Topic: is there difference....

[lovemunkey187]

.....beyond the price and the slip cover?

2009

2011

Does the region free thing make any odds? Been wondering about this "Region Free" bit for a while and have held off on buying a couple of titles as I wasn't sure they'd work on my PS3(prbably stupid and it's of no consequence, but there you go).

[DJ Doena]

"Region free" for Blu-rays means that they have all three regions A, B, C encoded on the disc. It means that this disc can be played by any Blu-ray player in the world.

You'll never have any problems when you buy BRs in your own country. But when you import them from the U.S. you should make sure, that they are not just "A" or else they will not play on your player.

[lovemunkey187]

Thanks, for that Karsten.

Anybody know about the other bit?

[DJ Doena]

Here's a map of the Blu-ray regions:

[lovemunkey187]

What's so special about French Guiana?

[Achim]

What's so special about French Guiana?

I'd guess it's french... and therefore follows France...?

I thought I mentioned before, but especially with the PS3 you must also make sure that there is no NTSC content (in my case PAL) before the actual menus, that can be a real showstopper, despite working in regular players. Although I think the PAL problem might be more common than the other way round.

I have previously bought Region B discs (Region A myself) and they have worked for the most part. Let The Right One In has some special features in PAL, which was a no-go. Son of Rambow has PAL trailers before the film, which the PS3 cannot cope at all; the disc is unplayable. Not all SD special features all necessarily in "bad" format though; like my Highlander disc where everything played just fine. In the end usually it's the film that counts.

[dfmorgan]

.....beyond the price and the slip cover?

Yes, the second set also contains digital copies.

[Achim]

Most important thing, actually:

Find reviews for both sets, but especially the newer one. That should tell you if newer, hopefully better, transferswere made or if the old ones were recycled.

[northbloke]

I thought I mentioned before, but especially with the PS3 you must also make sure that there is no NTSC content (in my case PAL) before the actual menus, that can be a real showstopper, despite working in regular players. Although I think the PAL problem might be more common than the other way round.

I have previously bought Region B discs (Region A myself) and they have worked for the most part. Let The Right One In has some special features in PAL, which was a no-go. Son of Rambow has PAL trailers before the film, which the PS3 cannot cope at all; the disc is unplayable. Not all SD special features all necessarily in "bad" format though; like my Highlander disc where everything played just fine. In the end usually it's the film that counts.

Unfortunately my PS3's in for repair otherwise I'd test this, but I don't think they'd get away with restricting the PS3 that way in PAL territories as there are many titles (mostly music) that are sold in NTSC format, so almost all products these days can deal with both formats.
It may be my dodgy memory but I'm sure I read an article ages back saying that it was more of a legal reason than a technical reason why North American equipment weren't dual format. 

[lovemunkey187]

.....beyond the price and the slip cover?

Yes, the second set also contains digital copies.

Thanks, Dave.

Most important thing, actually:

Find reviews for both sets, but especially the newer one. That should tell you if newer, hopefully better, transferswere made or if the old ones were recycled.

I (very quickly) tried Google, but I only seemed to find reviews for the individual films, rather than the boxsets.

[Achim]

Unfortunately my PS3's in for repair otherwise I'd test this, but I don't think they'd get away with restricting the PS3 that way in PAL territories as there are many titles (mostly music) that are sold in NTSC format, so almost all products these days can deal with both formats.
It may be my dodgy memory but I'm sure I read an article ages back saying that it was more of a legal reason than a technical reason why North American equipment weren't dual format. 

Thanks for that information Eric. I have an Asian PS3, but maybe they mainly just use the same model as in the US, since they are both Region A...