RickWJ324

I'm in the US and looking to import a couple of British tv shows from Amazon. The shows are:

1) Demons - Series 1 [Blu-ray] [2008]
2) Being Human - Series 1 [Blu-ray] [2009]

Does anyone know if I'll have any issues playing these on my region 1 players? I've heard that most blu's are region free, but some of the extras may be standard def and unplayable on US players. If anyone can shed a light on these two sets I'd greatly appreciate it.

Rick

RobLutter

I know one of these, Being Human, IS region-free! (yay!)
... but it's also encoded at 1080i/50hz, so it won't play on a US PS3 (boooo).

I'd suspect that, with BBC America showing BH starting later this month on their new HD channel that there's a good chance they'll release it on BD on our own shores... as they've done with, hell, everything else they've shown with an HD version (Robin Hood, Torchwood, Doctor Who).

BTW... the proper term for BDs as far as region codes go are A, B, C (as opposed to 1,2,3,4,5,6 on DVD).

We're in A and England is B for future reference.

Frenzy

http://bluray.liesinc.net/

Greg Krewet

I received Almost Human Blu-Ray. The 2 Entertain HDef Introduction played perfectly as did the traqditional 2 entertain logo. After that Nothing, Nothing, not even a menu. I have a sony 350 BD player. I thought it might be a firmware probem but I updated and it still wont play. In all fairness my other 2 Entertain import Blu Rays play perfectly.
Best
Greg

pro-bassoonist

Good evening Greg,

The overwhelming amount of this particular distributor's output is in 1080i/50 -- a standard which is not supported in North America.

Pro-B

mythmaker18

As someone else already said, Being Human on Region B (UK) is a 1080i/50hz disc. Very few players and/or TVs in the US support 50hz refresh rate.

You need one of these setups to play 50hz material in the US:

1. (best) a BluRay player that can also switch between 50/60hz as well as a TV set that can switch between 50/60hz (so that you can watch it without a conversion).

2. a BluRay player that can convert the 50hz signal to a 60hz one, so that you'll be able to watch it on must American HDTVs.

I guess what is to be determined is whether it's your BluRay player that's incompatible, your TV set, or both. There's a list of 50hz-compatible BR players floating around on a forum somewhere online (stumbled across it in a google search on 1080/50, I think).

It might just be easier for you to sell your disc and wait for the eventual US release and avoid importing Region B releases (or doing your research first). Otherwise, you'll have to, at the very least, replace your BR player with one that will work with 50hz discs, such as the Oppo BDP-80 or the Oppo BDP-83 (those players will not only work with native 50hz discs, but are also capable of converting the signal to 60hz if your TV doesn't support 50).

mythmaker18

Oh, by the way Demons Series One BluRay (Region B) is another 1080/50hz title, so the same possible incompatibilities arise.

In general, one should assume that British television BluRays are going to be 50hz. The only time that they're 60hz is if the releasing company are being cheapskates and, thinking the title has worldwide demand, decide to do a single worldwide-compatible 60hz master rather than also doing a separate, superior-quality 50hz one for the home market. The BBC are usually the ones guilty of doing 60hz-only for popular titles (Doctor Who: The Specials and Torchwood spring to mind), but the only reason Being Human got a 50hz version in the UK was that they didn't think there'd be any demand for the show Stateside, which is a bit bonkers seeing as it's a BBC America co-production, but there you go!