Regions On DVDs

Posts : 12 Join date : 2011-01-19

Even though this is pretty unrelated to The Cinema Snob, I HATE region dvds. I live in the UK so all the dvds i have to buy are region 2, which sucks considering hardly any of the cult films I want to see are released on region 2, so I have to resort to the filthiest corners of the internet (nothing pornographic by the way (Y))
Honestly perhaps the most obscure film I managed to find on region 2 was Troll 2, which is hardly obscure nowadays. I know I can buy a dvd player that can play all regions, but they cost an arm and a dick.

Posts : 12 Join date : 2011-01-19

Edit: actually probably the most obscure cult film I could find was King Kong vs Godzilla, and even for that I had to scrounge around on the internet for ages.

Posts : 1298 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Tampa

DVD regions: the bane of many a genre-philes' existence.

Posts : 36 Join date : 2011-01-19 Age : 40 Location : NJ

Have you tried a region free dvd player? They are hard to find a good one but VERY VERY worth it.

Posts : 1298 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Tampa

DrProfessor wrote:: Have you tried a region free dvd player? They are hard to find a good one but VERY VERY worth it.

The man says the problem is with the expense, not availability. They can get ludicrously expensive.

Subject: Re: Regions On DVDs Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:58 am

DrProfessor wrote:: Have you tried a region free dvd player? They are hard to find a good one but VERY VERY worth it.

They aren't that hard to find, well at least not in Australia, 90% of DVD players here are region free. Surprisingly it's usually the cheapo ones.

Subject: Re: Regions On DVDs Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:00 am

Goblin Jim wrote:

DrProfessor wrote:: Have you tried a region free dvd player? They are hard to find a good one but VERY VERY worth it.

The man says the problem is with the expense, not availability. They can get ludicrously expensive.

Really? As I mentioned in my previous post it's usually the $49 no-name brand ones from Woolworths (supermarket) and Target that are region free. But I can only speak for Australia. If the OP wants I can look into it, see if I can find some and get some details on shipping to your country?

Posts : 1298 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Tampa

Cactus_Matt wrote:

Goblin Jim wrote:

DrProfessor wrote:: Have you tried a region free dvd player? They are hard to find a good one but VERY VERY worth it.

The man says the problem is with the expense, not availability. They can get ludicrously expensive.

Really? As I mentioned in my previous post it's usually the $49 no-name brand ones from Woolworths (supermarket) and Target that are region free. But I can only speak for Australia. If the OP wants I can look into it, see if I can find some and get some details on shipping to your country?

I don't recall ever seeing a Region-free player for sale in actual storefront; I can only find them online, where I never seem to have enough cash at any given time to buy one.

Posts : 12 Join date : 2011-01-19

Well I have been looking around and the best price I can find is around £90, around double the price of a high-end standard DVD player. Considering I'm a sixth form student I'm a bit strapped for cash at the moment :/

Posts : 1298 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Tampa

joeybucks wrote:: Well I have been looking around and the best price I can find is around £90, around double the price of a high-end standard DVD player. Considering I'm a sixth form student I'm a bit strapped for cash at the moment :/

Yeah, I feel you. Kind of like how it would be nice to get The World Beyond on DVD, but when you're stone broke more often than not and get most of your movies on VHS for $.50 each, it's hard to justify paying $25 for a bare-bones DVD with just under an hour's worth of footage.

Posts : 4 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Des Moines

Well I would use this method as long as you have actually purchased the dvd's

You could use http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html

It works on your computer to get around the dvd copyright protection and region codes and allows you to backup the dvd's you buy and then you can reburn them region free and copyright free. Some people frown on this software but I figure if you bought the disk why not be able to use it.

Slysoft is the best known but their are other free solutions, PM and I can send you the link and get you goin.

Posts : 1298 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Tampa

I already have DVD Decrypter installed, but I'm definitely one of the ones who would prefer to buy the Region-2 only Complete Phantasm set, and actually be able to watch it.

Posts : 4 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Des Moines

Yeah with the decrypters you have an extra step of copy and reburn for sure but hey it gives you more freedom but yeah if you could find a cheap region free dvd player that would be even better.

Subject: Re: Regions On DVDs Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:52 am

I was able to get a really cheap dvd player from COBY that was relatively easy to change the region code to zero. It was less than 50.00 and there are plenty of instructions on how to change the region code available on the internet.

Posts : 1298 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Tampa

JennyWoreBlack wrote:: I was able to get a really cheap dvd player from COBY that was relatively easy to change the region code to zero. It was less than 50.00 and there are plenty of instructions on how to change the region code available on the internet.

Now when you say relatively...do you mean easy for you or easy to the point that any fool with a screwdriver could do it?

