How to go REGION FREE with BLU-RAYS - Multi-Region Blu-ray Player Guide - Physical Media 2021 

Thanks so much for watching my video! You can find the Region Free blu-ray players mentioned in the video through these links: (US) SONY Region Free Player - amzn.to/3qbnQtz​ (US) LG Region Free Player - amzn.to/2OyunAF​ (UK) LG Region Free Player - amzn.to/2NjPgPw​ (UK) SONY Region Free Player - amzn.to/3d7lt7m *Disclaimer - any purchases made through the above link do help support the channel at no additional cost to you. I thank you for the support as always*

I bought a multi-region player a few years ago from a store called multi-region magic here in the UK, and it's great. It might be worth noting for anybody thinking about getting into 4K that multi-region versions are available of some of those players. 4K discs are supposed to be region free, but a few scattered examples of region-specific discs have been noted, so worth bearing in mind just in case. It's true that multi-region capability is not quite as straightforward as with chipped DVD, but on mine I just have to press one of the coloured buttons (with no disc loaded) - red (region A), green (B), or yellow (C) to select what I want, so no great faff.

I'm across the pond. I went region free last fall and have been going crazy playing "catch-up" with UK releases ever since. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

Also, if you do have a multi-region player that's able to be connected to Wifi, NEVER update the firmware as this can render any modification to play other regions redundant. I found that out not long ago.

Thank you! You're the first person to explain that all these multi-region players have been modified by third parties.

I live in Bangkok and had that issue but researched found a exceptional quality DVD all region player. My daughter brought it to me a few years ago. It's upverting too it plays a great quality too.

I've had multiregion players since the early dvd days😊😊

I recently purchased Sony BDP-S6700 from a private sale on Facebook Marketplace. I feel it may be the unmodified version. I didn't realise the same model number could be used on the mod/unmod version. Therefore, this video is informative in retrospect.

I've had a region free blu ray player for ages since my brother got one back then and advised me to get the same model. I love it to bits, as I like to purchase releases from all over. I mostly use it for region A blu rays, though currently I am also watching an Australian dvd release on it (I'm in Germany). Though I never knew that it was modded, I just thought that's how they were made.. It actually makes sense though and I think it's pretty neat somehow. Also, I actually kinda like having to put in that code and choosing the region myself ^^

We have needed a video like this for a while. Thanks!

Thank you so much for this video. It answered all my questions in a quick and simple way. .

Just want to say hello and that I think you’re channel is great. Your choke up on losing Roeg made me know you are a good and genuine guy. Cheers Elliot

I decided to get a region free player when I upgraded my TV, & I was super PISSED when American blu rays didn't work. Lucky I looked at the manual which had the code to change it. I didn't know. I now use my PS4 for regular blu rays, while this new player for region free discs (like Criterion's Bergman set), or discs that I can't use on my PS4.

Been region free for 6 years almost. 220-electronics is a great place for people in the states. I started out with a region free DVD player then upgraded to a sony Blu-ray player...now I got a region free lg 4k player..yes I know 4k discs are supposed to be region free but the region free 4k players from 220-electronics make watching Blu-ray and DVDs region free. I'm a huge fan of arrow video, 88films and studio canal in uk. So I been using Amazon uk and de (German amazon) for some releases that never got an american Blu-ray (Mel Gibson Hamlet) or 4k releases (princess bride 4kuhd). ...btw just check release details for English audio track info on imports or whatever language you prefer is available on the release. Pretty simple to switch audio track language in disc menus some I've bought actually come english as default lol even coming from Germany

Sick PSA Elliot. I bought the wife the LG UK model and no complaints.

i like when someone talk about region free bd player, i have two player: region a and region b greeting from indonesia😁

Great video, Ive got the oppo like yourself. They seemed to of topped the bluray player standard then disappeared, quite expensive now. The region locking nonsense of blu rays always seemed to be at the industries detriment as it would just force people to illegally download in my eyes although that fine for most people who enjoy the physical media seem to suffer. Whats your thoughts on the criterion channel locking their services in a similar fashion? Even with express VPN I cannot subscribe as they seem to be looking at credit/debit cards aswell. Seems to be taking it a bit too far in my opinion... Dont they want money? lol

I just bought a magnater 800 could have spent $100 extra to make it region free never thought I would ever buy other region blue ray's just got Proposition 4k such a great movie i want to see the xtra features on the blu-ray region b now I'm spending 135.00 😂that's life great video thanks for your help kept this in my like file and found it

This was really helpful man. Thank you!

