h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My region free DVD player, that is. Folks, this was one of the most practical purchases I've ever made.

I finally got around to ordering the complete Bergerac series on DVD. The US price through Amazon is $163.97. The Amazon UK price, converted to US dollars is $73.43.

I also am getting the second series of Whitechapel -- not available in the US -- series 1 of Downtown Abbey -- not available in the US -- and the new Sherlock series currently showing on PBS for $6 less than the Amazon US price. All four series plus postage from the UK is going to be $142.26. I always order several things at once from Amazon UK to save on postage.

My region free player has paid for itself several times over since I bought it. Any of you who love British movies and TV programs and who buy DVDs really need to check into this. Another thing worth mentioning is that programs shown on PBS are often trimmed down to allow them to add their own intros. The UK versions have the entire programs as filmed.

I'm seriously considering getting a new Blu-Ray player. I wonder if I can find a region free one of those affordably? (Is affordably a word? Firefox doesn't think so.)

Since you're not subbed to my "Flix" convo, you missed me blathering on about Agora recently. Since you have a region free player, you actually may have had a chance to see it before I did. It was just very recently released in region 1. (It got almost no theatrical distribution or promotion here.) If you haven't seen it yet, you might be interested as it is about your namesake [nick-sake?] Hypatia of Alexandria.

All DVD players can be converted into Region-free, by typing a code into them.

I haven't seen it yet, CZ. And I know nothing about Blu-Ray players. I am hesitant to invest in Blu-Ray for the library. I can't afford to have every format in the world. I'm going to have to be sure Blu-Ray isn't a flash in the pan before I buy any of them.

Gnomon, the thing I love about my player is that it doesn't matter what sort of disk I put into it, it automatically reads it and plays it. No codes to mess with. Also, it automatically upgrades my old DVDs into HD.

BluRay isn't going anywhere soon. It's beginning to dominate over DVD now. As far as region free, from a quick search I should be able to find one already all region or, with a firmware update, convert one.
Just learned that while there are 8 DVD regions, there are only 3 BluRay regions.

My player also does things like videos from cameras and camcorders and I'm not sure what all else. It has a lot of features I don't use. I just use it to show DVDs. With one exception, everything I have is either Region 1 or Region 2/PAL. I have one from Sweden.

With any DVD player, once you've looked up the code on the internet and typed it in, you never have to mess with codes again - it's region-free.

It might not be multi-format, though. The thing about most multi-region players is that they have a built-in video converter so that you can play a PAL format DVD on an NTSC television. If your unlocked player doesn't have one of those you'll have to buy another piece of kit. I haven't looked at the prices lately but last time I did any research in that area they were pretty expensive.

Truthfully, I didn't know I could do that with my old player or I might have tried it before I bought a new one. But I'm more than satisfied with the decision I made. I love the quality of the picture with it.

We play our Blu-rays on PlayStation 3. I don't really play games (it's the other half that does), but I love the PS3. It plays Blu-rays well and it also has iView. Not sure if you get the equivilant OS, but iView is TV shows the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) stream on to the internet. Everything they screen goes on to the internet for a short period of time, so if you miss it you can still watch it.
Having iView on the PS3 is great, because we can then still watch it on the big telly.
Most of our other free-to-air stations are starting to stream on the internet.
I note our channel 7 has even popped up on the PS3.

The strange thing I've noticed with Blu-ray is that some discs will remember where you were when you stop them, and will resume from the same spot. Others will not remember and you have to forward through the whole film (or go to chapter selection). I'm not sure whether this is a Blu-ray thing, or it's unique to the PlayStation.

Another thing I've noticed is that my female friends can't really see much of a difference between blu-ray and DVD, but all the males are so excited about how much clearer and crisper it looks.

Very dear Hypatia,

So very pleased that you have made a purchase which has given and will continue to give you so much pleasure. It sounds great - if only I understood a word about it. !!

Anyway, have a great weekend and have a restful Sunday

With much affection
Christiane
AR80
AR80
Sunday the 7th October 2010 11.07 2010GMT

Well, I guess I'll be getting a new player sooner than later. Mine just decided it doesn't want to be a BluRay player anymore. It still plays DVDs but not BR discs.

It's always something, isn't it? I've had way too many unexpected expenses lately. And now the guy doing some odd jobs for me (paid by the hour, naturally) is taking forever to get some painting done. That's going to cost twice as much as I'd planned.

Oh, well. I will very likely spend the winter broke, but I'll have 75 hours of Bergerac to watch in the evenings.

Frolicking in the hills of Provence I seen to remenber.....What a narcvellous way to spend a cold winters day.

Here I have been freezing in my flat with the wind blowing icy cold down from the Artoc and them whistling across the channel just to cheer me up !!!I am not moving from my flat. I shall spend the winter warn as a "bug in a rug" with my duvet up to my nose.

I wonder if I have ever been so cold. I do not remember. !!!! I really must wear slacks in winter. !! My carer arrived pracdtically naked -figuretively speaking . She is born here and obviously does not feel the cold. !!

Go well all you lucky folk down under....
Christiane
AR80

Monday 8th November 2010 15.35 GMT

Hi Christiane,

The cold seems to bother us more as we age. My mother always seems to be cold these days. Isn't it lovely that sunny thoughts help warm us up?

Hyp

Well, I picked out a new BluRay player. It'll play 3D discs even though I have no desire to watch 3D movies. I'm getting it because it's just about top of the line from Samsung with great picture quality and all the other bells and whistles I could ask for like Netflix streaming along with several other things like that and most importantly quick start up. I'm not sure if I can make it "All Zone" yet but I'll look into that later. Oh, and I found a great price from Amazon.

Congrats on the purchase! Amazon has some great prices. I always check there before I buy things.

I have so many DVDs that I really like that I don't want to get rid of my player for a Blu-Ray.It would cost a lot to replace them. I've heard that the picture is better on Blu-Ray, but I'm not bothered by the picture quality of the DVDs. I've never even seen film on Blu-Ray. Now I have to hope they don't phase out DVDs.

Well, that's not a problem. DVDs play on BluRay players and the quality is better because they up-convert them to near HD quality. I plan on keeping my old player just to watch DVDs on it since they still play and do look much better than on a standard DVD player.

See, I'm so ignorant of the subjext that I didn't know a Blu-Ray player would play a DVD. That's a relief, at least. Thanks for that bit of information.