Blu Ray Zone Confusion

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Oubadah

379 posts

Ultimate Geek

Topic # 113600 21-Jan-2013 22:25
For Christmas, someone bought me Casino Royale on BD from Amazon. It didn't arrive in time so they bought another copy from a local shop. This was a Zone ABC copy, and to my annoyance it had no DTS-HDMA or special features (recurring theme in my NZ purchased BD collection). The Amazon copy finally arrived. Turns out it's a Zone A version, however it appears to work in both my Zone B BDPs: - Sony BDP-S380 (sat in a black screen for a while [maybe it was trying to do BD Live], but I skipped to the menu and it played) - Panasonic DMP-BDT320 (played 100% normal) What's more, this Zone A disk has the HD audio and special features (which are NTSC which is sub-optimal, but I can still play them on the PC without stutter). What's going on with the zone thing though... My BDPs aren't modified. Why can I play Zone A disks on my Zone B hardware?

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59 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 748526 21-Jan-2013 22:46
According to blu-ray.com, the US version of Casino Royale has been tested and confirmed compatible with zones A and B http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Casino-Royale-Blu-ray/55432/#RegionCoding Does it definitely only state zone A on the case? I can't think of a specific example off the top of my head but I'm sure that some of my US bought, supposedly zone A only (according to the case at least) will work on my unmodded PS3 (I also have a multi-region BD player). My collection is mostly in storage at the mo so I can't check for you, sorry...

Oubadah

379 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 748554 21-Jan-2013 23:18
JEDENZED: According to blu-ray.com, the US version of Casino Royale has been tested and confirmed compatible with zones A and B http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Casino-Royale-Blu-ray/55432/#RegionCoding Does it definitely only state zone A on the case? Yes, it has the 'A' hexagon logo. I just tried it in another Panasonic DMP-BDT320 (have two here ATM), and it seemed to hang on the players loading screen, but I restarted it and then it worked perfectly. Very odd I'm glad to have the DTS-HDMA and commentries etc. I'm so sick of ordering NZ BDs and ending up with castrated versions with lossy audio, missing features and a bunch of useless foreign language tracks instead. How is it even legal to sell these BDs without the HD audio? That's part of the deal. My Pirates of the Caribbean BDs even had the HDMA logo on their covers, but no actual HDMA track - that's false advertising. Do they think New Zealanders are too backwards and stupid to notice?

JEDENZED

59 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 748556 21-Jan-2013 23:24
Oubadah:Yes, it has the 'A' hexagon logo. I just tried it in another Panasonic DMP-BDT320 (have two here ATM), and it seemed to hang on the players loading screen, but I restarted it and then it worked perfectly. Very odd Like I said, just because it carries the Zone A only logo doesn't always mean that it's correct... It's just a case of the disc being multi zone compatible and nothing to do with your players

dontpanic42

1529 posts

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Reply # 748559 22-Jan-2013 00:23
Oubadah: My Pirates of the Caribbean BDs even had the HDMA logo on their covers, but no actual HDMA track - that's false advertising. I notice on quite a few Blu-rays that I have (NZ/UK/US) that DTS-HDMA audio is specified on the packaging, and the audio track info on the Blu-ray player (Panasonic DMP-BD75) shows it as DTS-MA, but my receiver will say different things sometimes. The receiver (Yamaha RX-V863) usually says DTS on the 'free-text' part of the screen, but sometimes it will just say "Straight", which means it's playing the audio as it's getting it from the player (unaltered), which I think is still DTS-MA because there is a dedicated DTM-MA logo that lights up whether it says 'DTS' or 'Straight'. It seems like it's some sort of audio flag issue. Perhaps you have a receiver that does something similar, and you are under the impression that the audio is not DTS, when it actually might be? Just a thought.

Oubadah

379 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 748563 22-Jan-2013 00:50
dontpanic42: Oubadah: My Pirates of the Caribbean BDs even had the HDMA logo on their covers, but no actual HDMA track - that's false advertising. I notice on quite a few Blu-rays that I have (NZ/UK/US) that DTS-HDMA audio is specified on the packaging, and the audio track info on the Blu-ray player (Panasonic DMP-BD75) shows it as DTS-MA, but my receiver will say different things sometimes. The receiver (Yamaha RX-V863) usually says DTS on the 'free-text' part of the screen, but sometimes it will just say "Straight", which means it's playing the audio as it's getting it from the player (unaltered), which I think is still DTS-MA because there is a dedicated DTM-MA logo that lights up whether it says 'DTS' or 'Straight'. It seems like it's some sort of audio flag issue. Perhaps you have a receiver that does something similar, and you are under the impression that the audio is not DTS, when it actually might be? Just a thought. No, the onkyo recievers don't work like that, and in the case of the PoTC it appears to be a known 'misprint'.