Great ,thanks so much for taking the time to this ,looking at the Sony 1700 and what with the option of an extra 3 year extra protection £11 could be the best way to go 😉

as a horror fan I would love to be able to buy shout/scream factory blurays

I have a ps3 and PS4 from japan, which are region A encoded. Both have a universal internal power supply. Most devices today are universal multi voltage so all you need is a correct plug for the region your in

Thanks for an excellent video. I finally have the answer to getting a proper multi-region player!

Can someone tell me how to switch regions on the 2 US players, I’m wondering because I would like full knowledge before purchasing

Timely video given I just got region free player about 2 weeks ago. A Sony BDP S6700. Just $293 (CDN) from Amazon.ca. Works great ! One Caveat : This is now my second Sony Player my other is a Sony 4K player. Now either remote control operates BOTH players ... so Chaos ! 😂. Especially as the TV auto switches inputs when the “second player” powers on while you’re trying to watch the “first player”. Simple fix for me is a small piece of plastic to block the front of the player (the remote sensor) that I don’t want to use. Ideally I would have bought a different brand of player to avoid this problem.

I've a region free player in the UK.A Pioneer machine.Greqt not worrying about locked discs. At least 4K is region free.

I also have the Oppo 203 4K player and I bought a plug in chip to make mine multi region as there were some criterion collection Blu Rays I wanted

I think you should have steered your viewers towards buying a region-free 4K blu-ray player. This would be the maximally future upgradeable piece of hardware possible. Possible points to emphasize: although 4K discs are not region codeable and can be played on a 4K blu-ray player from anywhere in the world, the same is not true for playing most blu-ray discs in a standard 4K blu-ray player. So once again, to play blu-ray discs with codings from any of the regions A, B or C in a 4K blu-ray player, you need to purchase a modified region-free 4K blu-ray player.

For anyone interested, no name DVD players are often region free, but they can be hit or miss.

Stuart here. Some time ago I bought a modified Sony BDP S3700 from Amazon in Australia. The modifier was Bombay Electronics. To change blu rays to Region A I push the yellow button on the remote. To change to Region B toggle the blue button. Some machines can only toggle five times in total between blu ray regions. This machine doesn't appear to have that problem. Bye Stuart.

Very informative video. Some titles are only available outside of the country you’re in. For instance I am in the US and I collect TV titles and Hawaii Five-0 and Blu-ray is only available outside of the US for some reason. During the present locked down there seems to be a ton I’ve listings on eBay for various titles and sometimes they’re available way before the US official release do you know is there anyway to tell if a title is a bootleg versus an official release out of the country? I’ve seen Many TV show releases (Dvd) that are being sold months before being released in the Us and being that they are US shows wondered if they are bootlegs from China? Is there any way to tell and or if they play OK should I care?

THANX FOR CLEAR EXPLAINATION !!! BUT IS THAT NOT EASIER TO FIND OUT, WHAT THAT FEW CLICK ON CODE ARE, AND SET-UP THE EVERY POSSIBLE BRAND OR MODEL TO A "FREE"...? JUST WANDERING IF YOU KNOW THAT "MAGIC KEY CODE..."

Very very helpful

This video is full of BASIC information that's intuitive for most. It's only useful for people who need help flipping a light switch.

The questions probably been answered before... but how old were you when you started collecting Blu-ray’s and indulging in foreign cinema

What i found must absurd is my old 15 year old + DVD had no problems playing all regions however my newer blu ray which is a Samsung BD J4500R simple refuses to play anything else than european region

My feeling is, when it is good for the CONSUMER, (those that actually drive the sales), more sales are made WORLDWIDE, which is accomplished WITHOUT any region locking and EVERYONE along with company and distributor wins. Or do I have this wrong? Does distribution contracts protect rights holders in an advantageous manner with respect to region restrictions? It is a legal matter, of which I readily acknowledge I am not fully versed on! I am in the North America Region "A", so obtaining a Region "B" player would suffice, but not be practical, as I do not have extra HDMI outlets on my TV to do that, and so it would be switching connections. So I will likely just invest in a region free (4K) player and try to recoup some of the investment of my existing 4K player. Or I do without, but there's definitely some superb and better overall quality of both transfer and content for a good number of Region "B" discs that I would be missing out on, as these are ones that are the definitive releases. Ironic of course that 4K discs are supposedly all region free, but the extra features on the accompanying Blu-rays are STILL region locked, and is at cross purposes to me to FULLY enjoy a 4K package that might only come from a different "region", a case in point is my Studio Canal 4K of "Don't Look Now" (1973), which has a wealth of cool physical extras.

