The Region Free Blu-ray Player Thread

Just checked the site. I can find a Region A (The region I need) Sony player for $95. Cheapest postage to Denmark is $70. So $165 and to that I have to add Danish VAT (25%) and import fee ($24) so all in all $230. And that’s how an on-paper cheap player ends up costing a fortune. I have previously found a simlar player from another dealer on ebay that ended up costing something like $150 so that’s probably the way I’ll go when I go :slight_smile:

there is a bunch of players on amazon UK and DE, but it is a limited selection. At least that should be cheaper as it’s within-EU purchase/shipping

Please supply me with links :slight_smile:

When I have checked I have had a hard time finding anything cheaper than 200 euro or so.

@Admin pls pass the word along to Koch to make those new blu ray releases region free… or is there some actual word on region locking being required? Wouldn’t think so… the German blus for the Dollars films are region free as well as Explosive releases…

Not sure I’ll be buying any more region locked discs since my player is dead and I don’t want to keep paying extra for a region free player… at some point, they will be harder to come by and then will be stuck with a bunch of locked discs if player would need replacing again…

I doubt that Koch Media has any say in what they have to region lock sadly.

But you will probably always be able to buy a player not necessarily a region free one but you will always be able to buy a region B player so just go for one of those.

That’s usually in the license agreements. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d find a lot of “Region B” discs out thee that say so on the cover but actually aren’t… Unfortunately I do not have the technical means to check these things but that’s what I’m hearing from some labels…

That is true. Many many many Code Red discs for example are stated as being region A but they are mostly or always region free. That info can nearly always be found somewhere on the net. But if you are bound by a certain region you will miss out at some point.

I keep looking at region free players, but there are not so many downright serious or trustworthy shops, and the players offered region free are usually a bit older and pricier… I should have made that investment years ago…

I only had a region free player because my cheapo Insignia was hackable. Now that its dead, I’ll either find another cheapo hackable one or not buy one at all. I currently use my xbox as a player, at least its getting some use lol.

I checked all my Koch stuff and all are locked except for the 2 very old titles of Blindman and Death Sentence, I currently no way to watch them so they are all being sold except for the Silver Saddle blu ray.

Only other option for region locked discs is to rip them off with a blu ray drive onto computer, and then either re-burn or save digitally. But I don’t even have a blu ray drive yet.

Importing a region B player probably costs more than just buying a region free player here, because shipping from EU costs a lot.

Just saying if Koch was aware how much more sales potential they could have with region free maybe they’d try to make it happen?

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If it were up to them, probably, but more likely that these are contractual obligations

Region free players are way more cheap than they are in the EU so you’re probably right. Actually they are so cheap in the US that I would deem your problem a not really a problem :slight_smile: It’s the cost of a couple of releases.

Its all relative I guess.

I have very little money, so its a lot to me.

And the way things are going with digital media taking over, I wouldn’t be surprised to see someday in the near future that all hardware players are as hard to find as VCRs are now.

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At some point yes but certainly not in the near future. If they can last as long as I live it’s fine by me :slight_smile:

As long as there is enthusiasts keeping the physical media alive they will keep producing them. Just see how the record player market is doing.

But yes all is relative. But it’s still only the cost of a couple of releases.

I wouldn’t necessarily say not in the near future… things can change pretty quickly. It all depends on how many units are being sold and how much money the manufacturers are making from them.

Like your example with record players, Technics stopped producing their most popular turntable about 5 years ago. Many of the new players are cheap garbage and you have to get a vintage one for quality.

My blu ray player lasted about 10 years before dying, hardly a lifetime.

There are still lots of enthusiasts for VHS, yet finding VCRs, let alone good quality working VCRs is very hard… Even DVD players aren’t so common at this point.

I don’t want to end up with a bookshelf full of region locked discs I can’t play without having to repeatedly replace an expensive player. If a company isn’t making the effort to make their discs region free, they are essentially telling me I am not their customer and they don’t want to sell to me, so I will get it however I can then…

Not sure what kind of releases you’re buying that cost $100 for two?

