Samsung BD-P1600

[kryss]

Anyone own one of these? They're currently on offer in most places near me for CA$150 complete with Dark Knight. They seem to be region-free-able (for DVD at least) reasonably easily. The feedback for them on all the Amazon sites (.com, .co.uk and .ca) is either really good or really bad so I'm kind of caught in the middle of buy/don't buy. Apparently the latest update gives .mkv playback support too which would be ace but the official site doesn't mention it.

[gunrock]

make sure you apply a firmware update or DVD playback loses audio sync (can't believe they got that wrong).

[wakka]

Apparently the latest update gives .mkv playback support too which would be ace but the official site doesn't mention it.

I just did a bit of Google research on this, it looks like everyone's having problems playing back x264 HD movie encodes couldn't find a single post/article where someone had done it successfully.

[monel]

Sorry if this is kind of off topic but I lack knowledge on BD, are any players region free for BDs? I want to purchase one in the near future but would like to be able to play foreign discs.

[wakka]

No players are region free afaik.

[kryss]

There doesn't seem to be a hack for this to make the BD region free but you can update it with different firmware to change from one region to another.

[kryss]

Well I bought one, changed the firmware to Brazil and the DVD region hack worked almost straightaway. The added bonus is that I can play mkv/avis off USB thumb drives! Well happy. Just need a bigger USB drive now...

[wakka]

Have you got x264 mkv files working?

[kryss]

Yes and no. There's some issues with audio codecs that means Shin Mazinger Z has no sound, and avi of anime raws I have don't play, but xvid seems to be no problem. External HDDs work too.
CA$158 with a free Dark Knight BD and the shop gave me a CA$20 gift voucher too. Great deal.

[Lyris]

What sort of "x264" material are you trying to play?

Sorry if this is kind of off topic but I lack knowledge on BD, are any players region free for BDs? I want to purchase one in the near future but would like to be able to play foreign discs.

The Oppo BDP-83 can be had region free, and some of the Panasonics are also available code-free from Stegen Electronics.

[kryss]

Anime mkvs. I wonder if it has a problem with softsubs? Scene releases work fine so I can get my SG:U fix anyway.

[NekoFever]

Sorry if this is kind of off topic but I lack knowledge on BD, are any players region free for BDs? I want to purchase one in the near future but would like to be able to play foreign discs.

No players are region free afaik.

My housemate has a region-free Panasonic. You just press 1, 2, or 3 on the remote while it's on standby to switch it between region A, B, and C. Multiregion will definitely be the feature that I look for next time I buy a BD player.

Just as I was typing this I saw that there's now a mod for my BD-P3600

[wakka]

Oops, that's my bad

[monel]

Thanks for the information guys, I've been looking around and there were even some budget Tevion region free players it seems.

[Spatial]

Been looking for a region free Blu-ray player myself - the mark up on some of the modded machines is absolutely bloody mental