Advice on Blu Ray setup

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numberonekiwi

144 posts

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#62149 31-May-2010 12:43

Hi I am looking at getting a Blu ray player but undecided on stand alone or with 5.1 / 7.1 amp built in

My main concern is it needs to be multi zone multi region as I have zone 1 , 2 and 4 DVD's and have been given some zone A blu rays from a friend visiting from the states and of couse if I buy blu rays here they are zone B

I have seen the OPPO brand but that is to expensive for a stand alone player for that price I can get a built in amp as well

Anyone here know of a brand here that will do what I need

Thanks

Dunnersfella

4064 posts

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#336583 31-May-2010 13:10

Sorry, but I'd go for a standalone player every time.

A separate amplifier allows you far more flexibility to upgrade with in the future. As does a standalone player...

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eracode

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#336602 31-May-2010 13:51

You may want to look seriously at a Playstation 3 console as a BD player. Sony are continually upgrading the firmware over the internet and it's free. Many tech/gadget blog sites rate the PS3 as a leading BluRay machine. And if you've got kids (or are a 58 year old gamer, like moi) ... two birds, one stone.

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photoman

217 posts

Master Geek

#336614 31-May-2010 14:22

eracode: You may want to look seriously at a Playstation 3 console as a BD player. Sony are continually upgrading the firmware over the internet and it's free. Many tech/gadget blog sites rate the PS3 as a leading BluRay machine. And if you've got kids (or are a 58 year old gamer, like moi) ... two birds, one stone.

The OP is looking for a code free player, which I believe isn't yet possible with the Playstation 3 (otherwise I'd be buying one).

I did come across a site in the US that advertises both region free and code free players (which I would like to get, especially with my DVD collection), but I haven't really done any checking on them to see how good they were or the quality of the players. The website, if anyone is interested is as follows:

http://www.regioncodefreedvd.com/index.html

numberonekiwi

144 posts

Master Geek

#336854 1-Jun-2010 00:33

Dunnersfella: Sorry, but I'd go for a standalone player every time.

A separate amplifier allows you far more flexibility to upgrade with in the future. As does a standalone player...

Yes thank you for that comment very true with todays technology why replace 2 units when you can replace only 1 - also I have a 5.1 / amp / tuner / DVD ( sony DAV-S800 which is faulty but have just brought on trade me DAV-S500 make 1 good one from the two )

I also see there are many hardware mod ( icos chip ) for many major brands sony being the most expensive - but my TV is sony and I was hoping to keep veirra link but not important ( I dont think )

PS2 are still quite expensive and I am not a gamer so those features are are waste of money IMHO

I have read that some samsung and LG are zone free BD out of box just a few buttons to press on remote I have not been able to find these specific model numbers thou and not sure on the DVD side

70mm

80 posts

Master Geek

#337397 2-Jun-2010 14:59

The PS3 will never be region free & zone free.
The only way to get a decent region free & zone free BD player is one that is hardware modified.
None are avaialble with a simple code change from the remote, that was only ever for DVD players.

Some did have a software change, but when you do a firmware, bingo the zone free is lost!

Still the only reliable zone free and region free Blu-ray player that has regular firmware updates is the Oppo BDP-80 & BDP-83. Anything thats good always costs more than entry level prices.

Dunnersfella

4064 posts

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#337599 2-Jun-2010 22:33

With the price of Sony / Panasonic Blu Ray's dropping in price, have Oppo seen a reduction recently? And will they ever be in stores?

numberonekiwi

144 posts

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#337626 3-Jun-2010 01:10

so far the BD60 appears region free on dvd so one bonus but have only tried one region 2 disk

lchiu7

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#338038 3-Jun-2010 20:28

Dunnersfella: With the price of Sony / Panasonic Blu Ray's dropping in price, have Oppo seen a reduction recently? And will they ever be in stores?

I picked up a Oppo BDP-80 directly from Oppo's web site in the US and was shipped here. Landed it was about $560 so I thought that was a good deal. It's not region free but I didn't really care since most of my DVD's (if I play them) are region 1 and pretty much all my BD's are region A or region free. If I want to make it region free I have seen hardware kits on ebay for about US$25.

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System One: PS3 SuperSlim, NPVR and Plex Server running on Intel NUC (C2D) (Windows 10 Pro), Sony BDP-S390 BD player, Pioneer AVR, Odroid C2 running Kodi and Plex, Panasonic 60" 3D plasma, Samsung Q80 Atmos soundbar. Google Chromecast, Google Chromecast TV

System Two: Oppo BDP-80 BluRay Player with hardware mode to be region free, Vivitek HD1080P 1080P DLP projector with 100" screen, Denon AVRS730H 7.2 Channel Dolby Atmos/DTS-X AV Receiver, Samsung 4K player, Google Chromecast, Odroid C2 running Kodi and Plex

Masterpiece

247 posts

Master Geek

#339817 9-Jun-2010 15:13

The oppos are sold here chipped for DVD region free.
Panasonics BD players can be taken to any registered panasonic repair agent and dezoned for DVD for free within the first year of ownership/warranty.

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lchiu7

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#339824 9-Jun-2010 15:53

As I noted I didn't feel the need for a region free player since I have only 2 titles that are region B only and only a few region 4 (PAL) DVD's. But if I did want to make it region free, the kit on ebay looks pretty easy to install.

http://cgi.ebay.com/OPPO-BDP-80-Blu-ray-Region-free-Easy-DIY-Mod-Kit-/150452222540?cmd=ViewItem&pt=L...

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