100%. What happens if you have a huge blu-ray collection that you've spent thousands on and you decide to move country one day for whatever reason...all of those blu rays suddenly become useless to you, such a heartbreaking thought. Luckily I only buy 4K titles but that's really shit for people who have a lot of blu rays.
@@richardskelding4528 No not true . There are region free players that can play anything and If a person decide to move from country to a country he can take his player with him or buy region free player So it's not that an issue
DVD's had 8 region codes including one for aircraft, cruise ships and spacecraft !, imagine getting to the iss and finding that you couldn't watch your favourite film.
and oil rigs we had to get movies thru the company & was wage docked for them "unless this is coved by cruise ships" was not long till we had a guy that had all the newest on DVDr rf and if we ever got an inspection by gov or a audit by comp all the DVDr went overbord but this was a long time ago and i imagine it all SD cards USB now.
That's a good explanation of region coding and its problems. However, there is a detail I would like to add. Blu-rays by Warner, Universal and Paramount don't have any region codes displayed on the back of the package or the disc. This has almost never been a problem since, in my experience, all BDs by Warner and Universal and 97% of all BDs by Paramount are region free.
Same. My Godzilla collection spans 2 different Blu-ray regions and 3 different DVD regions. So getting myself a region free player was an absolute worthwhile investment.
I bought a region free player from 220 electronics actually. There's alought of cool versions of movies from the overseas and some exclusives too (such as Black Mirror, The Boys, and Free solo) that I can buy whenever I feel like it without having to worry. It's also nice having two bluray players (my first being a PS4) because sometimes I don't want to remove whatever's in one of their disc drives. Its definitely a worthwhile investment.
@JeffRauseo --- Are regions separate from NTSC, PAL, SECAM, etc? Are UK discs PAL and would a region free player read it? Would the TV need to be PAL compatible or does the player handle the output to the TV?
But if you buy combo's the dvd still had region codes so you were still fucked.... Because the player wasn't region free... If you buy a region free br player they are also region free for dvd....
Loving the mic. Better sound quality. New lighting right? 👍. Do you think they will ever announce Poltergeist and Nightmare on elm street in 4k? I'm kinda surprised they haven't yet.
I just ordered "The Elephant Man" 4k set 5 days ago from the UK. I'll let you know once it shows up 😉. Can't wait to see it! I also own an LG Region-free 4k player and am so happy I don't have to worry about all the region issues now. Much better.
@@dan_hitchman007 ... Right. But I've collected some Blu-rays that are not Region A (because they aren't available in N. America) that have been terrific to have and enjoy 🙂.
I bought a region free player on e bay and it was the best thing I ever did! I live in the UK and can now buy scream factory USA releases which for me is amazing
There are 6 DVD regions. Region 4 covers where I am from, New Zealand which is part of Oceania. Most of Latin America and the Caribbean are also part of region 4 DVD.
Nah. No point there. Just rip the movie files and put it on a Plex or similar software server. Easiest Netflix alternative ever, and it's legal since you have to buy the movie and rip it with software like makemkv.
@@ccateni28 in that case you're losing fidelity, one of the main reasons you'd bother buying the disc in the first place. Its also still illegal to rip the blu ray, it doesn't matter whether you bought it or not
Thank you so much for this really helpful advice. I had tried to understand this for quite a while and could not make head nor tail of it - but it is completely clear now. Very much appreciate. Best wishes LInda
I purchased a two-disc “Independence Day” Blu-ray set about a year ago, and just got around to playing it over the holiday. While the main feature played great, the bonus disc wouldn’t play. It turned out that the bonus disc was region B locked. Moral: Always check your discs for playability as soon as you can!
I recently picked up an All Region BluRay Player which is something I'd planned to do a long time ago but always put off making the investment. Criterion have put out a number of my favourite movies in the US but they've never got a European release so if I want them then this was my only option. It's very expensive to import Criterions but there's only about 10 or so of them I desperately want & 3 or 4 Kino Lorber's I do anyway so I just plan to get them, but hey, if there's some reasonably priced deals on export titles that I quite like which you sometimes find on EBay then I'll pick them up too.
Also there are few u.s. players that you can make region free by unlocking them. There are websites that can tell you how to do it and what players you can do it with. Saves you money. If you do the research and do it yourself As a collector is a must own
Today the physical is media is on the verge of coming to an end and my friends of film and music lovers must be knowing this very well. To sum it up delayed release, piracy before streaming platforms, unreasonable pricing all led to the downfall and ofcourse certain section of customers who want free entertainment without any quality also equally responsible. Now companies still want make things more complicated by such region coding. This will help the complete wipe out of physical media with time. People dont have time to go through such details about region coding of a blue ray or player as life nowadays is so competitive and so many important things to do.
The best way today is to get a NAS "network-attached storage" and if your media is SD upto 4TB will do HD 8+TB and UHD 20+TB this will be the only way to have a local copy oneday.
Great video i thought I knew everything about regional codes but I definitely learnt a couple of new things there! I will be investing in a region free Blu-ray player soon as living in the U.K. there are so many great titles only available on Region A that I am dying to get 😁
Very helpful, long time collector. I know this obstacle course very well. With Agents of Shield ending with Season 7. Sadly stateside we apparently only have up to season 3 on Blu-ray. While overseas they have 4-6. 7 pending after season airs. Sigh it seems that digital distribution locked it away from availability. As AoS is available on Hulu, Netflix and other services. To be honest I would rather have it on disc because: A) there is no telling how long it might be available B) whichever streaming service carries it / and how long C) sometimes internet can be goofy and it will play badly, or might skip a scene I'm hopeful to find more of the series. Last week I found Season one, at a local store named Bookman's for under $10 (in excellent condition)
I remember how happy I was when I heard that 4k blu rays gonna be region free but what pisses me off is that they add "special features" in a blu ray which is region locked so even though the 4k disc is region free we still can't have it because the extras are included in a disc which is region locked. Only few studios like Lionsgate include special features on the 4k disc.
