Frequently Asked Questions

What is region coding and how does it affect me?

You may be well aware that when blu-ray movies are released they are designated a different region depending on what part of the world they should be played in, hence the term 'region coded.'

Region A was designated to blu-ray movies released in the Americas, and S.E. Asia

Region B was allocated Africa, Western Europe and the UK, and Australia / New Zealand

and Region C, China, Central and South Asia and Russia.

So, what are region free blu-ray movies?

Region free blu-ray movies are releases that have not been region locked and can be played on ALL blu-ray players worldwide.

During the great HD-DVD / Blu-ray format wars of recent, and with HD-DVD releases all being region free, many blu-ray studios felt it would be a good idea to release all, or some of their blu-ray movies as region free too.

This has led to a little known goldmine of information for blu-ray owners worldwide, as it is now confirmed that 67% of all blu-ray movies are in fact released as region free!

I live in a Region B zone myself, and the selection is limited and movies are expensive.

What a stroke of fortune to discover that 67% of all worldwide released blu-ray movies were region free and could therefore be played on my system. AxelMusic, and Amazon USA here I come!

Cheap newer releases were now available by the truckload.

Once I discovered this I set about compiling an accurate up to date list of all region free blu-ray movies so that others with a desire to expand their library from a huge selection at a reasonable price, may have the chance.

This is that site, and I hope you find it a useful resource!

What region do I live in?

You can see for yourself using this handy map.

Of course, Region All will work in any of these regions, but a Region B disc from a Region B region, such as the UK will work in another Region area such as Australia.

Using this info, this is of course a great way to get Region ALL and other releases that will play in your region faster by importing, which is why the list is so useful.

How come Amazon US sometimes has a title that's on the region free list categorized as Region coded to Region 1 (or A)?

Often when shopping at Amazon you may see Region A or 1 in the description, or some red or blue text during purchase about an incompatible region.

The good news is that it is completely safe to just follow the list, and ignore this alert!

We have gone to great ends to make sure the information we supply you is correct and to date, touch wood, none of our thousands of members have ever told us otherwise.

Now the reason Amazon has this warning is simple. It's almost always just due to their staff simply typing in what the regional US packaging says.

What I mean by this is a studio such as Warner or Paramount chooses not to region code a movie, such as No Country for Old Men, but when they print the cover for the blu-ray box, they print Region A on it, since it's being distributed in America.

Amazon staff simply sees Region A on the packaging, and puts that on their website.

Only once it is purchased and tested can we then verify that it is or isn't in fact a region free, or ALL Regions disc that will play on all players, and the list is built from this information. Sometimes we get this information weeks in advance from inside knowledge!

So the next time you see that pesky little warning on Amazon, don't be afraid. People email me every day thanking me for an accurate list and letting me know their discs worked fine.

I never had any doubt they would as I have also purchased a lot of titles myself, but I can see how the warning may cause some initial confusion, so thats understandable.

Of course, if I do ever hear of any discs not working, I will send out an alert and change the list straight away accordingly.

How long does shipping take?

Normally a couple of weeks from Amazon. I have had titles from Amazon US in around 8-10 days, but you can pay extra for faster shipping, although I find standard fine. It would be interesting to hear other peoples stories.

What if a question I have is not answered here?

A lot of great questions were answered in our recent user survey, which can be found here :-

www.blu-raymoviescheap.com/blog

Alternatively we look forward to fielding your questions by emai at:-

alex@blu-raymoviescheap.com