Blu-Ray: Region-Free?
05-25-08, 04:07 PM
#1
Blu-Ray: Region-Free?
So what's the deal with Blu-Ray and multiple region players?
Are some Blu-Ray players hackable? And is there still a NTSC-PAL issue here, or does the HD format make that consideration no longer important?
I'm going to make the plunge at some point, but I want to be able to buy European releases as well as American.
Pro-B, you probably have an answer to this.
Are some Blu-Ray players hackable? And is there still a NTSC-PAL issue here, or does the HD format make that consideration no longer important?
I'm going to make the plunge at some point, but I want to be able to buy European releases as well as American.
Pro-B, you probably have an answer to this.
05-25-08, 10:48 PM
#2
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Hello Ron,
Officially BR is region-coded just as DVD is. Instead of region 1 (North America), Region 2 (Europe, etc), Region (Asia, etc)...Blu-ray uses A, B, and C to distinguish different regions. Here's the breakdown:
This being said with Blu-ray PAL and NTSC are not a factor. If you buy a European BR disc encoded ABC a.k.a region-free, you will be able to play it on your North American machine and view it on your North American HDTV.
Currently there are no hackable BR region-free players available on the market (with other words if you buy a BR machine or a PS3 now you will not be able to hack it on your own, there are however plenty of sites that already sell modified region-free BR players).
This being said, even though PAL and NTSC do not come into play with HD material many extras, which are in standard-def, are still affected by it. Example: some European titles are region-free, you could play them just fine on your BR player but the portion of the extras that is in PAL you will not see, since your North American machine can not output and convert PAL into NTSC. However, the modified BR players I mentioned to you above not only unlock the BR material but also convert the standard-def material into the preferred by you format. Finally, every single BR player also upconverts SDVDs to 1080p, the highest resolution supported by your HDTV (just as the region-free Oppo machines currently do with standard-def data).
This being said however close to 90% of the BRs that I was interested importing from Europe are region-free (La Vie en Rose comes to mind).
Finally, the term anamorphic as we have come to understand and use it in regard to SDVD no longer applies to BR. For obvious reasons.
My opinion on the region-coding issue is that BR hardware will progress and mature precisely as SDVD hardware did. As the market expands hardware manufacturers will respond in a proper fashion, just as they did with SDVD.
Pro-B
Officially BR is region-coded just as DVD is. Instead of region 1 (North America), Region 2 (Europe, etc), Region (Asia, etc)...Blu-ray uses A, B, and C to distinguish different regions. Here's the breakdown:
A: North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia.
B: Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
C: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mainland China, Pakistan, Russia, Central, and South Asia.
B: Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
C: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mainland China, Pakistan, Russia, Central, and South Asia.
Currently there are no hackable BR region-free players available on the market (with other words if you buy a BR machine or a PS3 now you will not be able to hack it on your own, there are however plenty of sites that already sell modified region-free BR players).
This being said, even though PAL and NTSC do not come into play with HD material many extras, which are in standard-def, are still affected by it. Example: some European titles are region-free, you could play them just fine on your BR player but the portion of the extras that is in PAL you will not see, since your North American machine can not output and convert PAL into NTSC. However, the modified BR players I mentioned to you above not only unlock the BR material but also convert the standard-def material into the preferred by you format. Finally, every single BR player also upconverts SDVDs to 1080p, the highest resolution supported by your HDTV (just as the region-free Oppo machines currently do with standard-def data).
This being said however close to 90% of the BRs that I was interested importing from Europe are region-free (La Vie en Rose comes to mind).
Finally, the term anamorphic as we have come to understand and use it in regard to SDVD no longer applies to BR. For obvious reasons.
My opinion on the region-coding issue is that BR hardware will progress and mature precisely as SDVD hardware did. As the market expands hardware manufacturers will respond in a proper fashion, just as they did with SDVD.
Pro-B
Last edited by pro-bassoonist; 05-25-08 at 11:00 PM.
05-26-08, 10:03 AM
#3
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Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist
Finally, the term anamorphic as we have come to understand and use it in regard to SDVD no longer applies to BR. For obvious reasons.
05-26-08, 02:52 PM
#4
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by dmkb
Apologies in advance for what is probably a uninformed question but...why is this obvious?
For HDTV, the HD resolution is already in a 16:9 frame, so there's no squeezing necessary to fit a 16:9 image in it.
Note that the "anamorphic" on SD DVDs, aka "anamorphic enhancement for 16:9 TVs," is completely separate from the anamorphic film process, although they're similar in method. Whether an film was shot anamorphically has no bearing on whether or not it's presented with anamorphic enhancement on SD or HD discs.
Also, there was some grumbling among a small group of enthusiasts that the HD discs formats didn't create a new form of anamorphic enhancement that would squeeze 2.35:1 movies into the 16:9 HD frame. However, since no commercially available monitors can support this mode natively, it'd be an enhancement only for either future TVs, or for those enthusiasts who would use an anamorphic lens on their home projectors to stretch the image optically back to its original AR. However, considering that 1080p constituted a 6x increase of resolution over even anamorphically enhanced SD DVDs, quibbling over an additional 20% of resolution seems a minor matter.
05-27-08, 10:32 AM
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Originally Posted by Jay G.
Anamorphic enhancement is a process of squeezing a 16:9 image into the SD 4:3 frame. This allowed maximizing the resolution of the SD frame while still properly presenting the full 16:9 image on a TV capable of handling the signal.
For HDTV, the HD resolution is already in a 16:9 frame, so there's no squeezing necessary to fit a 16:9 image in it.