You can get the PlayStation 4, it’s region free, I have the PlayStation 4 pro and it works just fine, and also the PlayStation 5 but right now it’s very hard to find right now as you may know, they can even play video games from other regions also.

I've got a multi region blu ray player made by LG

Importing a Blu Ray player is probably the most expensive option, not the cheapest!

I have a disc that is region-free that my blu-ray player suddenly stopped playing. It played it fine one night, but the next day would not play it at all. It plays other stuff, but no longer that.

I'm UK-based and looking to get a region-free player, but I understand that 4K UHD discs are all region-free now. So would a UHD player be able to play BR discs from any region?

This might be a dumb question, but would a region free 4K player still play a Blu-ray Disc? Sorry for my ignorance, I have only used a gaming console to play my movies

I read somewhere that you can play a blu-ray disc from any reagion on a PS4 or PS5 simply by changing the system's reagion from the settings. Can anyone confirm if that is true or not?

Wanted to mention some of the u.s players can be made region free by just checking your model online. Some players in the settings you can change to region . It's behind a pass code usually. Just have to go online and find the code. Bought a player from Walmart for 69.00 and was able to make it region free for no extra cost. If you are willing to do your research

So I use a Panasonic DP-UB820 4K UHD player. If I purchased a region free Blu-ray player I would take a dip in quality. Would I be better off purchasing a region free 4K UHD player, so I can also play region locked 4K UHD discs and play Blu-rays in better quality? If so do you have an recommendations for a player and where to purchase from please? I'm in the UK.

I can't say it'll work for every player, but there's also the Top Menu trick to play region locked films on non multi-region players. Basically, you put in your region locked Blu-ray, press stop to stop the disc, then press the Top Menu button a few times and the disc will jump straight to the menu.

Hmmmmm, how random that you just happened to pull out Barry Lyndon to offer as an example😉😆

Bought a region free player last year when I started picking up the 88 Films Jackie Chan movies

haha! at 02:50 - "it's a random disc". *shows Barry Lyndon* (if you know, you know) great tips and recommendations, btw!

why cant you just do it yourself, why pay outrages amounts of money for a firmware flashed player, when you could spend maybe twenty bucks on tools to do it yourself

Thanks for bringing this to people's attention. For me it's absolutely necessary for a player to play discs from every possible region. I'd never buy a region-locked player. I own three players and all three of them are multi-region. In my opinion, if you love movies, it's ridiculous to lock yourself to just those movies that are being released in your own region. You'd miss out on so much great stuff. I own movies from all over the world and even though I'm in region B, I think I own more region A and region C discs than I own actual region B discs. Just last week I ordered another region A disc from Hong Kong. I really couldn't live with a region-locked player.

My friend bought a Sony region free player which was modified by a third party to be a region free player. He told me that it’s extremely important to turn off the automatic firmware upgrade feature of the player. If you were to allow the player to automatically upgrade the firmware, it would automatically wipe out the region free firmware installed by the third party and replace it with the region specific firmware

220-electronics out of Elk Grove, IL is where I bought my modded region free Sony S5100 blu-ray player when I got my 1080p tv 9 years ago, still works to this day.

Very helpful video, Elliot! Thanks! What I learned is that companies do not make region-free players. I thought they did. That insight helped explain why I was finding the same models some marked as region-free and others not; it was quite confusing to me. Thanks for explaining! Also, for the very tech-minded, TechMoan and some others have tutorials to do it oneself; hint, it also involves soldering if one is so inclined

My experience has been that Panasonic Blu-ray players and DVD players cannot have a code that a normal person can use. A technician has a specific type of remote control that will make a Panasonic player code free. I also have experience with Samsung players and if you can't find a code that works, finding a technician who can make it code free is difficult.

This was really helpful. Thanks Elliot

On one thing I am sad. I understand why there are region locked discs, however if they make region locked discs they should be sure the movie could be bought in every region. Like I am a fan of old westerns, most of the time they are only region 1.

Best to buy 3 players for three regions in my opinion

The days when you bought a DVD player from Aldi or Lidl and just put a 4 digit code in using the remote or buying a hack remote for the premium brands.

My Pioneer UDP-LX500 plays everything on Dvd and Bluray.

Have you made a video where you don't mention Bazza Lyndon? :-)

I rip my Region A discs (I’m in Australia) and play them on my tv via a Raspberry Pi 4 Media player. Else I have a Region Free player also.

