Are BR players region locked for DVD playback?

[Jayman88]

I have over 1,000 DVD's which I have accumulated over the years here in China. They are all from various regions and i use a region-unlocked DVD player to view them.

I want to buy a BR player for HD content but also for the upscaling of DVD's I already have. The only problem is I don't know if BD players are region locked for DVD content or not.

Can anyone shed some light on this

Thanks!

[Sehnzeleid]

I'm pretty sure to date there is no BD player that is region free for DVD.

[videoworx]

There are two modified (ergo, no warranty) Sony BD players for sale in the UK that are region free (the 300 and 500 models). I'm sure as demand increases, more players will follow.

[Ruined]

One also might want to consider that you might be a target for BD+ countermeasures if you use a modified player or modified firmware. Just keeping a seperate region-free DVD player is probably a better idea.

[Sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by videoworx

There are two modified (ergo, no warranty) Sony BD players for sale in the UK that are region free (the 300 and 500 models).

Aren't these priced at like $1k+ from the seller.

[Jayman88]

I was really hoping to get the upscaling quality of the BD player instead of using my standard DVD player. Plus i don't want to have 2 units and their wires hanging out there in my system.

If there aren't any reasonably priced unlocked BD players (for DVD) then perhaps I need to find a region unlocked upscaling DVD player. Does anyone know of any?

[Sehnzeleid]

Does anyone know of any?

Oppo Digital

The best price to performance ratio of any DVD player manufacturer. DVDTimes just reviewed the $170 DV-980H.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Jayman88

I was really hoping to get the upscaling quality of the BD player instead of using my standard DVD player. Plus i don't want to have 2 units and their wires hanging out there in my system.

If there aren't any reasonably priced unlocked BD players (for DVD) then perhaps I need to find a region unlocked upscaling DVD player. Does anyone know of any?

What type of system do you have? Conceivably, you would have two units, and two power cables and two hdmi cables. Hardly an unmanageable situation from a wires perspective.

[Jayman88]

Hi Gantc,

Yes, in most cases you would be absolutely correct, not much additonal wires to connect a DVD player.

For me, however, I am using the analog RCA outputs to run the 5.1 Dolby to my amplifier. Having two units would be a total of; 2 power cords, 2 HDMI cords, and 12 RCA's...not unmanageable, but something I prefer not to deal with.

I am a little picky about my audio quality so that means I would have to spend another USD 100-200 dollars on another set of 6 decent quality RCA cables. I use an HT integrated amp to run my sounds and it has no digital inputs on the back so I have to use the setup I described above....

Hence, my desire to combine the two players into one.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Jayman88

Hi Gantc,

Yes, in most cases you would be absolutely correct, not much additonal wires to connect a DVD player.

For me, however, I am using the analog RCA outputs to run the 5.1 Dolby to my amplifier. Having two units would be a total of; 2 power cords, 2 HDMI cords, and 12 RCA's...not unmanageable, but something I prefer not to deal with.

I am a little picky about my audio quality so that means I would have to spend another USD 100-200 dollars on another set of 6 decent quality RCA cables. I use an HT integrated amp to run my sounds and it has no digital inputs on the back so I have to use the setup I described above....

Hence, my desire to combine the two players into one.

Okay, I hear ya. Yeah, for now you won't get the highest quality with bd players. You may have to wait.