Going Region Free

Don't know if this has been covered in another thread somewhere; I couldn't find anything. I'm thinking about taking the plunge and getting an all region blu ray player since there are many movies for regions B and C that seem to have better discs than region A (U.S.). Has anyone already done this and do you have any recommendations on players and where to get them? Also, if anyone outside of 'Murrica has suggestions for superior Region B and C blu rays, I'm all ears! I'd also love to know the best places to purchase import blu-rays.

Thanks in advance!

Have you ascertained that these regions B and C are locked, or are they merely regional designations? The percentage of region locked BD's are really small that it never occurred to me to get a region-free player.

Ryan Pliskin said:

Have you ascertained that these regions B and C are locked, or are they merely regional designations? The percentage of region locked BD's are really small that it never occurred to me to get a region-free player.

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That's a really good question. Yes, I've got my eye on a few that are region locked. I've picked up some already that are region free, just UK releases, like the Hitchcock set and the Superman set because they were a lot cheaper than the US versions and just about identical. But when you asked, I looked and saw that there weren't as many locked ones as I thought, so that is a consideration... Still enough to make me want a player though.

slackerboy said:

That's a really good question. Yes, I've got my eye on a few that are region locked. I've picked up some already that are region free, just UK releases, like the Hitchcock set and the Superman set because they were a lot cheaper than the US versions and just about identical. But when you asked, I looked and saw that there weren't as many locked ones as I thought, so that is a consideration... Still enough to make me want a player though.

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Yeah, it's just that the amount of truly locked BD's are super rare, especially so in 2015 with mostly the regional designations are just identifiers. While I'm not sure on a region-free player, I do think that it's best to just ask your seller if you suspect any discs of being locked. Normally most retailers and sellers are VERY strict on locked BD's, putting up a disclaimer on the item description to avoid the hassle.

Either way, it's not something you should be that much worried about. I wished I could help you on that region-free player though!

Ryan Pliskin said:

Yeah, it's just that the amount of truly locked BD's are super rare, especially so in 2015 with mostly the regional designations are just identifiers. While I'm not sure on a region-free player, I do think that it's best to just ask your seller if you suspect any discs of being locked. Normally most retailers and sellers are VERY strict on locked BD's, putting up a disclaimer on the item description to avoid the hassle.

Either way, it's not something you should be that much worried about. I wished I could help you on that region-free player though!

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No worries, I've been looking at discs on bluray.com and they'll say if it's locked or not. I suppose unless I can look at one myself, I'd just have to trust them. Either that or wait for the studios here to get off their asses and do for us what they've done for Europe. You think they'd try to get as good a product to the bigger market. At least, I think the US would be the top market for blu ray; maybe it isn't.

slackerboy said:

No worries, I've been looking at discs on bluray.com and they'll say if it's locked or not. I suppose unless I can look at one myself, I'd just have to trust them. Either that or wait for the studios here to get off their asses and do for us what they've done for Europe. You think they'd try to get as good a product to the bigger market. At least, I think the US would be the top market for blu ray; maybe it isn't.

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If it's from the UK, blu-rays from Eureka Entertainment, BFI, Arrow (they release in the US now), Artificial Eye and Studio Canal are all region locked. Same goes for Lionsgate.

IronFingaz said:

If it's from the UK, blu-rays from Eureka Entertainment, BFI, Arrow (they release in the US now), Artificial Eye and Studio Canal are all region locked. Same goes for Lionsgate.

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A lot of the ones I've been drooling over are from Arrow. Any tips on where to find them? I know Amazon UK and Ebay are probably the most obvious sources. Any distributors off the beaten path that you know of?

slackerboy said:

A lot of the ones I've been drooling over are from Arrow. Any tips on where to find them? I know Amazon UK and Ebay are probably the most obvious sources. Any distributors off the beaten path that you know of?

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Best place is Amazon UK or if you want them a little earlier but a few bucks pricier, get them straight from Arrow. They have a point system like Sideshow's Reward Point system so that's nice.

But Arrow has started releasing their titles in the US now as well.

Which one's have you been looking at?

IronFingaz said:

Best place is Amazon UK or if you want them a little earlier but a few bucks pricier, get them straight from Arrow. They have a point system like Sideshow's Reward Point system so that's nice.

But Arrow has started releasing their titles in the US now as well.

Which one's have you been looking at?

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). I hate how the US version continues to not have the director's commentary, even though it's on the OLD DVD I have. It also seems to have a nicer features package than the US version.

Lifeboat - I've got the DVD, but it's still not out on Blu in the US. There are a lot of the Eureka Masters of Cinema discs that look good, but they seem to be like a UK Criterion, so I'd have to see some head to head comparisons of how they stack up to the Criterion discs here.

Lost Highway - I've got a Region 4 DVD from Australia, but I don't think my old Norcent DVD player is going to last much longer for me to be able to watch it. It's also not on blu in the US yet.

Starman - I don't think this has been released on blu anywhere in anything other than a bare-bones version. I've got the region 2 DVD and getting a new region free player would let me keep that spinning (with the John Carpenter/Jeff Bridges commentary) as well.

I'm finding that not as many of the ones I want are region locked, so that's good. I'd really have to do some research to make sure I'm not aiming to get something over there that we already have over here unless it's a substantial improvement. If anyone's got recommendations at to which international blu rays are superior to the US versions, I'd love to know about them.

I bought my last region free Blu Ray player on accident a few years ago

ink said:

I bought my last region free Blu Ray player on accident a few years ago

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D'oh! Did you ever take advantage of it? When I got my Region free DVD player back in 2004 or thereabouts, I tracked down a lot of John Carpenter movies in the UK that had bonus features not on the US release. Thankfully most of the blu rays have corrected those oversights.

IronFingaz said:

Best place is Amazon UK or if you want them a little earlier but a few bucks pricier, get them straight from Arrow. They have a point system like Sideshow's Reward Point system so that's nice.

But Arrow has started releasing their titles in the US now as well.

Which one's have you been looking at?

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Creepshow is another one. Bare bones in the US and a really nice special edition by Second Sight in the UK.

slackerboy said:

D'oh! Did you ever take advantage of it? When I got my Region free DVD player back in 2004 or thereabouts, I tracked down a lot of John Carpenter movies in the UK that had bonus features not on the US release. Thankfully most of the blu rays have corrected those oversights.

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I got a few steelbooks and Blu Ray sets