra considerations re. Sony vs Panasonic:
- The consensus is the UB820 sees way fewer issues with disc freezing.
- If you fancy remuxing (e.g. alternative audio), X800M2 supports more formats with network-based playback, and is one of the only affordable devices that can play DV FEL remuxes.

That's the consensus I'm getting from France too, though we do have one label (BHQL) which seems to routinely have BD discs unreadable on UB820.

See my comments above regarding playback issues of certain materials on the Panasonic UB820 when considering this player.

Just so I'm understanding this properly : do you have issues when playing discs outside of the normal region of your UB820 player, or will I have issues with, say, French discs if I'm buying a French UB820 ?

[DeprongMori]

[quote=DeprongMori post_id=799777 time=<a href="tel:1695035188">1695035188</a> user_id=24761]See my comments above regarding playback issues of certain materials on the Panasonic UB820 when considering this player.

Just so I'm understanding this properly : do you have issues when playing discs outside of the normal region of your UB820 player, or will I have issues with, say, French discs if I'm buying a French UB820 ?

My issues were with a US player firmware-modded for region selection on playback on lower-res PAL content (such as supplements) on Blu-ray discs. It outputs audio only for that PAL content. It will play PAL DVDs just fine.

[AxeYou]

My issues were with a US player firmware-modded for region selection on playback on lower-res PAL content (such as supplements) on Blu-ray discs. It outputs audio only for that PAL content. It will play PAL DVDs just fine.

My US player works. Did you get a chance to try this:

The 820 fails to play the video for the SD supplemental content found on the recent BFI Greenaway The Draughtsman’s Contract or the UK Witchfinder General Blu-rays, for example.

Took me a while, but I was able to find a PAL SD/50i extra on StudioCanal's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Blu-ray (Region B). Here it is playing just fine on my UB820 (Region A but modded): https://i.imgur.com/w8Edd86.jpg

And here it is playing an NTSC SD/60i extra on StudioCanal's Ran BD (Region B): https://i.imgur.com/iMUBzpR.jpg

I’m interested in trying out your remote workaround, if you have more details.

I modded with RattleByte's kit. They told me the button sequence was the following. However, idk if this applies generally to any modded UB820. Hope it works for you!

In order to switch off the 60p conversion, press the sequence "RED BLUE 2 3 4" in standby.

[senseabove]

I'd missed that note. Just tested it with the interview on the UK Uncle Boonmee BD and it now plays video, not just audio, after using that sequence on my 820 with the avforums hack.