220 electronics !!! I love region free Blu-ray players (br player and a 4k one) I love being able to buy films all over the world. I've found some American movies in UK Germany and France on Blu-ray but never had a US Blu-ray release. Mel Gibson Hamlet for example there's not a Blu-ray release here but Germany (via Amazon UK) has a region b release. (English audio) I use Amazon UK for most of my imports.
I collect Best Picture winners, and there's now three of them that have been released on Blu-ray in other countries but *not* here; one of those is Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), released Region B-locked in much of Europe by ITV but Criterion still sells it only on DVD. (It did get a Region A release in Japan but it's OOP & prohibitively expensive.) The Lost Weekend (1945) was released by Eureka/MoC on Region B Blu-ray; Universal licensed it to Kino Lorber for U.S. Blu-ray but we're still waiting. And Shock Entertainment released Ordinary People (1980) on Region B Blu-ray in Australia earlier this year, though I can tell you from experience it's the same transfer as Vudu's HDX streaming copy. I also have a region-free player from 220 and bought most (though not all) of my foreign discs from Amazon UK.
@@richellebrittain2127 I collect almost any type of movies. If I had to say the main thing I collect. It would be Robin hood. I have almost every version released in film and tv series.
@@richellebrittain2127 region free 4k players mean region free for Blu-ray and DVDs since 4k discs are supposed to be region free by default. If you import Blu-ray and DVDs but also wants a 4k player gotta get region free 4k player
@@Will.the.book.dragon All 4K Blu-ray players are region-free for 4K, but that does NOT mean they're region-free for Blu-ray & DVD. They need a region-free mod to be region-free for Blu-ray & DVD, like the region-free players at 220 & similar stores.
I had my Panasonic 4K Uhd made region free in UK 🇬🇧 and now have the added pleasure of collecting 4K titles from USA 🇺🇸 with their region locked Blu-ray... Definitely worth the extra outlay if you are serious about collecting and want total freedom especially for different variations of a title that is not available in UK.
You can use programs that rip discs which remove the region coding in the process. You can burn it to a blank disc or digitize it to a format of your choice.
With popularity of online shopping is that region coding has become a very big inconvenience and either all DVD and blu ray should be region free as standard or make all dvds and blu rays region free
So I have bought a region free Sony BDP-S3500. It even has a green sticker on the back confirming it’s region free for dvd and blu ray. So I bought some Arrow Video blu rays that are region B. But when I put the disk in it says “the disk needs to be played on a region b player only”. Is the disk blocked from playing on a region free player and requires to only be played on a region b player specific?
Just an update region B DVD’s work just by putting the disk in but if you want the blu ray to work. 1. Open the disk try 2. Press the blue button on the remote 3. Close the disk tray & it starts up. It was tough finding instructions 😔
A lot of blu-ray discs are region free, but the back cover says "not authorized for sale outside of the USA". What does that mean? Does it mean that they don't have distribution rights, but they still want to give europeans the opportunity to watch stuff bought from USA? Then why are they not doing the same thing for DVDs?
The other thing to note is that a lot of the good boutique houses are from the UK and they are inconsistent with whether they code B or ABC. I have stuff from 88 that is both. Also, places like 88 and Eureka put out the really good transfers for a lot of the Hong Kong films that aren't available in region A.
Don't forget Second Sight too which is putting out some amazing titles. Eureka is definitely my favourite distributor after Criterion though, they put out a lot of great titles.
I am definitely going to get a region free player. There are just too many movies I want that are (for example) not available here but are readily available in other countries, or the Blu Ray in other countries has a better quality transfer, and such.
Note that if you gave a region free player, the dvd's are recognized automatically but if you put a blu ray in from another region you have to press a button, at least that's what I read.. So that is not done automatically. But still not so much of an issue I guess... Also what I see in recent releases they will put extra features on the 4K disc! Not only commentary tracks but also other stuff... And in 4K! It has to happen more I think because the 4K disc contains enough free space for this....
I feel like you can speak quiter because the new mic has a high gain and it keeps buzzing! Just a suggestion! Thanks for making these informative videos!
Hi Jeff is there a Blu-ray region free player drive that I can get to use with a MacBook 2022 that you can suggest? I have some movies with region b and c and I’d like to have the option for it. Thanks, if so please send link
I have a region free 4K player in the Uk. I ordered Uncut Gems from the US on Blu-ray that comes with a DVD. The DVD plays fine on my player, but it will not read the Blu-ray Disc. Any idea what I could do?
I have an All Region Blu-ray player from a few years ago. I guess it won't play the one 4K disc I've got right, I'll have to buy something designated as a 4K Blu-ray player. All- region br players aren't able to play 4K discs unless designated such. Right?
5:38 That's weird cuz I own the hunger games + bonus in 4k and they won't play in the Netherlands Europe :/ they did seem to region this 4k one after all then ?
Very good explanation, thx 🙏🏼 Just a question about subtitles regards to the different regions. Can it be different added subtitles in the disc depending of which region I am buying?
I’ve got something I haven’t been able to find a good answer for in a Google search. I want to buy a 4K projector, but I’d rather save some cash and not purchase a true 4K projector, and instead get a “faux K,” where the resolution is upscaled. In my basement with a 120” to 135” screen I’m less concerned about the resolution than the extra color information. I know projectors are nowhere near as good as LCD’s in the HDR, but is there enough difference between the “faux K,” and the full 4K projectors, or should I save up the difference? Also, if the HDR isn’t a noticeable difference, can I just get away with my 1080 equipment and not need a 4K player?
I never liked region codes either. If I bought a DVD or Blu-Ray I should be able to watch it wherever I want in the world. Sometimes it's cool to have alternate versions of the movie (granted some are censored versions, but hey, it's a region exclusive version) or they have cool packaging and special features that I want. What's the point?
