The first true Region Free Blu-ray player?

[Mattias Karlsson]

Originally Posted by Ian Z.

I'm pretty sure the Oppo will NOT be region-free. Last I heard, they were very specific about that. For obvious legal reasons, they can't release a region free player and don't care to take the risk to include a hack to do so.

Yes, but you can probably unlock it if you I.C.O.S modify it. I'm waiting for the Oppo player.

[Zane C.]

I'd love to get this player, but I'm concerned about the build quality...HK Flix offers some "name" region free BR players as well, don't they? Or is this Momitsu a better player?

I want a player that will play everything that I throw at it, and not be obsolete in a year. This has BD Live, etc, correct?

I don't mind forking out the $$, but I want something good.

BTW: Has anyone ordered anything like this from HK Flix outside the US? Just curious. I've ordered DVD's from them before, and it was ok, but this is a different ballgame.

[Zane C.]

Hmmmm....after some more research, I found out as much I could about this player (well, as much as is out there).

It appears Momitsu HAS been around for a while, though not a "huge" name in the DVD world. They apparently had some good upconverting players in the early days, and there's some folks out there giving them kudos. However, it is unclear if this player will be updated by Momitsu...meaning if content on BD's change, this may not be able to support the disc/content. This is an issue, it would seem, and seeing as there's not much info out there right now about this particular player, who knows? This is my understanding of the player as of right now...I could be wrong.

The advertising for it sounds good, but I'm very curious to see if this player will perform up to its claims. If so, it would be fantastic to have a BD player that supports standard DVD, no matter the region, and also BD, no matter the region. Couple this with the fact that it is under the $400 mark, and it's not a bad deal....if it lives up to its own hype.

Right now, this is looking like a budget BD player with region free capabilities...perhaps the first in a string of RF BD players that would be something similar to the region free standard DVD players we have seen flood the market after the mass market selling of DVD players.

I don't know, I may purchase this, but I'm still unsure about build quality and capabilities. For under $400, though, it might be worth a try.

Alyss, please post your thoughts when you get this unit! We're all very curious!

[Ian Jane]

OK, so the player arrived today, though we don't have any Region B BD discs to test it with (yet - that should be remedied tomorrow or Friday depending on the USPS). The machine is set to Japanese language out of the box but changing that to English was no problem and the instruction booklet is in English. The player isn't so much 'region free' as it is 'region changeable' meaning you have to enter a 5 digit remote code to switch from A to B but the change is instant and it does work (once I changed it to Region B it wouldn't play my Fox Region A I Robot disc indicating that the region was indeed B).

PAL and alternate region DVD playback is problem free. I tested the Region 2 Creepshow, Dellamorte Dellamore and Cannibal Ferox discs, no problems with any of them and the upscaling works well - Creepshow in particular looked excellent. DivX, xvid, avi and mp3 playback is all pretty flawless, no problems there at all.

I'm not in love with the remote yet. It's not bad, but I guess I'm so used to the PS3 remote that it just feels weird in my hand. Also, the on screen display is kinda lame - it only shows running time and chapter, no codec info or time remaining - that's a minor grip though. It was easy enough to hook up and after an afternoon of tinkering with it, I think it'll do the job nicely.

Once my Region B Death Sentence (FUCK YEAH) Blu-ray shows up, I'll test out the Region B playback capability and confirm.

[Matthew Allison]

You should try out a Region B Blu-ray disc on it. That'd be a good test. Throw one of those in it.

[Ian Jane]

Good idea.

[Wayne Schmidt]

I hope you can test a BR region B disc with standard def PAL extras. I'd love to know if it will handle that (although from what you've reported so far I don't see a reason it wouldn't).

[mark t]

Have you tested a Region B disc with it yet?

[Horace Cordier]

Originally Posted by mark t

Have you tested a Region B disc with it yet?

Jon Stewart got nothin' on you pal.

[Matthew Allison]

Originally Posted by mark t

Have you tested a Region B disc with it yet?

That'd be my first course of action.

[mark t]

Originally Posted by Matthew Allison

That'd be my first course of action.

I hear that the UK version of DEATH SENTENCE is sweet.

[Matthew Allison]

I'm going to call Ian and see if he has that one. If so I think he should remove it from it's case, place it in his new player, and see what happens.

Keep your fingers crossed.

[mark t]

Originally Posted by Matthew Allison

I'm going to call Ian and see if he has that one. If so I think he should remove it from it's case, place it in his new player, and see what happens.

Keep your fingers crossed.

If that doesn't work, tell him to try a Region B blu-ray. That might do the trick.

[Matthew Allison]

Wait...I thought this Alyss N. person was the one ordering this new player. What goes on here?

Originally Posted by Alyss N.

Ordered.

[Zane C.]

Originally Posted by Ian Jane

OK, so the player arrived today, though we don't have any Region B BD discs to test it with (yet - that should be remedied tomorrow or Friday depending on the USPS). The machine is set to Japanese language out of the box but changing that to English was no problem and the instruction booklet is in English. The player isn't so much 'region free' as it is 'region changeable' meaning you have to enter a 5 digit remote code to switch from A to B but the change is instant and it does work (once I changed it to Region B it wouldn't play my Fox Region A I Robot disc indicating that the region was indeed B).

PAL and alternate region DVD playback is problem free. I tested the Region 2 Creepshow, Dellamorte Dellamore and Cannibal Ferox discs, no problems with any of them and the upscaling works well - Creepshow in particular looked excellent. DivX, xvid, avi and mp3 playback is all pretty flawless, no problems there at all.

I'm not in love with the remote yet. It's not bad, but I guess I'm so used to the PS3 remote that it just feels weird in my hand. Also, the on screen display is kinda lame - it only shows running time and chapter, no codec info or time remaining - that's a minor grip though. It was easy enough to hook up and after an afternoon of tinkering with it, I think it'll do the job nicely.

Once my Region B Death Sentence (FUCK YEAH) Blu-ray shows up, I'll test out the Region B playback capability and confirm.

Sweet! Thanks, Ian!

So, is this thing looking like it's worthy of a purchase? I'm gonna have to shell out extra $$ for the crappy exchange rate and shipping to Canada.

How about BD Live?

Oh yeah, try out a Region B disc!!!!