Found this channel last week and it’s really refreshing. Collected DVDs years ago but since then - streamed my way into 2001. Bought my first Blu Ray last week - 12 Angry Men from Criteron. Considering getting a multi region and building a small collection but can’t decide on a tv. I’m not sure I want to spend as much as 1k on one but at the same time - feel like I’m not going to be making the most of Blu Ray and 4K especially if I don’t. Advice on this would be awesome! Especially in time for Memories of Murder in April ❤️

Hi Elliot, unfortunately you at least one year too late in offering this advice. I'm in the USA and have been buying discs from the UK for many years. In the last year the international postal rates for packages has gone from reasonable to totally unreasonable, where the postage often costs more than the product being purchased. Luckily I purchased a backup UK Blu-ray player just before the change in postal rates.

This video was so helpful! I've wanted to go region-free for a while now, but I was unsure which player would actually work. Thanks!

Region coding was NEVER about protecting the poor rights holders, nor was it about "promoting friendly competition". It was always about giving a small group of people all the power to decide who in the world gets to see what content, how, when, through what means, and in what form (uncut or censored).

Perfect topic! I recently just started looking into a region-free player!

DVD players can often be changed to region 0 with just a (manufacturers) numerical code from the remote. I was hoping your video would provide the same option for Blu-ray players.

The cheapest option it to just unlock your Blu Ray player yourself. Get the model number and just search for 'model number + region free'. You might me able to unlock it by a certain number input on your remote (that you need to input just once!). Be aware that you most likely void your warranty but in my eyes that's more than worth it. EDIT: for example, here is a method to unlock the LG BP 250 www.avforums.com/threads/make-lg-bp125-dvd-player-region-free.1717812/

I noticed you haven't talked about the tangential issue of 3D Blu Rays. Some 3D Blu Rays have now been made as BC discs, explicitly denying A region users 3d copies of movies worldwide. I have a Turtle Beach DSS to convert Dobly Digital into Dolby Headphones. Any 3d Blu Ray players that convert DTS and LPCM into Dolby?

if you have an external DVD Drive connected to your Computer it will give you 5 chances to choose a region . I have 3 drives . One set to America . Another set to UK and blue ray

Thanks for the detailed info. Im in region C and I was going to buy a Region B disc, but I dont have any player. I like the option of buying multiple players, but as you talked about computer rom that can play all, it might be the best option for me, if that means, I can buy any region and they should all play fine on my computer? Thanks

There is - one - Blu Ray that I purchased that is locked... might be worth upgrading my player🤔 besides, streaming content is going to be CENSORED FILTERED and BAND as the governments go more WOKE so keeping your own copies is well worth the price!

Finally, a great overview of the whole confusing mess CLEARLY explained! I payed $680 for the latest high tech 4K twin tuner 500GB Panasonic Blu-Ray HDD Player/rec(PWT550) assuming it was already a multi-region BLU-RAY player, but it wasn't!!! arrhh. I think what they meant was it's just a multi-region standard dvd(non blu-ray player)?

You can also buy a kit that you can install into certain models of Bluray and DVD players, I’ve seen Panasonic, Sony and LG versions. The kit flashes the firmware on the device that comes from the manufacture replacing it with the modified firmware.

can I run any region of blu ray on an external blu ray drive on my pc ?

Part of me wishes I had bought a multi-region version of my current player, but realistically, I try to keep the carbon footprint of my collection low, so I'm unlikely to be ordering many films from abroad; not to mention that it is a lot more expensive to get films that way.

It's also worth noting that historically some film companies have secured financing for the production by selling the foreign distibution rights. There's also some anime Blurays thay try and get around region free players by reading the player's default language setting rather than the region code.

I actually picked up the Sony player and it worked great so far. You need to press one of the 4 color button to switch regions.

Hey how you doing I have a resume player dean Blu-ray and DVD but I bought a Blu-ray for me another country and it don't play ITIT's just for movies Fsk ab 16 Blu-ray ??? I am in the United States

LG BP250 multi region is NOT multi region for either DVD nor Blu-ray. it seems to be pot luck as to which player you receive when you order the "Region Free" player.

I'm completely confused as I'm an American who bought 3 different Doctor Who DVD Steel book sets that were being sold and distributed in America yet somehow they're Region B and I can't view them! I have no idea how I was able to purchase them in America and have them be like that but it's driving me insane so thank you for this helpful video

I have been looking to get a region free Blu Ray player, so this was very helpful! I am so frustrated with certain movies only being available on Blu Ray in another country but not mine, or the Blu Ray of a movie in another country has a better quality transfer than the Blu Ray available in my country. I want to actually be able to watch what I want to watch lol.

