Multi region blu-ray player

**steelo** · 01-08-2009, 15:17

Hi all wonder if you can help with a query of mine, Im after buying a blu ray multi region dvd player and was currenytly looking on ebay, I noticed a lot of the reasonably priced ones were being shipped over from america, But how would this work with the plug can you get the plug exchanged for a 3 pin, also if i was to buy one when im in florida do you think i would pay a lot of tax on it? I currently have a samsung blu-ray player and phoned my local tv store to find out about chipping but apparently blu ray is the only one that cant be done,

**florida4sun** · 01-08-2009, 16:08

You just need ask if it runs on 230v. Tax I think is around 20% but then you get handling fees too, which can differ.
If you have Samsung BD-P1400 there is a hack for this but it is tricky to do. Took me ages of fiddling around to get it to work. I did my brothers and it involved downloading a file. Sorry but I cannot find the info now but it is out there.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steelo
Hi all wonder if you can help with a query of mine, Im after buying a blu ray multi region dvd player and was currenytly looking on ebay, I noticed a lot of the reasonably priced ones were being shipped over from america, But how would this work with the plug can you get the plug exchanged for a 3 pin, also if i was to buy one when im in florida do you think i would pay a lot of tax on it? I currently have a samsung blu-ray player and phoned my local tv store to find out about chipping but apparently blu ray is the only one that cant be done,
[/quote]

**msmiff** · 01-08-2009, 16:14

US players (usually) work on 110V. The normal 'fix' is to use a step-down transformer (a little box built into a plug-top which 'sits' between the player & your mains socket. The original 2 pin US plug from your dvd player just plugs directly into that...
Present import limit is £105 including postage for items bought on-line from US, so that way you'll get 'stung'.
Import limit if you buy in Florida & bring it back with you is £340...(individual allowance).
Fleabay "110 converters" - you'll only need 50Watts max.

**steelo** · 01-08-2009, 19:27

Hi thankyou for your advice, i currently hav e the samsung BD-1500, not sure if there is a hack for this,If someone does know the info would be greatly appreciated

Also about the import limit excuse me for being a bit stupid[msnembarrased] Are you saying that its better for me to buy in florida the import would come of the £340 allowance, theres is 6 of us going all in all so it would not matter if it did[msnsmile2]

**Sniff** · 01-08-2009, 19:37

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steelo
Hi all wonder if you can help with a query of mine, Im after buying a blu ray multi region dvd player and was currenytly looking on ebay, I noticed a lot of the reasonably priced ones were being shipped over from america, But how would this work with the plug can you get the plug exchanged for a 3 pin, also if i was to buy one when im in florida do you think i would pay a lot of tax on it? I currently have a samsung blu-ray player and phoned my local tv store to find out about chipping but apparently blu ray is the only one that cant be done,
[/quote]
If you're serious about blu-ray multi-region you need to talk to someone a bit more specialist than your local TV store. It can be done, and for reasonable cost. Check out these two for example:

http://www.mrmdvd.com/catalog/

http://www.multiregionupgrades.com/

Before spending money, though, I would ask yourself why you think you need multi-region blu-ray. When DVD first came out, release dates between US and UK were wildly different, and so many people bought R1 DVDs so they could see the film earlier. That's no longer the case with blu-ray, and many films are released simultaneously worldwide.

Also despite what you might think, many blu-rays are region-free, so check the internet to see if your intended purchases are region-free or all-region - over 60% of discs are:

http://www.blurayregioncodes.com/

There are some hacks out there for existing players, but almost all will involve a firmware upgrade that invalidates your warranty, as the manufacturers are not technically allowed to sell multi-region players. As blu-ray gains in popularity though you will find players from China and Taiwan appearing which will likely be hackable.

I also considered buying a multi-region blu-ray, but when I looked into it, none of the films I wanted or anticipated buying were not available on region B release, so in the end I didn't buy one.

If what you really want is the ability to play region A discs, a much cheaper alternative to multi-region is to simply buy a region A player from US and install it alongside your existing region B player.

If you have a media PC with a blu-ray drive in, a program like AnyDVD can allow you to play any region disc

www.slysoft.com

Finally, if you're a bit techie, consider buying a PS3 and installing Linux on it (Unbuntu is a good distro that works on PS3) and then try to find a multi-region player.

But my advice for the cheapest way to get the ability to play region A films would be to buy a PS3 from the US...it's multi-voltage out of the box too!

**msmiff** · 01-08-2009, 19:37

H Steelo,
Yes... buy in Florida. As long as the person bringing it back doesn't have goods worth more than £340 in total, there's no import duty to pay.
Is worth mentioning, though, that if over the £340 limit, HM Customs charge about 20% on the WHOLE amount - not just that over the limit !!!
In reply to Keith, blueray disks either bought in US or imported are still cheaper than UK.
PS3 DVD players still have the poor reliability record that all Sony games system disk readers suffer from - mech. just a bit too cheap ??

**steelo** · 01-08-2009, 20:11

We also have a ps3 so i will look into this aswell, I feel a bit silly but i did not know that a lot of blu-ray discs were multi region, i think this also proves im definately not a bit techy and if i could pay someone to do it for me i would, Im just looking at my blu ray discs and can not find where it states what region it is any help AGAIN! would be appreciated

**Sniff** · 01-08-2009, 20:29

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steelo
We also have a ps3 so i will look into this aswell, I feel a bit silly but i did not know that a lot of blu-ray discs were multi region, i think this also proves im definately not a bit techy and if i could pay someone to do it for me i would, Im just looking at my blu ray discs and can not find where it states what region it is any help AGAIN! would be appreciated

[/quote]
It'll be on the back of the case - look for a hexagonal shape with a globe inside it, over-written with the letter A B or C. Many discs that play on all players are actually multi-region rather than region-free - they will show all three (3 hexagons) as if region coding is present the packaging must indicate which region(s). I just checked 8 discs I bought recently (including recent films like Watchmen, Frost/Nixon, Benjamin Button, plus some older films like Zulu and Raging Bull). Only Raging Bull shows any kind of region coding, and that indicates it is all 3 regions.

To msmiff...I'm not sure what you mean about PS3 reliability...mine gets used almost every single day and I've never had any issues. The drive in PS3 is nothing special (you refer to "games system disc readers") it's just a standard blu-ray drive, like any other. I also dont find much of a difference between imported US discs and EU discs, so perhaps you are buying from the wrong suppliers? I certainly don't think the price differential is worth the cost of a multi-region player just to be able to import them.

**msmiff** · 01-08-2009, 22:28

Most Fox blueray titles are region specific. Many Disney ditto (just for starters).
The PS3 blueray drive isn't "just a standard blue-ray drive". It's specifically built by Sony for the PS3 (presumeably as cheaply as possible) & it's not a particularly wonderful mechanism.
I'm repairing on average 8 per week - mostly laser faults....
There's a whole catalogue of disks (especially older releases re-mastered) only on region A.
It's certainly cheaper to import disks directly from the US than buy in the UK / cheaper still if you buy 'em there - may be different in Germany ??