Blu-Ray players

[Anonymouse]

Is there such a thing as a Blu-ray writer yet?

How, if at all, does all the DVD region-coding nonsense apply? Can you play, e.g., Region 1 DVDs on a Blu-Ray player?

[Kymmy]

Yes there are blu-ray recorders (for some weird reason they don;t call them writers

DVD region I believe is still relevant on bluray playing back a dvd, I believe that some bluray drives also did regions but as with most players they'll probably be a way to RPC-1 them

[Anonymouse]

Thanks. It's just that I've heard that a) some movie studios release their Blu-Ray discs as region-free, and b) players only verify region encoding in software and so they'll play any DVD. The reason I'm asking is because I'm thinking of getting a Blu-Ray player at some point, and there's a DVD set of a favourite series of mine that (so far) has only been released in the US and Canada, so if the player won't play Region 1 DVDs, it's little use to me.

I wish they'd kick this region-coding cobblers into touch; it's never served any practical purpose that I can see.

why not rip the dvds once you own them using a decrypter type program burn to dvd 9 and they will be region free

( I believe it is legal to own a back up of your owned dvds)

[Kymmy]

No idea if that would be legal.. Mainly as you're not backing up the disk but actually converting it to a non regionized format.. but then that's the same as divxing a dvd is that legal or not It's a whole other argument for another day

My suggestion to anonymouse would be to look at the region sites for the players that can either be changed or are region free before making your choice of purchase

[Tezcatlipoca]

AFAIK, there is no "fair use" provision in UK law to make "backups" of DVDs, whether they are yours or not.

Copying a DVD that you own is still copyright infringement, plus also involves bypassing the "technical measures" put in place to protect the copyright (e.g. CSS), which is a separate civil offence.

Hell, it's also still technically illegal in the UK to rip your own CDs and convert them to another format for transfer to a portable media player. [although I believe there was talk of changing that]

Still, I don't personally see any moral issue with "backing up" something that you genuinely own, even if it's technically a breach of copyright.

Anyway, re. regions...

Blu-rays and DVDs have their own separate region coding system.

AFAIK, some Blu-ray players can be made (or are already sold) region free for Blu-rays, some can be made (or are already sold) region free for DVDs, some can be made (or are already sold) region free for both.


Although DVDs are almost always region coded, many Blu-ray Discs are sold region free (e.g. I believe that Warner's BDs are never region coded). I use my PS3 as a BD player, & have imported many discs from the US, even though the PS3 is region locked for BD & DVD.


As Kymmy said, just check to see if the player(s) you're interested in are, or can be made, region free.

Anonymouse, what is the series you want to buy?