Bought this Cheap Blu Ray Multi player Plays Almost Every Thing called a Laser BD 3000 But Not 4k ?

4:00 that logic still doesn't make any sense. first of all, shipping alone wouldn't make said import from india a bargain and even here in europe, our local region code... like southeast europe. can't imagine eg romanians have to pay THAT much compared to us crap just makes piracy and "illegal" behavior more common :D

The big manufacturers do not make region free bluray players . Companies like Multiregion magic do the conversion using the ICOS chip. 4k discs have no region code.

So my sony BDP S3500 that I got a few years back will play any DVD automatically and you just use the coloured buttons to change the blu ray region. As far as I can tell, when it came in the mail, it looked to be factory sealed, so if the guy who sold it to me did hack it, he did a damn good job re packaging it

Hi, good video. I thought 'they're cheap!', half the price of the ones I'd been looking at, and then I remembered that they'd been 4K too. So at those prices it'd be cheaper to buy a basic 4K player separately but do you have any recommendations for a 4K player that's bluray and DVD region free (and cheapish)?

Region locked discs are handicapped as far as I'm concerned. Region free players may be impossible to find as physical media declines. Richer Sounds don't sell them.

Are you no longer doing thoughts on Criterion announcements?

I hate region locking, I just bought a new psp from Japan because my old one broke as a teenager but still owned all my old psp games and movies, only to find out that all my movies are region locked except “hackers” and “national treasure 2”. And the only way for me to watch those old umd movies is hack my psp and dump the iso file on my computer to copy it to my memory card on my psp.

This is why i love the 4k uhd blu rays cuz they are all region free

This is so mean blue ray and DVD player Buy Sony Add to do say there is DVD and blue ray region free but it will not take that for me

Elliot, thank you for this video. I have a number of region 2 discs in my collection that I need a proper player to watch and this helps a lot.

I found my native NTSC DVDs looked so much better after changing my DVD player's settings to NTSC rather than buying a British version of the same disk (I live in England). This only encouraged me to buy American DVDs for the American shows I wanted to buy. Today's LCD TV's don't care what you give them, they will just play them. The reason is obvious, the best NTSC quality comes from watching the format nativity, the same is true with PAL. And before people message me... Yes, the PAL vs NTSC formats still matters today, but not as they did before the predigital days.

I just got my Sony Region free Blu-ray player planning later in the year to get a 4K region free player

Very informative and clear video. I bought a collection of discs from someone leaving the USA for Mexico and included in the collection was a 2008 Coppola Restoration Blu-ray slip-covered set of "The Godfather" (3 movie discs plus a supplement disc) that appears to be (and probably is) still in its original sealed shrink wrap. But because it's sealed, I can't actually look at anything on the blu-ray cases themselves as to what region they are from, and nothing on the slipcover (which keeps me from seeing the back side of any of the discs) has this information either. But there are clues (like the round sticker on the slipcover that signifies this set is suitable only for those 15 years of age or older, and the statement on an end panel that this was to be "Distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment (UK), that it's a UK edition, hence Region B, while in the USA my potential clients (because I intend to resell this on eBay and usually only sell to USA buyers) are in Region A. I was hoping there was some kind of a workaround that I could share with a buyer that didn't involve getting all new hardware, and after watching this video I know there is are two: (1) the simple one -- but I don't intentionally purchase discs that are not Region A, and rarely buy discs for personal use, so I can't justify spending $150 or more USA to buy a multi region player; and (2) to rip a region-specific Blu-ray to a Blupray optical drive that can record as well as play Blu-rays, and then watch it from the drive attached to a computer, but that won't help me in dealing with region-specific sealed--package Blu-rays (and even if I had a blu-ray player that also recorded in blu-ray, I wouldn't be transferring the movie content to a blank blu-ray and then repackage the item as "new" for enhanced resale value, as that would violate various laws as well as being unethical, and likely get me in trouble with a buyer if they opened the case they'd bought from me and didn't find a direct printed on label on the recordable disc inside). Anyway, didn't have the information I hoped to see, but I was in no way misled by the title of the video, and did enjoy how the information was presented. Thanks!

OOoh, so if I want to play a DVD/Blu Ray from another region...all I have to do is buy a player from that region???? OOooh, splendid!!! Brilliant, couldn't figure that one out....

I heard you should NOT update the firmware or even hook up to wifi as it could mess with the modifications and render it NON region free?