Back in the day my first DVD player "Sony" was special not only was it region free but it had a mode for them tricky dvds that did not like region free players. what you did was put the player in standby mode then you hold down 0-6 on the remote if a dvd was region 1 hold down 1 and press the on button on the remote or player and the player was region 1 for as long as it had power. I remember it was Australia that first banned Region Codes as it go's against some customer protection law's "sorry i hate the word consumer" and to this day i think this is why Blu-ray only has 3 and not 6 Region Codes and when blu-ray come out more countries started looking at Region Coding and the legality of it. then I remember reading about an al-qaeda training disc that would not play on american and european players and this was probably the last nail in the coffin for Region Coding of physical media. But Region Coding has moved online and go's by the name of geoblocking even youtube uses it but a good VPN takes care of it.
I unfortunately once bought an X-Files DVD box set years ago off eBay that I found out was region locked to Ireland or Scotland or something (I’m in Canada) Made a cool discovery though, popped them into my PS4 and found out it will ask if you want to region-change your PS4! Be careful though, you can only change it 5 times then it’s locked on whatever you chose last. You can also still play any games no matter what region you’re currently programmed to.
When my old PS3 broke down I brought a US PS3 for region A movies, while I use my PS4 for region B movies. Since games on the PS3 are region free anyway.
I'm in a region B country and I've found over the years that certain US discs marked as Region A will play on my players around 50-60% of the time. I also stumbled on to a partial work-around, I'm not sure if it works in different regions but if you start the movie and you get the region locked message, you can press stop then press the Top Menu button and *sometimes* it will play the disc, but not with others. What's really annoying is the rights Issue and how badly it affects worldwide distribution - for example we can get the movie Red 2 here on 4K no problem, but not Red 1, which is avail in the US, but because it's owned by a different company to Red 2, no Red 1 for Aus - and we get this a lot here - sequels are avail on 4K but not the originals.....can import from the US but the ridiculous postage costs, exchange rates and import taxes make the cost prohibitive - So a US$25 4K will cost me over AU$60 - $70. Infuriating
I am from the uk, I brought a Sony bluray player off Amazon, which plays any region (1080p) had no problems with it until star wars:the last jedi, it wouldn't play it,at first I thought it was a faulty disc, took it back three times, so I brought a region b only player and it worked
Should have gotten instructions to manually switch zones if it didn't auto switch it. Most of my Blu-ray auto switch the zones. There's a handful I have to manually switch but it still should work...
I have a multi regional DVD player. A Lasar BLU-BD3000. I have tried changing the Region to USA and have tried Japan in the security settings but still when I try to play a region A locked blue ray it comes up on the screen that the disc can only be played on a Region A player. Can anyone help me to get this disc to play?
I bought a LG BH200 player cheap at Best Buy as an “open box” sale nearly 17 yrs ago and it works great. It plays DVD, HD DVD & Blu Ray formatted discs AND you can set in to play International Blu Rays. Why do I bother? Because there’s a LOT of BR movies not available in the US (March or Die, The 13th Warrior) to name a couple. France, Germany & UK are my main sources.
Do we know if Bill & Ted 4k (announced today) will be coming to the US? If not, where would you recommend purchasing it from in the UK? Amazon won't ship it.
I have few discs in my collection here in Europe that say only B back on the box but ABC on the actual disc. I'd assume those work everywhere but why put the only B on the box? That perplexes me.
Luckily here in Australia, it's a legal right for mandatory region free playback of DVDS and Blurays. You can purchase a third party bluray player and it can play any DVD or Blu-ray Disc from anywhere in the world, with the current region being selected via a menu. It doesn't require any hardware mods, just a simple selection on a menu!
There are a bunch of kung-fu and horror films that I never bought because of the region coding so I've been thinking about investing in a region free player for a while now. Thanks for the info!
It's funny that a lof of the times in Australia even if the packaging is for the Australian market, you will get a 4K disc inside the case that's made for the UK market. I guess Australia is not a big enough market so why not!
The sleeve or outer packaging may only show the Australian rating symbols for products sold in Australia but like the U.K., Europe and Australia is Region B and the discs show all ratings for the Region it covers, unless there is a licensing issue and that product is not supposed to be sold in a specific market even if it's covered under the Region Code. I'm from the U.K. and almost every Blu-Ray and 4K disc I have has the U.K., Europe (German, French, Irish, Danish, etc), Australian rating on the actual disc but only the U.K. rating on the Sleeve or outer packaging for box sets. I have several Blu-Ray's from Germany that only have the German rating as they were solely made for the German market. Unfortunately we are short changed here in the U.K. many Movies/T.V. Shows that are released here are only given a DVD release, even if their released on Blu-Ray in other Region B country's like Europe and Australia. For example I bought The Blacklist Seasons 1 - 4 in the U.K. on Blu-Ray, but from Season 5 they only released it on DVD. So I had to buy Season 5 & 6 on Blu-Ray from Australia as it is a Region B country and I'm just waiting for the Season 7 Blu-Ray release so I can get that. Same for The Last Ship they only released Seasons 1 & 2 on Blu-Ray in the U.K. so from Season 3 I had to buy the Australian release. I could buy the U.S. Region A releases as I do have a Region Free Blu-Ray Player, but I prefer to limit purchases of media that I'd need extra equipment for just in case in the future I have problems getting the equipment should I ever need to replace it.
Good luck on the wait for postage from JB Hifi in Australia. Some of what I ordered from there took close to 3 months, and I live next door in New Zealand. That's the reality of what is deemed essential postage with a certain virus.
Video idea: Types of special features, favourites and ones that were hyped at the beginning of blu ray life e.g. switching angles during a movie. Although that was talked about during DVD era I believe. Picture in picture commentary. I'm sure there are many others that dont exist anymore. Still galleries are not common.
Region free discs usually have a honeycomb of ""A," "B," and "C" hexagons on the back cover. And sometimes others simply say "Region 0." But yeah, I have many Region "B" discs that play perfectly well on my Region "A" player. But it's a crapshoot...
