Blu-Ray Player from USA

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AESPABLO

17 posts

Geek

#46473 6-Nov-2009 13:31

Hi. My brother is currently leading the bid in US ebay for my Sony BDP-S350. I am concerned that it will not play the Blu-Ray discs being sold here in NZ? If this is true please let me know immediately so I can stop my brother from the auction. Cheers.

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741 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#270631 6-Nov-2009 13:49

It won't as Bluray discs are region encoded mostly - there are some region free but most will not be

vinnieg

2260 posts

Uber Geek

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#270633 6-Nov-2009 13:53

He's right, unless you get mostly US regioned discs from Amazon.com

Then it'll be Region A only, NZ is region B:

Region A:
East Asia (except Mainland China and Mongolia), Southeast Asia, North America, South America and their dependencies.

Region B:
Africa, Southwest Asia, Europe (except Russia and Kazakhstan), Oceania and their dependencies.

Region C:
Central Asia, East Asia (Mainland China and Mongolia only), South Asia, central Eurasia and their dependencies.

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

pebbles

741 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#270634 6-Nov-2009 13:55

P.s. I am a she :P But yeah, buying one on ebay.co.uk would be safe if he wants to try that - also a good place to buy blurays as they seem cheaper than ours

bazzer

3438 posts

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#270640 6-Nov-2009 14:06

Aren't BDs region free more often than not? Or have they started enforcing regions more? This website has a list of BDs and their region status.

pebbles

741 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#270642 6-Nov-2009 14:13

Nope, they have always been dominantly region encoded. about 1 in 20 seem to be region free.

AESPABLO

17 posts

Geek

#270647 6-Nov-2009 14:23

Such sad news. My brother is leading the bidding, which means he will send me a player I will hardly use. Will it play ordinary DVDs available here?

vexxxboy

4243 posts

Uber Geek

#270649 6-Nov-2009 14:28

not sure but my PS3 will only play NZ region DVD discs which is a real pain as i have a few from around the world that wont play

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Equinox IT

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wellygary

8312 posts

Uber Geek

#270654 6-Nov-2009 14:59

AESPABLO: Such sad news. My brother is leading the bidding, which means he will send me a player I will hardly use. Will it play ordinary DVDs available here?

Unlikely, players from the US tend not to be region free, ( from their logic, the US is the centre of the entertainment universe, why would you want to play a disc from anywhere else)

+ it will likely only be 110V, so you may need a power transformer to run it here, and you might have some fun getting a NZ based Tele to play nice with it.

In short, you could be getting a pile of hurt arriving in the post :)

AESPABLO

17 posts

Geek

#270662 6-Nov-2009 15:10

Uh, ok, I had the impression only the discs were affected. Didn't realize even the TV may not be compatible. Cheers for the info.

clevedon

1059 posts

Uber Geek

#270665 6-Nov-2009 15:19

bazzer: Aren't BDs region free more often than not? Or have they started enforcing regions more? This website has a list of BDs and their region status.

Yeah I use that site all the time to check region coding when I buy Blu-ray movies from overseas and find very few that aren't region free, and I have purchased over sixty so far from offshore - bonus of the currency situation at the moment.

pebbles

741 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#270666 6-Nov-2009 15:19

Bit... If it does work blurays are cheaper from amazon than in nz anyway. So just start ordering off there?

wellygary

8312 posts

Uber Geek

#270667 6-Nov-2009 15:20

You will likely by fine with your TV if it is fairly recent, but some US based player can be iffy with older sets

robjg63

4096 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#270812 7-Nov-2009 10:21

If you do end up getting that unit you could look here:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/sony-bdp-s350/9527

There are suggestions you can make it region free - worth a look.

You might also find its a 110-240v model which just needs a NZ power lead as well.

If you can unlock it, change the cable and your TV is not too old you are probably ok.

Correction: The link above is for multizoning DVD playback. Apparently this is not the same as the region protection for Blu-Ray. I cant find any suggested methods for this....

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

vinnieg

2260 posts

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#270897 7-Nov-2009 17:23

pebbles: P.s. I am a she :P But yeah, buying one on ebay.co.uk would be safe if he wants to try that - also a good place to buy blurays as they seem cheaper than ours

Whoops, my bad :P apologies :)

Oh for the original poster, if your brother wins and gets the player sent. You can unlock it to play NZ and all region DVD players, just do a google search for BDP-S350 unlock code

There is apparently no blu-ray unlock code for it though

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

AESPABLO

17 posts

Geek

#271028 8-Nov-2009 16:17

I hope I'm not going off topic but I will be buying a AV receiver for the blu-ray. The salesperson at Harvey Norman said I have to get the later model receivers with HDMI indicated on the front panel or else the blu-ray will not show the best picture quality. Is this true? or can I just buy a decent second hand one from Trademe as long as it is a 5.1 but without HDMI indicated on the front panel. I am confused as I thought the function of the receiver was mostly for sound.

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