Multi region blu ray player circa ?200 ?

[SuperDanX]

Anyone recommend a nice multi region blu ray player up to around ?200 max. They probably all do, but must also be multi region for DVDs too. My preference would be for Sony, but if something better is avalible please let me know.
I know this topic has been done to death already so apologies for that

[CMcK]

Some Toshiba models can be software modded for region free DVD and Blu-ray. Have a look for the BDX 3200.

[SuperDanX]

Actually, it just occurred to me that I might as well just import a dedicated region A player from Amazon instead. Thanks for the reply though I'm still open recommendations.

[Soundwave]

Actually, it just occurred to me that I might as well just import a dedicated region A player from Amazon instead. Thanks for the reply though I'm still open recommendations.

That's exactly what I did.

I picked up a cheap 2nd hand Panasonic about 2 years ago for ?80 delivered & it's served me well in all that time...it's a little slow to boot but has played everything I've thrown at it.

Neil

[JSR]

Most (all?) new Panasonic players can be soft modded. For a 30 Euro fee you can order a custom firmware from this place. I'll pick one up after christmas, if I don't find one under the tree. Much less hassle than having 2 separate in my opinion. Credit to Lyris who told me all about this.

[SuperDanX]

Cheers guys

[Lyris]

The Panasonics are my favourite. They have the same picture quality as the much-loved Oppos (maybe a couple of % better if you count the chroma upsampling feature), in that they don't screw with the picture provided you're in the "User" mode with the crap turned off, and can be softmodded like Alex said.

See: http://forums.hdtvtest.co.uk/index.p...=7206.msg17651

[CMcK]

Blimey. From all I've read about Oppos you would think they are the Blu-ray equivalent of a Rolls Royce. Need to try the User setting on my Panasonic 35 and see what difference that makes.

[SuperDanX]

Does anywhere sell players with custom firmware, or a chip etc pre installed? ie multi region out of the box??

[Soundwave]

Does anywhere sell players with custom firmware, or a chip etc pre installed? ie multi region out of the box??

This place does...

http://www.mrmdvd.com/catalog/

Still think a second player or the Firmware hack as above would be a better/cheaper option

Neil

[SuperDanX]

Cheers, just keeping my options open at the momment.

[Lyris]

Blimey. From all I've read about Oppos you would think they are the Blu-ray equivalent of a Rolls Royce. Need to try the User setting on my Panasonic 35 and see what difference that makes.

The Oppo stuff is popular for good reasons, they're "known good" players that don't mess around, they're fast, well built and well supported. They're a safe choice so I understand why people go for them.

There may be a bit of "elite brand" likeness too.

But in some circles there's still this widely held view that expensive BD players = better image quality. I've been in forum discussions where I've demonstrated close-up images of screens showing detailed BDs and also test patterns, proving that claims of "sharper pictures" and so on are bunk, and some people still refuse to believe it - I even had one person tell me, "I don't care what your science says. My eyes say different."

I guess the thinking goes, Panasonic (and similar) players are mass-manufactured, are lightweight, and are sold to the proletariat. How can they possibly be good?

There are some cheap BD players which can mess things up, but it's at a level where it's still reasonable to assume "innocent until proven guilty". Likewise, I was doing an ISF calibration last month where the owner had a 4-figure BD player, and it was messing the picture up (I documented it and reported it to them, and they're working on a fix, but it's a reminder that splashing cash doesn't always guarantee results - it would have gone unfixed if I hadn't stopped by).

[CMcK]

"I don't care what your science says. My eyes say different."

You should get that on a t-shirt!

[PaTaito]

You should get that on a t-shirt!

I'm tempted actually, after buying a new panny plasma.

[JSR]

I was doing an ISF calibration last month where the owner had a 4-figure BD player, and it was messing the picture up (I documented it and reported it to them, and they're working on a fix, but it's a reminder that splashing cash doesn't always guarantee results - it would have gone unfixed if I hadn't stopped by).

To me, it makes a lot of sense to buy the higher volume brand because of stuff like this. A popular Sony or Panasonic player is sure to be mass produced to the extent that faults are very little likely. Not to mention how often they get firmware updates. This last point is actually very important, as new movies can have trouble with the occasional player. I had a Samsung player a while back that would make a slight pause (less than a second) on pre-determined points in Inception. At this time the movie was super new (a day or two after relase), but a firmware update released shortly thereafter fixed the problem.