The type of film censor classifications are always a big give away as to what part of the world a particular release is from & hence what region coding you should expect it to be. The UK BBFC rating will always have a big U, 12, 15 or 18 rating slapped all over the case & disc for instance & all the other countries have their own rather distinctive style of classification on their releases.
UK releases tend to be more honest about their region coding; if it only has a B symbol it's probably region-locked. OTOH, Fox used to label all its U.S. Blu-rays as Region A only even though many of them were actually region-free; that's why you need a region-free player or at least look it up on a site like Blu-ray.com.
Video formats are usually a different issue than region coding, especially for Blu-ray where the format often, but not always, transcends NTSC vs. PAL/SECAM. (DVD had NTSC vs. PAL differences on top of region coding; SECAM only made a difference in SD player outputs as SECAM is just PAL with different color encoding.) Though some Blu-ray & DVD players will balk at PAL or PAL-framerate video, others won't. If you're looking for a region-free player, 220's website tells you which ones do internal NTSC/PAL conversion.
Bull Moose used to have the occasional B region Blu Ray but last year they wouldn't take an 88 Films title that I had a duplicate of but they said they only take and sell region A titles.
by the way 15 is circled ,, then again 15 is square shaped around the number then there is a 16 ... on the back of dvd case 15 is showing only in a square shape' it is a Danish import '
Just to share an odd experience: I live in a Region A country, got a Region A player, buys Region A Blus from the US; no problem. Then, I got the Ninja Scroll Blu from Sentai Filmworks. A message popped up saying that the player I was using, which is undoubtedly Region A since I’ve played hundreds of A discs on it, is not manufactured in the US, therefore I’m not allowed to play the disc. Funnily, this went away after I bought a Sony 4K Blu, which plays the Ninja Scroll Blu just fine.
With DVD, a lot of the players were easily hackable to make them region free. And luckily, most of the players were cheap ones. I own two. With blu-ray it became harder. There were fewer that was easily hackable and since most of them have wifi connectivity, if you did hack it, your hacks were usually reset during software updates.
That's why hardware-modded (chipped) players are best. Remote hacks are easy to eliminate with firmware updates. Though a few players have had hardware mods disabled by firmware updates, it's a lot harder to do; most reputable modders, including 220, offer lifetime warranties on their mods in case that happens.
movies Fsk ab 16 I have a region free Blu-ray And DVD player but it will not play this format a movies why and if you could send me to a link that will play old blue racing DVD if I could buy me a new 1 I would appreciate it
I’ll be getting a region free player because I like arrow video and want to be able to watch my copy of enter the void and eventually the hellraiser trilogy once I get it
I’m going to put in my two cents worth and rant. There are laws to protect copyright owners from piracy. There is also software on some of the formats to do so. Someone needs to pass a regulation to protect the consumer. If a DVD or blu ray is region locked it should be REQUIRED by law to say so on the packaging. I know some do many don’t. If I don’t check the package that is on me. If I buy it online and the retailer shows it as region A or region free and it isn’t when package is clearly marked otherwise that is on the retailer. If it isn’t marked that is on the company who released the product. Jeff I know you have contacts in the physical media industry if they could forward this concern too them I would appreciate it. If the companies aren’t labeling there products with the correct labeling maybe they could voluntarily do so. I think it would be a show of good faith to the physical media community. I love your content. Please keep it up. Thank you.
Region coding is pointless. If I legally buy Iron Man in England I should be able to play it on a US player.
100%. What happens if you have a huge blu-ray collection that you've spent thousands on and you decide to move country one day for whatever reason...all of those blu rays suddenly become useless to you, such a heartbreaking thought.
Luckily I only buy 4K titles but that's really shit for people who have a lot of blu rays.
Tetsuo The Iron Man?
@@richardskelding4528 No not true . There are region free players that can play anything and If a person decide to move from country to a country he can take his player with him or buy region free player So it's not that an issue
Yep, dvd didn't have this bullshit
@@Dragonk116 dvd was worse as there were more region codes.
I bought a LG Blu Ray player chipped of Ebay! It plays any region now. Had it for 3 years and it still works fine.
DVD's had 8 region codes including one for aircraft, cruise ships and spacecraft !, imagine getting to the iss and finding that you couldn't watch your favourite film.
0 was the only one that was region free.
and oil rigs we had to get movies thru the company & was wage docked for them "unless this is coved by cruise ships"
was not long till we had a guy that had all the newest on DVDr rf and if we ever got an inspection by gov or a
audit by comp all the DVDr went overbord but this was a long time ago and i imagine it all SD cards USB now.
Region Codes are dumb we don't need them anymore
Thank God 4k movies are region free
Apparently HD DVD was going to be region free. But studios hated that. So they backed blue ray.
That's a good explanation of region coding and its problems. However,
there is a detail I would like to add. Blu-rays
by Warner, Universal and Paramount don't have any region codes
displayed on the back of the package or the disc. This has almost never been a problem since, in my experience, all BDs by Warner and Universal and 97% of all BDs by Paramount are region free.
My region free player was the best Investment I ever made to buy movies and watch them anywhere in the world.
Same. My Godzilla collection spans 2 different Blu-ray regions and 3 different DVD regions. So getting myself a region free player was an absolute worthwhile investment.
6:04 Jeff’s sense of humor 😌
I bought a region free player from 220 electronics actually. There's alought of cool versions of movies from the overseas and some exclusives too (such as Black Mirror, The Boys, and Free solo) that I can buy whenever I feel like it without having to worry. It's also nice having two bluray players (my first being a PS4) because sometimes I don't want to remove whatever's in one of their disc drives. Its definitely a worthwhile investment.
@JeffRauseo --- Are regions separate from NTSC, PAL, SECAM, etc?
Are UK discs PAL and would a region free player read it?
Would the TV need to be PAL compatible or does the player handle the output to the TV?
HD DVD's (remember them) had no region coding.
But if you buy combo's the dvd still had region codes so you were still fucked.... Because the player wasn't region free... If you buy a region free br player they are also region free for dvd....