Behodar

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Reply # 748588 22-Jan-2013 07:36
My US Casino Royale has the ABC logo on it, and successfully plays on B players. On the other hand, the US version has a few scenes censored whereas the local one is uncut.

Oubadah

379 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 748673 22-Jan-2013 10:28
Behodar: My US Casino Royale has the ABC logo on it, and successfully plays on B players. On the other hand, the US version has a few scenes censored whereas the local one is uncut. Which scenes are those?

freitasm

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Reply # 748675 22-Jan-2013 10:32
Oubadah: Behodar: My US Casino Royale has the ABC logo on it, and successfully plays on B players. On the other hand, the US version has a few scenes censored whereas the local one is uncut. Which scenes are those? You know it: violence, gun usage, killing, man torture are all ok to show. Nipples are not. Sorry, this comment doesn't actually tell what scenes. But says it all about their mentality when it comes to protecting the masses from "harmful content". Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure, my tweets, Web Performance Optimization) Geekzone Price comparison \| Amazon Kindle order page \| How to get the best out of Geekzone \| New Zealand IT Jobs \| Geekzone News \| Jinglebugs

sittingduckz

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Reply # 748678 22-Jan-2013 10:42
freitasm: Oubadah: Behodar: My US Casino Royale has the ABC logo on it, and successfully plays on B players. On the other hand, the US version has a few scenes censored whereas the local one is uncut. Which scenes are those? You know it: violence, gun usage, killing, man torture are all ok to show. Nipples are not. Sorry, this comment doesn't actually tell what scenes. But says it all about their mentality when it comes to protecting the masses from "harmful content". I love it!!

sittingduckz

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Reply # 748680 22-Jan-2013 10:44
Oubadah: Do they think New Zealanders are too backwards and stupid to notice? Crap, I hadn't noticed that :(

Behodar

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Reply # 748681 22-Jan-2013 10:45
Oubadah: Which scenes are those? http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=4011

old3eyes

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Reply # 748733 22-Jan-2013 12:39
freitasm: Oubadah: Behodar: My US Casino Royale has the ABC logo on it, and successfully plays on B players. On the other hand, the US version has a few scenes censored whereas the local one is uncut. Which scenes are those? You know it: violence, gun usage, killing, man torture are all ok to show. Nipples are not. Sorry, this comment doesn't actually tell what scenes. But says it all about their mentality when it comes to protecting the masses from "harmful content". Your not thinking of a certain Super Bowl are you?? Regards, Old3eyes

lchiu7

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Reply # 748975 22-Jan-2013 16:39
Interesting - my UK sourced (Amazon UK I presume) Deluxe Edition of Casino Royale doesn't have DTS HD MA either. But it has Dolby TrueHD 5.1 so there is no difference in AQ. This is region ABC System One: Popcorn Hour A200, PS3 (US 60G) dead and now replaced with a PS3 SuperSlim, NPVR running on Sempron 3000 (XP), Sony BDP-S390 BD player, Logitech Revue, Pioneer AVR, JVC 56" D-ILA 720P RP TV System Two: Popcorn Hour A110 , Oppo BDP-80 BluRay Player with hardware mode to be region free, Vivitek HD1080P 1080P DLP projector with 100" screen. Harman Kardon HK AVR 254 7.1 receiver, Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player, Roku XS media player Check out my blog at lchiu.blogspot.com

ilovemusic

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 749082 22-Jan-2013 19:32
Behodar: My US Casino Royale has the ABC logo on it, and successfully plays on B players. On the other hand, the US version has a few scenes censored whereas the local one is uncut. UK Bond BD boxset is slectively censored too. Goldeneye has all the infamous headbutts exised. The Box's Casino Royale appears untouched. But the set was $100 less than NZ RRP.

Behodar

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Reply # 749089 22-Jan-2013 19:43
As far as I'm aware, the UK Bond 50 set (which I own) has the "best" available versions. I read that the headbutts are gone from all releases worldwide, although I'll stand corrected if that's not the case.

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