Subject: Re: Regions On DVDs Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:59 am

The Dude wrote:

JennyWoreBlack wrote:: I was able to get a really cheap dvd player from COBY that was relatively easy to change the region code to zero. It was less than 50.00 and there are plenty of instructions on how to change the region code available on the internet.

Now when you say relatively...do you mean easy for you or easy to the point that any fool with a screwdriver could do it?

Easy as in it took a remote, hitting a few buttons and wala! I was skeptical of it but it plays all of my region 2 DVD's fine. Here's a website with instructions Hope that helps! Smile

Posts : 1298 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Tampa

JennyWoreBlack wrote:: Easy as in it took a remote, hitting a few buttons and wala! I was skeptical of it but it plays all of my region 2 DVD's fine. Here's a website with instructions Hope that helps!

Well, that's some good news indeed. Thank you kindly.

...gonna go ahead and save that as a bookmark.

Subject: Re: Regions On DVDs Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:59 am

DrProfessor wrote:: Have you tried a region free dvd player? They are hard to find a good one but VERY VERY worth it.

For those of us in the US, i found this dvd player and it's not a bad price
http://www.jlist.com/product/IVIEW1800HD

As for the UK people I am looking for a reasonably priced one that you can use with your crazy outlets Very Happy

(I'm originally from there so i know about them)

Posts : 1298 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Tampa

MagnaRyu wrote:

DrProfessor wrote:: Have you tried a region free dvd player? They are hard to find a good one but VERY VERY worth it.

For those of us in the US, i found this dvd player and it's not a bad price
http://www.jlist.com/product/IVIEW1800HD

As for the UK people I am looking for a reasonably priced one that you can use with your crazy outlets Very Happy

(I'm originally from there so i know about them)

I'm not sure I can bring myself to spend that kind of money o a DVD player, when for the same price I cold buy a Blu-Ray machine, which I still don't have.

Subject: Re: Regions On DVDs Thu Jan 20, 2011 2:06 am

For a lot of DVD players you have unlock codes that you can type in via the remote. Just do a search for a Region Hack on Google along with the type of DVD player you have. I did that on my old Samsung DVD player.

Nowadays I just have a decent sized monitor hooked up to a computer though and have DVD Region+CSS Free by DVDidle running in the background to bypass the region check. Also disables those pesky mandatory trailers and stuff before you can get to the DVD Menu.

And if you happen to use PowerDVD there's also a Blu-ray region change utility available on the net that lets you change the Blu-ray region on the fly.

Posts : 5 Join date : 2011-01-21

Anyone here know of any region free Blu Ray players (though they will most likely be expensive, it's good to know if there are any in the market)

Posts : 1298 Join date : 2011-01-19 Location : Tampa

Invisible Crane wrote:: Anyone here know of any region free Blu Ray players (though they will most likely be expensive, it's good to know if there are any in the market)

A quick google search turned up one for about $300. Though, for all I know, you can probably just reset the region code on your regular Blu-Ray player.

Posts : 114 Join date : 2011-02-03 Age : 34 Location : Ohio

When I was living in Germany, the U.S. bases would sell DVD players that were Region Free. I had gotten two which sadly are no longer with me as they bit the dust. If you have a Blu-ray player they should be able to read PAL region all discs. PS2's won't and I'm not sure about PS3s. My Insignia Blu-ray player was Region All at one point before they disabled it on a firmware update, those SOBs. However, the Insignia Blu-ray player still reads my Region All DVDs whether they are official or DVD-R back ups I have made.

If you're wanting to play Region Locked DVDs on a laptop or computer, I believe VLC player can just bypass the Region Coding without even changing the Region Code on the disc drive of the laptop itself.

I don't buy many DVDs as I used too since I got a Blu-ray player and since back in November I have gotten Netflix, I can recommend eThaiCD.com if you're big on foreign flicks. A lot of the movies they have for sale on there are PAL formatted and Region 3. I would say about half of the movies on there, not the English language films, do have English subtitles. Shipping takes a good two weeks to get from Thailand to the U.S.

Posts : 1456 Join date : 2011-02-02 Age : 39

You can apparently change the DVD region on your laptop, but I'm wary of doing this, as a friend of mine tried it, and it screwed up his disc drive, and he was unable to play *any* DVD after he fiddled around with it.

Posts : 114 Join date : 2011-02-03 Age : 34 Location : Ohio

Frank Rizzo wrote:: You can apparently change the DVD region on your laptop, but I'm wary of doing this, as a friend of mine tried it, and it screwed up his disc drive, and he was unable to play *any* DVD after he fiddled around with it.

Yeah, you can, and that can happen. The region codes on a laptop can only be changed 5 times. I don't know why the number 5, but that's the limit that they'll let you change it. Luckily, if you have the right backing up program for DVDs, you don't need to change the region coding at all. Plus, as stated in my previous post, VLC player can play DVDs from other regions with no problem.

» Getting awesome DVDs is fun!