And that was one of the reasons hollywood stopped support for HD DVD.
@@proclaimed75 same as your still fucked if you buy 4Ks that have a blu ray copy as well as even tho the 4K is region free the blu ray isn't
Great video. JB Hi-Fi for the information of most of your viewers are a large chain store here in Australia and have lots of great deals.
I use to import blurays from the US into the UK, sometimes I would have a film that hadn't even been in the cinemas yet.
Loving the mic. Better sound quality. New lighting right? 👍. Do you think they will ever announce Poltergeist and Nightmare on elm street in 4k? I'm kinda surprised they haven't yet.
Very helpful topic! Thank you. From India.
I just ordered "The Elephant Man" 4k set 5 days ago from the UK. I'll let you know once it shows up 😉. Can't wait to see it!
I also own an LG Region-free 4k player and am so happy I don't have to worry about all the region issues now. Much better.
If it's a 4k disc, it's region free. The included Blu-ray's may or may not be region locked.
@@dan_hitchman007 ... Right. But I've collected some Blu-rays that are not Region A (because they aren't available in N. America) that have been terrific to have and enjoy 🙂.
I bought a region free player on e bay and it was the best thing I ever did! I live in the UK and can now buy scream factory USA releases which for me is amazing
New mic! Nice. And yes a very important topic...so silly how all films aren't region free...there are some great releases that are region B
There are 6 DVD regions. Region 4 covers where I am from, New Zealand which is part of Oceania. Most of Latin America and the Caribbean are also part of region 4 DVD.
I just found your channel and it's really cool. I'm learning a lot about 4k film thanks to you. I subscribed 👍
There are also of course ways to digitize the movie in question to then repost it to a blank bluray and make it region free...allegedly
Nah. No point there. Just rip the movie files and put it on a Plex or similar software server. Easiest Netflix alternative ever, and it's legal since you have to buy the movie and rip it with software like makemkv.
In theory, right?
Odin!!!!!!!!!!
@@ccateni28 in that case you're losing fidelity, one of the main reasons you'd bother buying the disc in the first place. Its also still illegal to rip the blu ray, it doesn't matter whether you bought it or not
Thank you. Plain and simple delivery of very helpful information.
Thank you so much for this really helpful advice. I had tried to understand this for quite a while and could not make head nor tail of it - but it is completely clear now. Very much appreciate. Best wishes LInda
I purchased a two-disc “Independence Day” Blu-ray set about a year ago, and just got around to playing it over the holiday. While the main feature played great, the bonus disc wouldn’t play. It turned out that the bonus disc was region B locked. Moral: Always check your discs for playability as soon as you can!
Thanks for your video. You gave me enough confidence to order the princess bride 4k from America to the UK it will be here in a couple of weeks
Great video very informative for people. You broke it down super easily.
That Nemo story tho!! 🤣🤣😆👍🏻 I got a good laugh
I recently picked up an All Region BluRay Player which is something I'd planned to do a long time ago but always put off making the investment. Criterion have put out a number of my favourite movies in the US but they've never got a European release so if I want them then this was my only option. It's very expensive to import Criterions but there's only about 10 or so of them I desperately want & 3 or 4 Kino Lorber's I do anyway so I just plan to get them, but hey, if there's some reasonably priced deals on export titles that I quite like which you sometimes find on EBay then I'll pick them up too.
Also there are few u.s. players that you can make region free by unlocking them. There are websites that can tell you how to do it and what players you can do it with. Saves you money. If you do the research and do it yourself As a collector is a must own
I bought my Elephant Man box set with paper castle in 4K Blu-ray from UK Amazon, and just received it very happily today.
Today the physical is media is on the verge of coming to an end and my friends of film and music lovers must be knowing this very well. To sum it up delayed release, piracy before streaming platforms, unreasonable pricing all led to the downfall and ofcourse certain section of customers who want free entertainment without any quality also equally responsible. Now companies still want make things more complicated by such region coding.
This will help the complete wipe out of physical media with time. People dont have time to go through such details about region coding of a blue ray or player as life nowadays is so competitive and so many important things to do.
The best way today is to get a NAS "network-attached storage" and if your media is SD upto 4TB will do
HD 8+TB and UHD 20+TB this will be the only way to have a local copy oneday.
@@hicobra Great thinking
Great video i thought I knew everything about regional codes but I definitely learnt a couple of new things there! I will be investing in a region free Blu-ray player soon as living in the U.K. there are so many great titles only available on Region A that I am dying to get 😁
Very helpful, long time collector. I know this obstacle course very well. With Agents of Shield ending with Season 7. Sadly stateside we apparently only have up to season 3 on Blu-ray. While overseas they have 4-6. 7 pending after season airs.
Sigh it seems that digital distribution locked it away from availability. As AoS is available on Hulu, Netflix and other services.
To be honest I would rather have it on disc because:
A) there is no telling how long it might be available
B) whichever streaming service carries it / and how long
C) sometimes internet can be goofy and it will play badly, or might skip a scene
I'm hopeful to find more of the series. Last week I found Season one, at a local store named Bookman's for under $10 (in excellent condition)
do yourself a favour and don’t watch agents of shield
@@3flavourscornetto237 sorry have to give you a down vote. It's an awesome show
Awesome thanks brother I bought the five pirate movies for about 25 bucks and didn't know which region was but it has A,B, & C on it. 🤘😎
I remember how happy I was when I heard that 4k blu rays gonna be region free but what pisses me off is that they add "special features" in a blu ray which is region locked so even though the 4k disc is region free we still can't have it because the extras are included in a disc which is region locked. Only few studios like Lionsgate include special features on the 4k disc.
Just rip the disc then you will be able to watch all locked features
@@Music.Movies.67 how do u rip the disc
220 electronics !!! I love region free Blu-ray players (br player and a 4k one) I love being able to buy films all over the world. I've found some American movies in UK Germany and France on Blu-ray but never had a US Blu-ray release. Mel Gibson Hamlet for example there's not a Blu-ray release here but Germany (via Amazon UK) has a region b release. (English audio) I use Amazon UK for most of my imports.
