leahcim

Saw a handful at Amazon but I want to make sure region 2's work well

Also must play MP3's and show the artists/songs on screen

Must have HDMI

Must play dual layer burns

Any advice?

drmar35mm

As I'm sure you know, there are several outfits online that sell region free players, as does Amazon. I bought a Pioneer 220KV a couple of years ago and have had no problems playing region 2 disks and upscaling them. Re. your other requirements, you'll just have to research the features of the respective models.

mythmaker18

Your second requirement (showing artists names/song titles on-screen while playing MP3s) would seem to be the toughest one finding a match for without you doing literal hands-on testing in a store yourself. I kinda doubt it's a common feature in a DVD player.

rw2516

Is PAL/NTSC conversion no longer an issue with Blu-ray, as opposed to dvds. Either the disc or the player has to be all region and that's it? Players do not need to be capable of conversion?

Oops! Forgot about players also playing dvds and having to convert them. What I want to know is if BDs have to be converted also.

Spottedfeather

I just looked up that player. It's a good one ? And it will play dvds from region 2 well ? I'm assuming that you plug the HDMI into a surround receiver then run an HDMI to the tv and it will work ? Sorry about so many questions. I'm new to region free.

thetao

PAL/NTSC is still an issue for Blu-Ray players, but apparently less so than for DVD. I once *recall* reading that European Blu-Ray extras that don't use a Blu-Ray native format increasingly rely on NTSC, as all European players support that (unlike the spotty PAL support in North America), which allows the studios to please more customers. Or something like that. See threads like http://forum.dvdtalk.com/internation...-b-c-disc.html . Some people posted that the BD60 and other Panasonics play the main feature but had trouble with the extras. I assume the difference is that Panasonics don't support PAL. I have an Oppo for DVD and a cheap Insigina for Blu-Ray, both region-free, which have so far played everything I've thrown at them, and so haven't had to wrestle with video formats.

@Spottedfeather: aside from toggling the region code, just connect the player as you normally would, and go.

rw2516

So, if a disc from the UK is region free, it should play in any player picked up at Wal-Mart. However if there are portions in SD, those may not play. If something before the feature(piracy warning, preview, menu, etc.) is SD may have trouble playing. In this instance can you play the movie by hitting play from STOP position?

jjcool

I assume you are talking about blu rays since you mention portions in SD. In my experience, I would answer yes. I have many discs from the UK and everything that has said it was region free, or multi region has played fine getting to and through the movie. Never had a hangup on the warnings or menus. Some of the actual extras have not played for me (interviews, making ofs, etc). But I have always been able to at least get to the movie without doing anything out of the ordinary.