Blu rays themselves are already not commonly sold where I live. The movie section at stores is shrinking smaller and smaller.

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And I also have a hard time accepting that Koch is obligated to do region locked discs when The Dollars films, probably the biggest SW release possible, can be released in Germany region free… along with everything Explosive does, and all current genre releases from other countries seem to be region free also. What’s so different about Koch’s situation? Its not like they are releasing films from big studios even (at least these SWs)

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A couple of releases that is 3 or 4 :slight_smile:

And regarding players the good thing is that UHD players also support DVD and they keep getting cheaper. And UHD’s are region free which is liberating.

Some companies region lock more than others that is right. Kino Lorber and Scream Factory region lock everything, Code Red and Vinegar Syndrome nothing. It doesn’t make sense.

At some point I thin we will begin seing blu-ray players that ignore the region lock but it will take some time.

Actually a couple is literally 2 :wink: A few would be 3 or 4

And I don’t know much about the UHD world yet, but I suspect its fairly likely it won’t go far. New formats fail all the time, even if they are great.

And you have to remember that the kids don’t want physical mediums now, save some minority of youngsters into our niche fandoms. But have to keep in mind that its largely the older audience of fans who still want any kind of physical formats… And although it may not feel like it when we’re discussing on these dedicated communities, we are a very niche market and the companies that mass produce products, particularly those products involving technology, are not interested in niche markets. They only care about making lots of money.

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And still my record player died years ago but my son just bought one recently :slight_smile:

Also more niche genre movies are being released today than ever before but you’re talking as if you won’t be able to buy a player tomorrow :slight_smile:

Sorry, but you seem over pessimistic. At the same time you seem to think that Koch Media can make bundles of money by making their releases region free. Sorry, but your logic is flawed.

VHS players are gone yes, but that format also died, what 18 years ago. Dvds are still being made and sold today, and blu-ray’s and UHDs. If I will be able to buy players for those just 10 years after they are ‘dead’ I think that will probably be long after I’m dead either way, so the problem is non-existant :slight_smile: Don’t know how old you are. You might experience a player draught but my guess is that you will be up in the years too :slight_smile:

It really isn’t. It can also mean more than two but no matter :slight_smile:

Was your son’s new player brand new, or a used player, and if new is it one of the many pieces of crap marketed towards hipsters?

Yes, more genre movies are being released - to niche audiences such as yourself who spend lots of cash on collectible movies. However the vast majority of people who watch movies will never buy any of this. Part of the reason that these kinds of movies are often limited in release, and also vinyl music releases, is because there isn’t a big enough audience for them. These special limited releases make the collectors want them even more, as something special that won’t be around… but in fact, they are usually limited in number based on how many units would sell for the title, even if it wasn’t limited.

The majority of movie watching people don’t buy discs any more, and don’t even own players for them. That’s just how it is now, and will remain.

I never said players will become unavailable tomorrow. What I said is that I don’t want to deal in the future with having a collection of films that requires me to buy an overly expensive player to watch them. And these players will grow in price as the said players become less and less available over the coming years.

Yes, it will happen. Physical mediums are continuing to become less common and I don’t see this trend reversing, but growing.

I think we just have a very different approach to collecting.

For you, buying a couple blu rays is no big deal and you probably regularly spend what I consider lots of cash on these movies.

I wait sometimes years before buying a movie, and only buy select titles, and will not pay past a certain price for any one title.

I also will not buy things like electronics new - I wait until I can find them dirt cheap, second hand. I haven’t had more than $1000 in my bank account at any one time for the last decade, so yes, the price of a blu ray player is a lot to me.

I just googled for a region free blu ray player and I found this one first…. it can player 4k blu ray from any region… blu ray from any region…. dvd from any region… music cds.

It has an usb input if you got a movie on an usb stick and you can even plug an usb hard drive if you have many :wink:

$400 but there’s probably better alternative out there…