I collect Best Picture winners, and there's now three of them that have been released on Blu-ray in other countries but *not* here; one of those is Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), released Region B-locked in much of Europe by ITV but Criterion still sells it only on DVD. (It did get a Region A release in Japan but it's OOP & prohibitively expensive.) The Lost Weekend (1945) was released by Eureka/MoC on Region B Blu-ray; Universal licensed it to Kino Lorber for U.S. Blu-ray but we're still waiting. And Shock Entertainment released Ordinary People (1980) on Region B Blu-ray in Australia earlier this year, though I can tell you from experience it's the same transfer as Vudu's HDX streaming copy. I also have a region-free player from 220 and bought most (though not all) of my foreign discs from Amazon UK.
@@richellebrittain2127 I collect almost any type of movies. If I had to say the main thing I collect. It would be Robin hood. I have almost every version released in film and tv series.
I have a Region free 4K UHD player - it's amazing!
They're all region free, no?
Region-free for 4K only, or for Blu-ray & DVD as well?
@@richellebrittain2127 region free 4k players mean region free for Blu-ray and DVDs since 4k discs are supposed to be region free by default. If you import Blu-ray and DVDs but also wants a 4k player gotta get region free 4k player
@@Will.the.book.dragon All 4K Blu-ray players are region-free for 4K, but that does NOT mean they're region-free for Blu-ray & DVD. They need a region-free mod to be region-free for Blu-ray & DVD, like the region-free players at 220 & similar stores.
@@richellebrittain2127 that's what I was saying.
Hey, Jeff. The audio quality really improved!
I had my Panasonic 4K Uhd made region free in UK 🇬🇧 and now have the added pleasure of collecting 4K titles from USA 🇺🇸 with their region locked Blu-ray... Definitely worth the extra outlay if you are serious about collecting and want total freedom especially for different variations of a title that is not available in UK.
wait so you own a blu ray player that is not subject to any region restrictions? damn! where do I buy it
Cool video for those people who just need the basic region info .
You can use programs that rip discs which remove the region coding in the process. You can burn it to a blank disc or digitize it to a format of your choice.
With popularity of online shopping is that region coding has become a very big inconvenience and either all DVD and blu ray should be region free as standard or make all dvds and blu rays region free
So I have bought a region free Sony BDP-S3500. It even has a green sticker on the back confirming it’s region free for dvd and blu ray. So I bought some Arrow Video blu rays that are region B. But when I put the disk in it says “the disk needs to be played on a region b player only”. Is the disk blocked from playing on a region free player and requires to only be played on a region b player specific?
Just an update region B DVD’s work just by putting the disk in but if you want the blu ray to work.
1. Open the disk try
2. Press the blue button on the remote
3. Close the disk tray & it starts up.
It was tough finding instructions 😔
A lot of blu-ray discs are region free, but the back cover says "not authorized for sale outside of the USA". What does that mean? Does it mean that they don't have distribution rights, but they still want to give europeans the opportunity to watch stuff bought from USA? Then why are they not doing the same thing for DVDs?
The other thing to note is that a lot of the good boutique houses are from the UK and they are inconsistent with whether they code B or ABC. I have stuff from 88 that is both. Also, places like 88 and Eureka put out the really good transfers for a lot of the Hong Kong films that aren't available in region A.
I love 88films. I have quite a few of their titles that you can't find in America even if they were an American movie
Don't forget Second Sight too which is putting out some amazing titles. Eureka is definitely my favourite distributor after Criterion though, they put out a lot of great titles.
Thanks so much have so many US Blu rays Heading home to England cheers
I am definitely going to get a region free player. There are just too many movies I want that are (for example) not available here but are readily available in other countries, or the Blu Ray in other countries has a better quality transfer, and such.
Note that if you gave a region free player, the dvd's are recognized automatically but if you put a blu ray in from another region you have to press a button, at least that's what I read.. So that is not done automatically. But still not so much of an issue I guess...
Also what I see in recent releases they will put extra features on the 4K disc! Not only commentary tracks but also other stuff... And in 4K! It has to happen more I think because the 4K disc contains enough free space for this....
I feel like you can speak quiter because the new mic has a high gain and it keeps buzzing! Just a suggestion! Thanks for making these informative videos!
I think that’s what I’ve found. I adjusted the gain but I’m so used to being louder so the old mic picks it up better! Lol. I’ll work on it.
Keep it up. I hate streaming services.
Hi Jeff is there a Blu-ray region free player drive that I can get to use with a MacBook 2022 that you can suggest? I have some movies with region b and c and I’d like to have the option for it. Thanks, if so please send link
I’m in the uk and have a 4k ultra HD player..I’ve just got Young guns 4k from Amazon it’s region A this should be ok to play on ?
I have a region free 4K player in the Uk. I ordered Uncut Gems from the US on Blu-ray that comes with a DVD. The DVD plays fine on my player, but it will not read the Blu-ray Disc. Any idea what I could do?
I have an All Region Blu-ray player from a few years ago. I guess it won't play the one 4K disc I've got right, I'll have to buy something designated as a 4K Blu-ray player. All- region br players aren't able to play 4K discs unless designated such. Right?
5:38 That's weird cuz I own the hunger games + bonus in 4k and they won't play in the Netherlands Europe :/ they did seem to region this 4k one after all then ?
Very good explanation, thx 🙏🏼 Just a question about subtitles regards to the different regions. Can it be different added subtitles in the disc depending of which region I am buying?
I’ve got something I haven’t been able to find a good answer for in a Google search. I want to buy a 4K projector, but I’d rather save some cash and not purchase a true 4K projector, and instead get a “faux K,” where the resolution is upscaled. In my basement with a 120” to 135” screen I’m less concerned about the resolution than the extra color information. I know projectors are nowhere near as good as LCD’s in the HDR, but is there enough difference between the “faux K,” and the full 4K projectors, or should I save up the difference? Also, if the HDR isn’t a noticeable difference, can I just get away with my 1080 equipment and not need a 4K player?
