blu ray player for region A1

Tech, TV, Mobile, Internet and Geek Corner
1
I plan to buy a blu-ray player for A1 DVDs. I checked amazon.com. This one here looks ok to me but I'm afraid that I might miss one or the other important detail because I don't really have a clue

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

It doesn't say that it's for A1 region. Could it be anything else?

I can attach it to my TV set with an HDMI cable that I bought in Switzerland, right?

The power cable will be for US so I'll need a travel adapter? e.g. this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Ceptics-Worldw...+international

Maybe somebody here can help? Thank you!

2
I wouldn't try it. Looking in the manual [1] scroll down to the Specification section and it mentions a power requirement of AC110-120V 50/60Hz. As were are running on 230-240V here, that's no good for you. The converter you have linked to will just change the pin configuration, not the voltage, so that will not help.

Do you know that you really need an A1 region bluray player? My understanding was that most were not region encoded, only Disney were really strict about that?

[1] http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/co...ZA_1601_BK.pdf

3
I don't know for sure. I might just have to take the risk. In the specifications of the DVD that I want to buy it does say "region A/1". It's from Sony.

So is there another type of converter that would solve the problem?

4
Well, if you are looking at bringing over a US powered device, you will need a step down converter [1]

If you are not sure that you want the A/1 region encoding, why are you going through the effort of getting it over from the US. In Europe BluRays (if encoded) will be region B, while DVDs are region 2. It would mean that you are unable to purchase or borrow disks locally. I've not looked in a long time, but you were able to pick up region free players here a few years back, where you would avoid messing about with the power, and would play disks from any region. This is what I've done, but over the past couple of years it's barely been used as there are so many streaming options available.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Simran-200-Con...ower+converter

5
Why don't you but the European version of the disc itself? Would be easier and cheaper.

DVD coding is usually a software thing so most players have workarounds to make them multiregion. Bluray coding is a hardware thing, so you can't make it multiregion that easily. It also means that while you can make a bluray player play muotiregion DVDs, it is still not multiregion for playing Bluray.

6
It's not always that simple. For example, Blu-rays from Criterion are all region A only. Or the US version has a lot more bonus features (e.g. Fantastic Mr Fox).

However most people are okay with a region B player. If you don't know if you need it, you probably don't.

7
Just tell us the movie you are looking for and we will check out the region coding for you.

8
Better make sure you get a region-free one, my two bluray players (one LG, one Pioneer) are both Region B and downgrade A region ones to 480p. And they won't even play US DVDS! . So do check. Probably no name bluray readers on www.toppreise.ch will probably do what you need.

9
I'm just not sure if I NEED one. Yet. It says A/1 on Amazon. Maybe that's not correct. But if the DVD really is A/1 only I will only know if I have it here to try on my player.

That's exactly the reason. It's "Justified" I'm interested in. I've already got the normal DVD version of seasons 1-4. Season 1-3 is with Extras. But Season 4 is without any Special Features. They come only with blu ray.

http://www.amazon.com/Justified-Seas...ason+4+blu+ray

Amazon often doesn't mention whether or not there are any Special Features. But there are blu ray reviews that say so for Season 4 and 5. And same is to be expected for Season 6.

To get hold of the episodes is not a problem nowadays. But the Special Features are usually not available from such sources.

You're telling me!

To be frank... I've already ordered Season 4 and 5 a few days ago. I'll know whether they play on my player as soon as they arrive. Frankly again: I forgot about the extra difficulty with blu ray region codes when I made the purchase. It was late at night...

So far, I bought only 1 blu ray DVD that doesn't play on my player. "Jack Irish - Dead Point" - the US version was much cheaper than the Australian one. Luckily that one came with a second non-blu-ray DVD with the same content.

But sooner or later I had to try to solve that A/1-problem anyway because I don't want to wait until European versions become available IF they become available at all. And I often don't mind buying the DVDs - I LOVE to watch Special Features.

10
Update....

The blu-ray DVDs (Justified Season 4 and 5) arrived and I could NOT watch them on my blu-ray player. Error message said "wrong region". Another blu-ray DVD bought at the same time for which Amazon also said "Region A/1" was in fact multi region. Conclusion: Region-specification on Amazon IS unreliable. AND: I was now sufficiently motivated to get me a A/1 player.

So I started evaluating A/1 blu-ray players and voltage converters. After looking at various on-line shops I limited evaluation to Amazon, compared reviews, prices, (shipping) weights and shipping costs and finally went for:

Samsung BD-F5700 Wi-Fi Blu-Ray Player (2013 Model)

and

LiteFuze LC-300EU 300Watt Step Up/Down Travel Voltage Converter, EU Cord

(the cheaper and lighter Simran-voltage converter suggested by monkeyboy76 was not an option as the seller did not offer international shipment - same as some other sellers)

The whole lot cost me CHF 99 (player) + 30 (converter) + 32 (shipping) + 14 ("import fees deposit") = 175. But from experience I expected to be charged with some more cost when it arrives (taxes, VAT and whatever). But that didn't happen - the lot arrived yesterday, no further cost! Amazing...

AND IT WORKS by the way...

Thanks again for the helpful tips regarding voltage converter - that saved me a lot of time

11

I'm going to be moving to Switzerland in a few months and like MajorGrubert above, Criterion Brand Bluray's are important to me. Has there been any update on a current Bluray player in the year 2020 that I would be able to buy in Switzerland?

My current one is only 110v and I don't want to deal with shipping it and getting step down converter if there is a good option already available there? I would need something that plays USA Blurays and DVDs.

And do I need to worry anything about the TV accepting NTSC video formats, or is the player converting it all?

Thanks!

12
I didn't know blue ray still exists

It seems that you can get them on amazon.de if you search for something like "Region Free Blu-ray Player" for example this: LG BP-250 Multi-Region Smart Blu-ray Player 110-240 Volt .

Or better, go also trough those on Galaxus, "blue ray players" and check comments from buyers, as some of them should be region free, but there are comments that is not always true.

FYI Galaxus is one of biggest online seller in Switzerland, as Amazon is luckily not fully present here.

13
NTSC? Why are you using an analog connection for BlueRay? Doesn't make sense. You would loose all the fidelity. Normally one would use HDMI which transports the signal w/o loss to the TV.