Multi-region capabilities come to third-generation Blu-ray players

Ah, the sweet smell of progress. Just months after Blu-ray Mods hosted up a wave of BD-Live decks with multi-region support, the site is now offering up the next gaggle of units in the same fashion. For those scouting a high-end player with an ICOS HD mod baked right in, you can order up a number of Pioneer players (the BDP-LX91 and BDP-09 Elite included), Denon's DVD-1800BD / DVD-3800BD and Sony's BDP-5000ES. We won't even scare you with the prices here, but you can venture to the read link if you're suddenly curious.

[Dalhectar Posted Jan 26th 2009 12:21PM]

Not that it needs to be said, but HD DVD was region free.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 26th 2009 1:10PM]

It was though getting an HD DVD player to be region free (as in, plays DVDs from all regions) is more of a PITA. I have a cheap RF DVD player stacked on top of my HD A2 because the alternatives are somewhat ugly tricks involving downloaded firmware from dubious sources that has been hacked to get it to work.

It's a shame really. If I'd been Toshiba, I'd have made that Firmware 4.0 thing region free, just as a final act of defiance towards Warner et al. Oh well.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 27th 2009 10:43AM]

The LG BH200 has it's Blu-ray region free and it also play HD-DVDs. You can find them for as low as $200 today. Very nice players but it's only profile 1.1 for those that care.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 27th 2009 8:22PM]

Well that remains to be seen (whether the BH 200 gets full profile 2.0).
It has all the hardware necessary
(but pulls the usual USB flash drive stick trick to get around the 1gb of storage so many do).

We know there is a big firmware update coming under orders of the LG CEO who is reported as (rather cryptically) ordering that the LG staff "get it done".

You're right about the LG BH200 generally though.

It's got full & proper bitstreaming of HD audio, it's a very high quality DVD upscaler & is easily made DVD region-free and Blu-ray region-free (HD DVD never was region locked).

All that and dual format (mmmmm, all those incredibly inexpensive HD DVDs).
In short it's easily the best high def player out there right now for my money
(and yes, I did put my money where my mouth is and bought one).

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 27th 2009 11:25AM]

neat, what a good idea. while i understand in today's world that studios and video companies often carve the world up into territories. it could be a great idea to get a player that can play back any title, especially when not available locally. kudos!