Love my region free blu ray player same with some region 1 classic movies in my collection and in 4K
New collector here. Thank you.
I never liked region codes either. If I bought a DVD or Blu-Ray I should be able to watch it wherever I want in the world. Sometimes it's cool to have alternate versions of the movie (granted some are censored versions, but hey, it's a region exclusive version) or they have cool packaging and special features that I want. What's the point?
Back in the day my first DVD player "Sony" was special not only was it region free but it had a mode for them tricky dvds
that did not like region free players. what you did was put the player in standby mode then you hold down 0-6 on the remote
if a dvd was region 1 hold down 1 and press the on button on the remote or player and the player was region 1 for as long as
it had power.
I remember it was Australia that first banned Region Codes as it go's against some customer protection law's
"sorry i hate the word consumer" and to this day i think this is why Blu-ray only has 3 and not 6 Region Codes
and when blu-ray come out more countries started looking at Region Coding and the legality of it.
then I remember reading about an al-qaeda training disc that would not play on american and european players
and this was probably the last nail in the coffin for Region Coding of physical media.
But Region Coding has moved online and go's by the name of geoblocking even youtube uses it
but a good VPN takes care of it.
I unfortunately once bought an X-Files DVD box set years ago off eBay that I found out was region locked to Ireland or Scotland or something (I’m in Canada)
Made a cool discovery though, popped them into my PS4 and found out it will ask if you want to region-change your PS4!
Be careful though, you can only change it 5 times then it’s locked on whatever you chose last. You can also still play any games no matter what region you’re currently programmed to.
When my old PS3 broke down I brought a US PS3 for region A movies, while I use my PS4 for region B movies. Since games on the PS3 are region free anyway.
I'm in a region B country and I've found over the years that certain US discs marked as Region A will play on my players around 50-60% of the time. I also stumbled on to a partial work-around, I'm not sure if it works in different regions but if you start the movie and you get the region locked message, you can press stop then press the Top Menu button and *sometimes* it will play the disc, but not with others.
What's really annoying is the rights Issue and how badly it affects worldwide distribution - for example we can get the movie Red 2 here on 4K no problem, but not Red 1, which is avail in the US, but because it's owned by a different company to Red 2, no Red 1 for Aus - and we get this a lot here - sequels are avail on 4K but not the originals.....can import from the US but the ridiculous postage costs, exchange rates and import taxes make the cost prohibitive - So a US$25 4K will cost me over AU$60 - $70.
Infuriating
I am from the uk, I brought a Sony bluray player off Amazon, which plays any region (1080p) had no problems with it until star wars:the last jedi, it wouldn't play it,at first I thought it was a faulty disc, took it back three times, so I brought a region b only player and it worked
Should have gotten instructions to manually switch zones if it didn't auto switch it. Most of my Blu-ray auto switch the zones. There's a handful I have to manually switch but it still should work...
I have a multi regional DVD player. A Lasar BLU-BD3000. I have tried changing the Region to USA and have tried Japan in the security settings but still when I try to play a region A locked blue ray it comes up on the screen that the disc can only be played on a Region A player. Can anyone help me to get this disc to play?
Arrow.com has sales, but only in code B. Where can I take advantage of their flash sales in region A? Thanks!
I hate region coding it really is stupid This is really good advice thanks
That insert of The Elephant Man was not the Australian release. I should know....I’m in Australia and have that 4K.
I bought a LG BH200 player cheap at Best Buy as an “open box” sale nearly 17 yrs ago and it works great. It plays DVD, HD DVD & Blu Ray formatted discs AND you can set in to play International Blu Rays. Why do I bother? Because there’s a LOT of BR movies not available in the US (March or Die, The 13th Warrior) to name a couple. France, Germany & UK are my main sources.
0:52 Yes, it's been around since DVD's were introduced!
I bought an international Blu-ray player for Europe Because 3D disc are cheaper and there is more of them.
Do we know if Bill & Ted 4k (announced today) will be coming to the US? If not, where would you recommend purchasing it from in the UK? Amazon won't ship it.
Zavvi
I have few discs in my collection here in Europe that say only B back on the box but ABC on the actual disc. I'd assume those work everywhere but why put the only B on the box? That perplexes me.
Luckily here in Australia, it's a legal right for mandatory region free playback of DVDS and Blurays. You can purchase a third party bluray player and it can play any DVD or Blu-ray Disc from anywhere in the world, with the current region being selected via a menu. It doesn't require any hardware mods, just a simple selection on a menu!
There are a bunch of kung-fu and horror films that I never bought because of the region coding so I've been thinking about investing in a region free player for a while now. Thanks for the info!
It's funny that a lof of the times in Australia even if the packaging is for the Australian market, you will get a 4K disc inside the case that's made for the UK market. I guess Australia is not a big enough market so why not!
The sleeve or outer packaging may only show the Australian rating symbols for products sold in Australia but like the U.K., Europe and Australia is Region B and the discs show all ratings for the Region it covers, unless there is a licensing issue and that product is not supposed to be sold in a specific market even if it's covered under the Region Code. I'm from the U.K. and almost every Blu-Ray and 4K disc I have has the U.K., Europe (German, French, Irish, Danish, etc), Australian rating on the actual disc but only the U.K. rating on the Sleeve or outer packaging for box sets.
I have several Blu-Ray's from Germany that only have the German rating as they were solely made for the German market. Unfortunately we are short changed here in the U.K. many Movies/T.V. Shows that are released here are only given a DVD release, even if their released on Blu-Ray in other Region B country's like Europe and Australia.
For example I bought The Blacklist Seasons 1 - 4 in the U.K. on Blu-Ray, but from Season 5 they only released it on DVD. So I had to buy Season 5 & 6 on Blu-Ray from Australia as it is a Region B country and I'm just waiting for the Season 7 Blu-Ray release so I can get that. Same for The Last Ship they only released Seasons 1 & 2 on Blu-Ray in the U.K. so from Season 3 I had to buy the Australian release.
