jeffkjoe

Do Blu-Ray discs from the UK work in American players?

I know this is a novice question, but I have to know.....Is it the same Region 1, Region 2, Region 3 stuff as it is with DVD's?

DVD.guy

I got Planet Earth (BBC) from Amazon UK. Played fine on my Sony BD-S350.

PopcornTreeCt

With Blu-ray it's Region A, B, and C

North America is Region A
Europe is Region B
Asia is Region C

To answer your question, it depends on the title. A lot of titles are region free though.

RaMMaR

This site is a MUST if you're considering a non-domestic BD purchase (sans a region-free player):
http://bluray.liesinc.net/index.php?region=b

Gizmo

I have a dozen or so UK BD imports and all are region free. Only one is locked to Region B (Night of the Living Dead) but my LG 200 makes that one play

BUT, some of the special features may not play if they are in PAL.

matome

I love my UK imports. Predator 2 Also looking forward to How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, which isn't getting a U.S. release.

pro-bassoonist

This specific breakdown is actually incorrect. Asia isn't Region-C only!

Pro-B

Tutut

Region A: Americas, Japan, Korea and South East Asia.
Region B: Europe, Middle East, Africa and Australia
Region C: Russia, India, Mainland China and Central Asia countries.

ali_b

One other to watch out for is otherwise region free discs which for some reason have the menu in the PAL format - the Artificial Eye disc of Zatoichi comes to mind here. Sometimes these get noted on the region code site mentioned above, sometimes not...

dolphinboy

I guess I'm the only confused one here still.

Even if you order something from Region B, let's just say from the UK (Almost Famous, as an example), aren't all UK/European tvs set up for PAL playback?

So wouldn't all of these dvds be PAL?

Why would they be selling NTSC when the tvs don't use that?

And, for me at least, I never could deal with the speed issues with PAL dvds. Some never cared or noticed it, but it drove me crazy and I gave up.

Wouldn't this issue still be the same even if the dvd is already region free?

Thanks.

Gizmo

First, they are Blu-ray not DVDs. Second, PAL/NTSC is no longer an issue when viewing the *movie* on Blu-ray. PAL only comes into play for Special Features (in SD only IIRC) which may still be coded for PAL.

If I am wrong on any of this I hope someone corrects me because I have imported numerous Blu-ray and HD DVDs overseas and all work just fine (Being Blu-ray and HD DVD Region Free obviously)

clckworang

I think you pretty much covered it. I think the first thing dolphinboy needs to remember is that these are NOT DVDs. When it comes to HD, there is no NTSC and PAL. But as others have said, sometimes the special features are SD, which means that those could be in PAL format. This can be problematic depending on the player that you have.

As for actually watching a region-free import, it's exactly the same as watching an American Blu-ray. No more PAL speed issues.

dolphinboy

Wow, I'm not even going to try and ask someone to explain why the NTSC and PAL thing goes away, but thanks from the info.

So, I'm assuming there are players that do play the PAL special features, so what is the big downside of just getting ALL of those amazing titles that are out their that are region free?

My concern is that the US version will come out with better special features and it's already tough enough to trust some of the BD reviews out there just in the US, so I'd be concerned about who to trust about imports and their quality and the details of the entire release. You don't get that on, say, the Amazon.uk page.

For me, I'm torn because the closest example is all these releases that come out in Canada with no special features and then usually a US release shows up or is in the works (Sin City).

But then I've heard that Canada is releasing Chasing Amy (which I love) and I wonder if it might be a long, long time before that gets a domestic release and I DO NOT believe in keeping more than one disc. I'm not keeping the Criterion if I order a BD.

How do most of you decide what to import and what's worth waiting for? Seems like it's a gamble either way.

Thanks again.

PS-I'm using a Sony S350

Gizmo

Its 100% a gamble. I import because I want the movie now. Not when the studios decide they should release it in America. In Sin Citys case, I don't care about Special Features so $13 (Canadian) vs $28 (American) is no big deal. I imported Goonies because who knows when Warner will get around to it. Same with Friday the 13th Part II and III.

tylergfoster

It's simple. NTSC and PAL are television resolutions. 1080p is also a television resolution. 1080p supercedes both NTSC and PAL in resolution.

dolphinboy

Thanks.

Is there any kind of website that is dedicated to reviewing imports? Something that would list everything that a person over here might want to know ahead of time before ordering something from the UK or anywhere else that you can get a region free import?

emachine12

A majority of imports offer video and audio improvents...

Basic Insinct UK offers better picture with VC-1 compression and better audio with DTS-HD Master audio. The US release offers an AVC MPEG4 transfer with DTS-HD High Resolution audio.

Zodiac US offers better picture with VC-1 compression and better audio with Dolby TrueHD audio. The UK release offers Dolby Digital audio only with an AVC MPEG4 transfer.

You will also find that imports offer uncut versions of films...

Kung Fu Hustle offers the uncut Hong Kong theatrical version with all the violence, blood, and bowel movement. The US release is cut for violence and bowel movement.

The Rundown aka Welcome To The Jungle US offers the complete uncut version. The UK version is trimmed for violence.

pro-bassoonist

In addition, you could also have a Region-Free BD (not talking about the extras) that you won't be able to play on your TV set/PS3/SA. There aren't that many films or concerts in Europe that are encoded in 50hz, but the few that are will be problematic for North American viewers (these titles at the moment represent less than 0.01% of all Blu-ray releases). Obviously, if you have a digital projector this shouldn't be an issue.

Pro-B

beebs

Some UK titles work great, some don't. Research a title at bluray.liesinc.net before going ahead. The ideal situation if a region free title and a display that handles PAL/50hz.

I do not recommend region free BD players, yet. Except maybe a LG BH200 found under $300. Even that would mean tracking down firmware and details. Go simple, stick to the region free titles.

-beebs

Tutut

I think it's a bit more complicated, high def video (TV) format are 1080i50 for Europe or 1080i60 for the US, 1920x1080 interlaced video with 50 or 60 frames per second.
Films on Blu-Ray in any region are 1080p24, 1920x1080 progressive video with 24 frames per second.

Mr. Salty

As Tutut alluded to, NTSC and PAL are not resolutions, they are broadcast TV standards. In addition to resolution, there are frame rate, color encoding, signal modulation and other technical details covered by the standards.

In the U.S., NTSC is being replaced with ATSC, but that only covers broadcast TV signals. Blu-ray and HD DVD were designed from the outset to be the same worldwide.

emachine12

As was mentioned earlier, not all Blu-ray Discs are 1080/24.

Short Circuit US is 1080i/60.

There are a few titles from Australia that are 1080i/50hz and don't work on US players.

The previous website mentioned will let you know which discs are good to go.

BravesMG

I just posted this in the main HTLF... thread but is there any confirmation on if How to Lose Friends will be region locked?

tylergfoster

Well, I dunno what your setup is but of course the reason to get the foreign disc is for the video material not on the US disc, but you would probably want to make sure it's in HD first so that it will play.

BravesMG

True, except that it's not being released on BD here, and the DVD is pretty much bare bones. So even if I just wanted an HD copy of it using the UK version, I'd probably spring to import it.