Blu-ray player that will play multi-region DVDs

[Spatial]

I've pissed around with the PS3's settings for around three years now and if it is those then I don't know how to sort it. Nothing I've ever changed has made a difference.

[Lyris]

The last Toshiba REGZA LCD I reviewed had some seriously wacky out of the box presets (confusingly named options too) for Gamma. I think they have a "Static Gamma" setting which clipped a lot of shadow detail.

More annoyingly, there was no way for an end user to tell which of these settings was the right one. I had to measure it with the calibration probe and I think the most accurate setting was -4 or something totally random. It's such a mess, I wish they'd do what other manufacturers are starting to do and have a semi-accurate out of the box mode (like THX and the new "True Cinema" mode on the Panasonic TVs).

If you're curious to see the before and after calibration charts:

http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Toshiba-46XV635D-LCD-HDTV-Review.html

[NeoStuey]

It could be an issue with your receiver rather than the player. It's either a problem with the audio track itself, a problem with the player, or a problem with the receiver. The facts that the player can decode it and there haven't been any widespread complaints suggests that the track's fine, and it's unlikely that the player introduces problems simply by bitstreaming it without decoding.

I don't have any of those releases so I can't verify for you, unfortunately. In any case, make sure to let Oppo know so that those discs can be tested.

Two different receivers same problem at the same point on the same discs. Oppo said they are working on fixing bitstreaming playback in their first reply to me.

On 29 Mar 2010, at 04:20, OPPO Service wrote:


Stuart,

Unfortunately this is a known issue. We are currently working with our engineers to resolve this error when Bitstreaming

Also my PS3 slim (therefore capable of bitstreaming) sends the same Japanese Dolby True HD Evangelion track with perfect results with no audio drop out at the same spot that the Oppo trips up (something to do with key scenes or something). Can't test the Die Hard 2 disc as it's region A locked.

Like I said a small niggle, but a niggle all the same. Multi region playback was my driver for getting my Oppo.

[Gradius]

Wow, watching a film seems so complicated these days.

Might get one of these next-gen simple players.

[Lyris]

Simple until they chew up the tape and make you wrench the cassette out, its guts laced all over the insides of the machine

[NekoFever]

Wow, watching a film seems so complicated these days.

Might get one of these next-gen simple players.

To be fair, HDMI is a big step towards making it simple. Once all TVs have it that one cable will be used for everything, whatever the resolution, and it lets the devices speak to each other to find out what their capabilities are.

How many people do you know who are running their 360 in SD because they didn't know to flick the switch on the component cable and think that just having an HDTV makes it HD? That shouldn't happen with HDMI because the devices can pump out whatever resolution the TV asks for.

Plus people tend to forget the horrors of tuning, tracking, etc on VHS. Wasn't always that simple and there's none of that with a digital signal

[Lyris]

HDMI drives me nuts sometimes. Stupid connector and handshaking stuff causing the video to black out for as long as 10 seconds on some devices. Better than SCART at least.

[NekoFever]

I've never had a problem, although I probably have a simpler setup than you

I've heard horror stories about people having to buy devices specifically to strip out the HDCP because one item in their chain happens to have a problem with handshaking with the others.

[Lyris]

My setup's not really complex - the projector is high end, but other than that I just have players run through an amp and into the projector.

I think it's more the slowness of the JVC projectors in handshaking - if you go from an HD menu to an SD bonus feature, you can sometimes hear the audio 10 seconds before any video appears!

[Decider-VT]

HDMI drives me nuts sometimes. Stupid connector and handshaking stuff causing the video to black out for as long as 10 seconds on some devices. Better than SCART at least.

Wait, what? My 50" LCD rar-projection screen does this with content above 720p at 60Hz- fatal when I play Ridge Racer. Is there a way of preventing it from happening if it's down to handshaking?

[Lyris]

If it's cutting out in the middle of the game, you just need to buy a different HDMI cable with better signal transfer capability. My blacking out is only when changing video resolutions.

[JP]

I've decided that I'm going to replace my Foehn & Hirsch.

It's not as if it doesn't do what it needs to do but there are things that I really don't like about it.

• No Optical out. It's not essential but where we use it optical is the only way to feed 5.1 audio.
• It's noisy. Maybe I'm just used to the silence of the PS3 playing films but I find this really annoying now.

There are quite a few other minor things but which are perhaps OK individually but annoy the hell out of me when combined.

Going to take some time deciding what I replace it with though as there seems to be a few available now. I was sort of tempted to get a US PS3 slim player as I've very happy with the performance of our UK PS3 but it seems a little excessive having two of them in the house.

[Number45]

I was sort of tempted to get a US PS3 slim player as I've very happy with the performance of our UK PS3 but it seems a little excessive having two of them in the house.

Pfft, I have both within a foot of each other. Now that is excessive.

Seriously though, I couldn't really think of many reasons to get something other than another PS3. At least now I can pick up BR bargains from anywhere in the world.

[JU!]

I've just bought one of these

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168916

Can be made multi region for DVD and Blu-ray with a code input and only £58. Works fine and the picture quality is stunning - makes my PS3 playback look terrible in comparison.

Just found out some Blu Rays have region coding with my Japanese PS3 . This Blu-Ray player sounds awesome for 60 quid. Region free with a code too. Foehn & Hirsch Blu-Ray Player FTW I hope.

[speedlolita]

HDMI drives me nuts sometimes. Stupid connector and handshaking stuff causing the video to black out for as long as 10 seconds on some devices. Better than SCART at least.

But SCART provides RGB loveliness in the form of 240p..