Note that the "anamorphic" on SD DVDs, aka "anamorphic enhancement for 16:9 TVs," is completely separate from the anamorphic film process, although they're similar in method. Whether an film was shot anamorphically has no bearing on whether or not it's presented with anamorphic enhancement on SD or HD discs.
Also, there was some grumbling among a small group of enthusiasts that the HD discs formats didn't create a new form of anamorphic enhancement that would squeeze 2.35:1 movies into the 16:9 HD frame. However, since no commercially available monitors can support this mode natively, it'd be an enhancement only for either future TVs, or for those enthusiasts who would use an anamorphic lens on their home projectors to stretch the image optically back to its original AR. However, considering that 1080p constituted a 6x increase of resolution over even anamorphically enhanced SD DVDs, quibbling over an additional 20% of resolution seems a minor matter.
For HDTV, the HD resolution is already in a 16:9 frame, so there's no squeezing necessary to fit a 16:9 image in it.
Note that the "anamorphic" on SD DVDs, aka "anamorphic enhancement for 16:9 TVs," is completely separate from the anamorphic film process, although they're similar in method. Whether an film was shot anamorphically has no bearing on whether or not it's presented with anamorphic enhancement on SD or HD discs.
Also, there was some grumbling among a small group of enthusiasts that the HD discs formats didn't create a new form of anamorphic enhancement that would squeeze 2.35:1 movies into the 16:9 HD frame. However, since no commercially available monitors can support this mode natively, it'd be an enhancement only for either future TVs, or for those enthusiasts who would use an anamorphic lens on their home projectors to stretch the image optically back to its original AR. However, considering that 1080p constituted a 6x increase of resolution over even anamorphically enhanced SD DVDs, quibbling over an additional 20% of resolution seems a minor matter.
05-27-08, 01:49 PM
#7
Senior Member
Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist
Hello Ron,
Officially BR is region-coded just as DVD is. Instead of region 1 (North America), Region 2 (Europe, etc), Region (Asia, etc)...Blu-ray uses A, B, and C to distinguish different regions. Here's the breakdown:
This being said with Blu-ray PAL and NTSC are not a factor. If you buy a European BR disc encoded ABC a.k.a region-free, you will be able to play it on your North American machine and view it on your North American HDTV.
Currently there are no hackable BR region-free players available on the market (with other words if you buy a BR machine or a PS3 now you will not be able to hack it on your own, there are however plenty of sites that already sell modified region-free BR players).
This being said, even though PAL and NTSC do not come into play with HD material many extras, which are in standard-def, are still affected by it. Example: some European titles are region-free, you could play them just fine on your BR player but the portion of the extras that is in PAL you will not see, since your North American machine can not output and convert PAL into NTSC. However, the modified BR players I mentioned to you above not only unlock the BR material but also convert the standard-def material into the preferred by you format. Finally, every single BR player also upconverts SDVDs to 1080p, the highest resolution supported by your HDTV (just as the region-free Oppo machines currently do with standard-def data).
This being said however close to 90% of the BRs that I was interested importing from Europe are region-free (La Vie en Rose comes to mind).
Finally, the term anamorphic as we have come to understand and use it in regard to SDVD no longer applies to BR. For obvious reasons.
My opinion on the region-coding issue is that BR hardware will progress and mature precisely as SDVD hardware did. As the market expands hardware manufacturers will respond in a proper fashion, just as they did with SDVD.
Pro-B
Officially BR is region-coded just as DVD is. Instead of region 1 (North America), Region 2 (Europe, etc), Region (Asia, etc)...Blu-ray uses A, B, and C to distinguish different regions. Here's the breakdown:
This being said with Blu-ray PAL and NTSC are not a factor. If you buy a European BR disc encoded ABC a.k.a region-free, you will be able to play it on your North American machine and view it on your North American HDTV.
Currently there are no hackable BR region-free players available on the market (with other words if you buy a BR machine or a PS3 now you will not be able to hack it on your own, there are however plenty of sites that already sell modified region-free BR players).
This being said, even though PAL and NTSC do not come into play with HD material many extras, which are in standard-def, are still affected by it. Example: some European titles are region-free, you could play them just fine on your BR player but the portion of the extras that is in PAL you will not see, since your North American machine can not output and convert PAL into NTSC. However, the modified BR players I mentioned to you above not only unlock the BR material but also convert the standard-def material into the preferred by you format. Finally, every single BR player also upconverts SDVDs to 1080p, the highest resolution supported by your HDTV (just as the region-free Oppo machines currently do with standard-def data).
This being said however close to 90% of the BRs that I was interested importing from Europe are region-free (La Vie en Rose comes to mind).
Finally, the term anamorphic as we have come to understand and use it in regard to SDVD no longer applies to BR. For obvious reasons.
My opinion on the region-coding issue is that BR hardware will progress and mature precisely as SDVD hardware did. As the market expands hardware manufacturers will respond in a proper fashion, just as they did with SDVD.
Pro-B
this was great, thanks pro-b!
what resource do you use to find up to date listings of region ABC blu-ray discs and the stores to import them from? i am curious as to what is available around the world that we can watch here without purchasing modified hardware. thanks again
dan
05-27-08, 02:12 PM
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Originally Posted by dishpan
what resource do you use to find up to date listings of region ABC blu-ray discs and the stores to import them from? i am curious as to what is available around the world that we can watch here without purchasing modified hardware. thanks again
dan
dan
http://bluray.liesinc.net/
ps
I used to run and maintain this thread but have decided to no longer update it for a number of reasons:
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....5&page=1&pp=25
Ciao,
Pro-B
Last edited by pro-bassoonist; 05-27-08 at 02:17 PM.
