Does anyone know if the LG BD300 is region free like the BD200?

Won't know until it hits stores. The LG 100 is region free for certain "makes"(months), while all LG 200's are region free (with a few simple clicks of the remote). If the LG 300 finds its way to be region free...it will be a big hit.

Yeah, if it's region free it will jump ahead of the Sony BDP550 on my list. I mean I already have a Netflix subscription so it's a win/win for me. Believe it or not, I only started looking at the LG 300 after I heard you talking about the 200 being region free over at HDD so thanks Gizmo!

I will let you know in a couple days, I bought mine already on Amazon, who has the best price so far. $388.72 with S&H CC charges $44 for S&H.




http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F5FI3S

http://gizmodo.com/5058825/lg-bd300-...r-350-preorder

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/LG-BD...oductDetail.do

Slick looking machine. The touch buttons are really nice. I may splurge and pick up the 300 as well. Does it do internal DTS MA decoding?

Went to Costco today. Some interesting players and prices.

Sylvania: $230
Panny BD30: $280 with instant coupon
Sony BX1: $280 with instant coupon

I believe the Sony is the S350 rebadged. They also have PS3 bundles, of course, but those don't really go on sale, so not the point of this post.

Appreciate it Twiggystar!

Keep in mind the LG 200 was not region free out of the box..someone had to figure the special "codes" to make it region free. Hopefully the same work for the LG 300 though.

I'm finding all this chat about all-region BD players fascinating, as it's an important issue for me.
Equally important to me is finding one that will also play DIVX files.
I've been waiting for some of these smaller sized models to finally come out (a 3rd important issue to me). I'm particularly interested in the Sony's (the BDP-S350 or BX1)...but I tend to suspect the Sony's are neither region hackable nor DIVX capable.
Anybody know of any smaller sized BDP's that are both?

Well the LG 200 does it all right now.
Region A,B,C for BD
All Regions for DVD.
And plays PAL DVDs.

Only thing is DIVX files...but I don't think any stand alone player can.

I'm guessing that the Oppo will support Divx when it comes out.

Looks like the upcoming Panny BD55 (not the BD35 though) will do DIVX according to the spec chart:

http://www.panasonic.net/avc/blu-ray...fications.html

What is the advantage of Divx support?

Per the new Circuit City ad for Oct 12 posted by Speedy:

If you buy the Samsung BD-P1500 for $249, you get The Matrix Collection for FREE.

That is a terrific deal.

That is a great deal, however, I'm waiting for Oppo's player.

I know you can upgrade this to 2.0, but can you do it without an internet connection or would it do any good without the internet connection, anyway? Right now I don't have a way of hooking up the player to the internet, but I'd like to get the latest firmware. With my HD DVD player I was able to just download and put on a CD. Can I do the same with this model Blu Ray player? Will it do me any good to even upgrade to 2.0 if I don't have internet connection? Eventually I'm hoping to be able to get it for my Blu Ray player, but right now I don't have that option since I'm on a college campus and they only give me one internet jack and they won't let me use my router. I think they make exceptions, somehow, for game systems. I might call and see what they say. But being able to update without an internet connection, right now, is a concern for me.

Profile 2.0 is useless without a broadband internet connection.Most BD players also allow firmware updates by CD. I presume that Samsung does this also.No. If you someday do connect to the internet you could do it then. However, it is possible that the firmware update might include other features that will improve player performance. If so, it might be useful to make the update anyway.Updating by CD will likely be an option for you with this or any BD player. You might want to check the Samsung website or take a look at the owner's manual to see how they distribute firmware update CDs. Also, there are some people here with this player who should be able to weigh in on this.

Yeah, you can download the firmware and burn it onto a CD to update the firmware:

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/do...sp_nm=BD-P1500

Ignoring the lack of analog inputs (I don't have an HDMI receiver) I was really looking forward to this player as my possible entry into BR. Unfortunately, if the feedback over at AVS is any indication this player is seriously lacking, even if only in comparison to the previous BD200.

Hopefully your feedback will suggest otherwise!

Got it this morning, what a nice looking player this is.

About regional code.

Regional code in this unit can play BD-ROM or DVD discs labeled same as the rear of the unit or "ALL" But only on Blu ray

I tried region 2 dvd of Tristana and teh player reads the code and ejects it by itself... sucks but hey is ok I have 4 other players.

Let's hook up Netflix now...

It won't be region-free anything out of the box. Needs to get "hacked".
This is the current "hack" for the LG 200. Try this and see if anything pops up:

1. Open the tray, with no disc in the tray
2. Press PAUSE, 1, 4, 7, 2
3. Change the fourth HEX value (the bold value in the defaults above) to: Region A - 80, Region B - 92, Region C - A6 - Does your TV support PAL? See Below!
4. Press PAUSE to save & close the EEPROM Menu
5. Turn the BH200 Off - Normal power button


.... and let us now how the streaming is! I might grab this player in the future.

Thanks for the the helpful info. I noticed that the Samsung has an optical output but how well does it work? I have an older digital sound system with only the optical and coax inputs. I don't have HDMI. I read in a review that without HDMI the audio may only be in stereo. Is this true, or will I be fine? As long as I have DD 5.1 or standard DTS, I'm fine, for now, since I can't afford to upgrade my system.

No, nearly all discs that have multichannel sound have a DD or DTS track.

The review might have been indicating that the lossless audio would only be in stereo, since SPDIF (optical or coaxial digital audio) can't do lossless multichannel.

These 350's showed up already today. I was pleasantly surprised that they weren't real deep. Now trying to figure out what to put all the settings at...both will be on 720p plasmas w/HDMI, one with an Onkyo HTiB (Optical or Coaxial the only audio options...regular old DTS is as advanced as the audio gets on it) and one with a new Denon 1909 (it of course has HDMI, it has a scaler but also can just do pass-through I think).

If anybody has any suggestions on those particular setups, wonderful, otherwise I'm off to AVS to pick brains.

Ended up ordering the Sony S550 from sonystyle yesterday and got the shipping confirmation today. Looking forward to checking it out. My trusty Panny BD10 never had an issue playing any BD I threw at it, but I need to have DTS-MA.