A thread for discussing blu ray players (instead of filling the BR release thread with hardware posts)
Post about good deals, good players, whatever.
I seem to have just lucked out with my cheapie BR player. I have an Insignia NS-BRDVD3, which is Best Buy’s hardware brand and I bought it a couple years ago for $30 refurbished.
Turns out you can download a firmware update for this player which will then let you set the region code for the player, both for DVDs and Blu-Rays. I have installed the firmware and it will let me change the region code, but I don’t yet have a blu ray disc to test it on. I did just order the Explosive Media release of Death Rides A Horse, so I’ll test it soon 8)
I can confirm that this player does PAL discs just fine, and the forum where I found the firmware instructions reports tested/confirmed on multi-region playback.
I’m not sure on availability, but I imagine you can still find this player on ebay for real cheap, used or refurb, particularly because lots of people were pissed about the crappy remote sensor. I had problems with the remote myself and it finally quit working at all, but after googling I discovered that you can simply take the front panel off, scrape the black paint away from the plastic in front of the remote sensor, and now it works perfectly from way across the room! You can also just drill a hole in the plastic if you don’t feel like disassembling the player. (There is a black grid pattern painted on the plastic which blocks the remote signal).
As for the player, the quality is great and for $30, can’t beat it- multi-region BR/DVD playback, USB drive for digital file playback, Netflix access
There are also a few other models in this line of players which you can do the same thing with. Here’s the forum thread with all the details:
[quote=““Gritz””]
That is were I got my multi-region player. I got the LG just a step below the one you are linking to and I love it. I got it like a year ago so is was about the price as the one you are looking at now. 220 was solid too…even had to call them about something and their customer service was top notch. Totally worth the purchase.[/quote]
The Col. also mentioned the Orei BDP-M2, which plays all region DVDs & BluRays and supports PAL/NTSC on any TV, and supports 3D.
$125 on Amazon right now.
Link with SWDB Amazon referral code:
And looks like there’s the Orei BDP-A3 which also plays all regions but is 2D only.
$100 on Amazon right now.
Tested and my Insignia NS-BRDVD3 played the region B Death Rides A Horse blu-ray without any problems.
Just checked ebay, and there are several listed for around $30 shipped. Playback quality is great. After the firmware hack and remote sensor modification, its a good region free player for really cheap.
Thanks for the info auto. Unfortunately for me I don’t know how to download firmware because my blu is not connected to the internet. I don’t have BD live or anything like that. How do you get around that?
Also, I wanted a blu ray player that will give me disc info such as bitrate, disc size etc…Any help appreciated.
Well, whether or not firmware can be applied to your player depends on your model.
For mine, I just downloaded the firmware file which is in ISO format, put it on a thumb drive, and plugged the thumb drive into the player. Then the player loads the firmware update and applies it.
For info on if this can be done with your player, I would just take the model number and do a google search for the model + “region free”
If its possible to hack your player, you should get some search results with instructions.
As far as I know this model doesn’t provide any disc info, but I’ve never looked for it.
Just buy the Oppo Bdp-103. Its only $500.00. (Sorry to the people who cant afford it. Maybe you can work a little harder in life). It is amazing and will do everything you need.
Such an assholish post that it barely deserves response, but the Oppo BDP-103 is not region free (despite its $500 price tag)
There’s a software hack to make DVD playback region free, but not blu ray. To get region free blu ray playback, you gotta do a hardware modification or buy the $629 pre-modded version from 220: Oppo BDP-103 Region Free Blu-ray DVD Player BDP103 multi region
Suggesting that people are lazy in their life if they don’t want to spend $500 on a disc player? Surely you’re aware of how dickish it is to say a thing like that, and are just trolling for arguments or have a bone to pick with the forum (judging by past posts)
Plus, the player you suggested isn’t even region free. Maybe you can work a little harder in your internet comments.
Not really sure why our resident Aspergers patient hasn’t been banned yet. Any mods out there? Please have him banned. Half of his 28 posts have him insulting people one way or another.
Regarding Insignia, I’m planning on getting an Insignia TV. They’re alot cheaper than the brand names.
Currently I use my brother’s Pioneer Elite Pro 940HD Plasma. It was pretty top of the line stuff way back in 2007 and retailed for $3300 (My brother worked hard in life apparently lol). Blu Rays look very cinematic on it which is great but the contrast ratio is mediocre compared to more modern models and images can be soft.
I don’t have my brother’s budget but I need to get a TV of my own so I’m thinking Insignia is a good brand of choice.
The Oppo is region free. Just add a region free mod for a little more money(sorry if that makes you feel insecure autephx). SO yes my information is accurate. Also, insignia sucks. But I understand they have to make models like that available for certain people (dont want to offend the under achievers who love government handouts…oops I mean entitlements)
Only Seb is able to close a forum account. And he doesn’t do this lightly. And poppunklovebaby hasn’t caused enough trouble yet.
I only remember 2 members being banned. One was the king of verbal slanders and the biggest online troublemaker I ever met in the net, the other one, who was actually a well respected member before, was suddenly very eager to talk himself into an early grave with uttering Neo-Nazi propaganda stuff.
I always wondered re the member who wanted to speak about Neo-Nazi propaganda stuff. Was he always like this and kept silent re his thoughts at one point or just suddenly woke up one day and decided hey lets speak about it.
I’ve looked into buying an American player, but it’ll be more of a hassle than I thought. Not only would I need an adapter, which isn’t that big of a deal, but also some kind of device to convert voltage. If not, the American player will ‘blow up’ in a matter of seconds due to getting 220V, instead of 110V. So I will probably go for a region free player as well. One for a 220V outlet, that is.
Concerning poppunklovebaby, I’m with Col. But this is no news (read the cultcine thread). His last post is also vintage trolling. And if he doesn’t realize this himself, he needs to see a shrink, instead of being on the Internet.
There were some posts pointing in that direction before, nothing dramatic, but then he started posting some strongly anti-semitic stuff, which is problematic, and which isolated him. I think this is a pretty open minded forum, but there are boundaries for everything.
I still think this was a bit sad as I liked him. And he did a lot of work for the database.
I don’t have any experience with Insignia products outside of my blu ray player. After scraping the paint away that blocked the remote sensor, I have no complaints with it and its an excellent player all around. Its played everything I’ve put into it as far as DVDs go - NTSC, PAL, different regions, and all burned discs. It also plays most digitally ripped files via USB, although it doesn’t support a lot of newer x264s in mkv format and whatnot (but neither do a lot of current higher end players). Now that it supports all region blu rays, I’ll probably keep this player for a very long time without needing another one.
I bought it from an ebay seller a while back… it may be too late to get this model refurbished since I imagine its discontinued, but you can still find them used on ebay for the same price or less. It may sometimes be available through 3rd party sellers on Amazon also, or maybe some random internet sites.
Seems like models that support region free playback end up becoming hard to find once they are discontinued as word gets out and they are bought up, but I think this particular model is a bit of a sleeper. In my first post, I included a link to a forum post which lists several other models in this Insignia series which are also reported to support region-free playback with firmware hack.