I could buy the U.S. Region A releases as I do have a Region Free Blu-Ray Player, but I prefer to limit purchases of media that I'd need extra equipment for just in case in the future I have problems getting the equipment should I ever need to replace it.
Mill Creek is a company that will say A locked on the back but almost all there releases have been region free or region A,B .
And Code Red as well.
Good luck on the wait for postage from JB Hifi in Australia. Some of what I ordered from there took close to 3 months, and I live next door in New Zealand. That's the reality of what is deemed essential postage with a certain virus.
Video idea: Types of special features, favourites and ones that were hyped at the beginning of blu ray life e.g. switching angles during a movie. Although that was talked about during DVD era I believe.
Picture in picture commentary. I'm sure there are many others that dont exist anymore. Still galleries are not common.
What 4K player do you use and have you had any problems with it freezing.
How come I buy Sony BRay player that says it can play Zones A B C but then won't paly a BR zone B from Germany ?
It has been my experience that all Disney Blu-Ray titles from the UK are region-free (although there is no indication on the label).
Ok , I just bought The New Mutants 4k Bluray Steelbook From Germany On Ebay , It Says REGION FREE, I Can Still Watch The Blu Ray Version?
What's more annoying is that in the UK you can't purchase steelbooks from Target or Best Buy.
Thanks! 3D blu rays are awesome and a lot of the UK discs are ABC.
Region free discs usually have a honeycomb of ""A," "B," and "C" hexagons on the back cover. And sometimes others simply say "Region 0." But yeah, I have many Region "B" discs that play perfectly well on my Region "A" player. But it's a crapshoot...
The type of film censor classifications are always a big give away as to what part of the world a particular release is from & hence what region coding you should expect it to be. The UK BBFC rating will always have a big U, 12, 15 or 18 rating slapped all over the case & disc for instance & all the other countries have their own rather distinctive style of classification on their releases.
UK releases tend to be more honest about their region coding; if it only has a B symbol it's probably region-locked. OTOH, Fox used to label all its U.S. Blu-rays as Region A only even though many of them were actually region-free; that's why you need a region-free player or at least look it up on a site like Blu-ray.com.
Not sure if video formats apply to the regions. Region 1 = NTSC, Region 2 PAL, Region 3 = SECAM
Video formats are usually a different issue than region coding, especially for Blu-ray where the format often, but not always, transcends NTSC vs. PAL/SECAM. (DVD had NTSC vs. PAL differences on top of region coding; SECAM only made a difference in SD player outputs as SECAM is just PAL with different color encoding.) Though some Blu-ray & DVD players will balk at PAL or PAL-framerate video, others won't. If you're looking for a region-free player, 220's website tells you which ones do internal NTSC/PAL conversion.
Bull Moose used to have the occasional B region Blu Ray but last year they wouldn't take an 88 Films title that I had a duplicate of but they said they only take and sell region A titles.
if the blue ray case says 15 and 16 but the 15 is in a box square shape what region is it ,, it don't say ABC
by the way 15 is circled ,, then again 15 is square shaped around the number then there is a 16 ... on the back of dvd case 15 is showing only in a square shape' it is a Danish import '
You gotta check out the Scorpion king in 4k. It's reference quality!
I shudder at the thought of that garbage-tier CGI in 4k
@@talesfromtheclassroom that's the mummy returns you clown
Do you know what region coding are PS4 and Xbox one?
Are Playstation 3/4/5 region free? I can watch blu-rays there but I don't know if they are region free.
Just to share an odd experience: I live in a Region A country, got a Region A player, buys Region A Blus from the US; no problem. Then, I got the Ninja Scroll Blu from Sentai Filmworks. A message popped up saying that the player I was using, which is undoubtedly Region A since I’ve played hundreds of A discs on it, is not manufactured in the US, therefore I’m not allowed to play the disc. Funnily, this went away after I bought a Sony 4K Blu, which plays the Ninja Scroll Blu just fine.
Xbox One S and One X Blu-ray drives can play all region discs.But the Blu-ray players give the region problem error on standard Blu-ray discs.
I'm not sure what to think of new audio, I did like the old Audio sound quality .
Do you have out takes? Cause your freaking expression when you got a elephant man from Australia!!!.....😂😂😂
With DVD, a lot of the players were easily hackable to make them region free. And luckily, most of the players were cheap ones. I own two. With blu-ray it became harder. There were fewer that was easily hackable and since most of them have wifi connectivity, if you did hack it, your hacks were usually reset during software updates.
That's why hardware-modded (chipped) players are best. Remote hacks are easy to eliminate with firmware updates. Though a few players have had hardware mods disabled by firmware updates, it's a lot harder to do; most reputable modders, including 220, offer lifetime warranties on their mods in case that happens.
movies Fsk ab 16 I have a region free Blu-ray And DVD player but it will not play this format a movies why and if you could send me to a link that will play old blue racing DVD if I could buy me a new 1 I would appreciate it
I’ll be getting a region free player because I like arrow video and want to be able to watch my copy of enter the void and eventually the hellraiser trilogy once I get it
I have a 4k player i got from target and it plays any region code blu rays as well
I’m going to put in my two cents worth and rant. There are laws to protect copyright owners from piracy. There is also software on some of the formats to do so. Someone needs to pass a regulation to protect the consumer. If a DVD or blu ray is region locked it should be REQUIRED by law to say so on the packaging. I know some do many don’t. If I don’t check the package that is on me. If I buy it online and the retailer shows it as region A or region free and it isn’t when package is clearly marked otherwise that is on the retailer. If it isn’t marked that is on the company who released the product. Jeff I know you have contacts in the physical media industry if they could forward this concern too them I would appreciate it. If the companies aren’t labeling there products with the correct labeling maybe they could voluntarily do so. I think it would be a show of good faith to the physical media community. I love your content. Please keep it up. Thank you.