Zbox HD-ND22 (note that there are several different versions of Zbox available) is quite miniscule. Its dimensions are 188x188x44 millimeters and it weighs next to nothing, especially when first unpacked since it comes without HDD and memory. I decided to install a 2.5″ SSD drive along with 4 gigabytes of RAM, although 2 gigabytes might have sufficed. SO-DIMM’s are quite affordable at the moment so I figured why not. The SSD drive can be considered overkill on a nettop and severely drives up the total cost of the system, but I didn’t have a regular 2.5″ spinner on hand.

Inside the packaging there are two installation mounts. One is a stand for vertical tabletop installation as seen in the next two images. The second mount is a VESA mount which can be used as a wall mount or for mounting on an LCD monitor stand. In the latter case Zbox is installed behind a PC monitor so the nettop is completely hidden from view.

A circle lights up on the side of the Zbox to show it’s powered up and ready for action.

Rear panel is densely populated with connectors. You’ll find 4 USB ports, an RJ45 for 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet, an eSATA connector, DVI and HDMI outputs and an S/PDIF audio output.

Majority of connectors are located in the back.

There’s an additional USB port on top of the unit. Next to it is the grill which allows airflow for cooling. The internal fan is quite small and while it could be described as “low noise”, it was not completely silent. While running a CPU stress test, I could clearly hear its mid-pitch whining from a distance of 1,5 meters.

Zbox has four rubber feet for horizontal installation.

On the front panel you’ll find the power button, one more USB port, LED indicators for WiFi and HDD activity, two jacks for microphone and headphone/audio out, as well as a 6-in-1 memory card reader (SD/SDHC/MMC/MS/MS Pro/xD).

It might look crowded inside, but installing RAM and HDD could not have been much easier.

Let’s look at some numbers
I know benchmark results mean a lot to some folks so I ran freeware benchmarking software on the Zbox and a bunch of other PCs I came across for comparison. Here you go:

Novabench results for Zbox (left) and Asus eeePC 901 (right).

Novabench results for an MSI GX710P laptop (left) and my Core i7-920 based tower PC (right).

I also ran PCMARK05 on all four PCs but the jpegs turned out a bit too large. I’ll c/p the PCMark results here and you can go take a look at the PCM05 images in the gallery if you’re so inclined.

PCMARK05 results
Asus eeePC: 1,692
Zbox: 4,753
MSI GX710P: 5,225
Core i7-920: 13,928

Zbox gets quite close to the MSI laptop and that’s not a bad result, considering the MSI GX710 used to be quite a high-end laptop some years ago. It’s equipped with a Turion 64 X2 TL58 dual-core CPU running at 1.9GHz and cost me almost 10x the price of Zbox back in the day. In fact, Zbox does a much better job playing HD video files and Blu-rays than the GX710.

CPU usage during HD playback
Nvidia’s ION offers hardware acceleration for video playback. Its performance is quite good indeed and it leaves the CPU free for other tasks. I connected an external Blu-ray drive to Zbox’s eSATA connector and grabbed some Task Manager screencaps to demonstrate:

Playing a 720p MKV video file on PowerDVD 10 Mark II Ultra.

Playing a self-authored (no AACS encryption) Blu-ray Disc on ArcSoft’s Total Media Theatre 5.

Playing a commercial Blu-ray Disc on Total Media Theatre 5 while decoding 24-bit TrueHD audio to multichannel PCM for HDMI output.

Playing a commercial BD on PowerDVD 10 while decoding 24-bit TrueHD audio to multichannel PCM for HDMI output. Spike at the end is caused by shutting down PDVD10 to enable Windows’ PrtScn functionality.

Forcing 24p Blu-ray output
I had connected Zbox to a 63-inch Samsung 3D plasma via HDMI and noticed that the signal remained 1080p60 during Blu-ray playback. This causes visible motion artefacts during slow pans. A better solution would be to output Blu-ray’s 23.976fps video as-is to the TV. This can be achieved by messing about in Nvidia’s Control Panel. Under Change Resolution is listed “1080p (native)” which offers several framerates from 25 to 60Hz. However, none of them output 23.976fps during Blu-ray playback.

Several framerates on offer, but none output 23.976fps.

The solution is to select another instance of “1080p” which offers framerates of 23 and 24Hz. One would imagine that “24Hz” is the correct choice, but no. Nvidia’s Control Panel does not list fractions of Hz and rounds down. In other words, if you want 23.976fps output, you’ll have to choose “23Hz”. Some Blu-rays, especially over here in Europe, have been authored at 24.00fps which is what you get by selecting “24Hz”.

Select “23Hz” for 23.976fps and “24Hz” for 24.00fps output.

Go Green
The packaging for Zbox makes a big deal about low power consumption. Thanks to Intel CULV (Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage) technology Zbox is supposed to be quite thrifty when it comes to spending watts. To test this, I located my trusty Voltcraft Energy Monitor 3000 and installed it between the Zbox and the power outlet. Here’s a list of peak watt values measured during various operations.

Booting to Windows: 25W
Idle in Win7 after 1 minute: 22.1W
Idle in Win7 after 3 minutes: 20.7W
Playing 720p MKV video on PowerDVD 10: 23W
Playing commercial Blu-ray & decoding 24-bit audio to PCM for output: 24W
CPU Stress Test at 100% load after 2 minutes: 24.3W

Those are very low figures, no matter how you slice it. The Zbox is definitely a miser when it comes to sucking up the ol’ electricity, which is very good news indeed.

Conclusion
There’s a lot to like about the Zbox. It’s light, tiny, offers flexible installation options and plays full HD video files and Blu-ray Discs without breaking a sweat. It’s also very easy on your electric bill which is nothing to scoff at these days.

You’ll notice I didn’t test any games on the Zbox. It’s because that would’ve been more or less pointless. I’m sure Zbox runs casual browser games just fine, but it would definitely struggle with any modern first person shooter. Zbox was designed for a purpose other than gaming, pure and simple.

As for its purpose, I was somewhat disappointed to learn that this particular version of Zbox does not accelerate Blu-ray 3D playback in hardware. Attempts to play BD 3D led to stuttering and dropped frames as the Intel Celeron CPU is not powerful enough for the task. Zbox models HD-ID40 and HD-ID33/34 have a Next Gen ION GPU which supports Blu-ray 3D in hardware.

Another wee disappointment came when I wanted to pass lossless HD audio in bitstream format from Blu-ray to an A/V receiver. Both PowerDVD 10 and TMT5 offered decoding to multichannel PCM and DD/DTS core passthru only. It appears that the fault lies with Nvidia ION which can’t do lossless HD audio bitstreaming.

On the whole, Zbox is a nice proposition for a tiny, lightweight nettop which is also capable of HD video playback. It can manage video and photo processing thanks to Nvidia’s CUDA technology which also accelerates video transcoding when used with CUDA-enabled software like the included Badaboom Media Converter. Install a USB remote and a suitable media player GUI, and Zbox might even replace that hulk of a HTPC filling out the cabinet.

Kuva (2D)
Tiedostoista teräväpiirtomasteriksi siirretty kuva näyttää liki täydelliseltä. Kauneusvirheenä on mainittava joidenkin väriliukujen lievä juovittuminen. Karikatyyrimäisten hahmojen silmissä, hiuksissa ja vaatteissa on kosolti pikkutarkkaa detaljia, samoin kuin taivaalta satavan ruuan tekstuureissa. Uhkean yltäkylläinen ja usein liiallisuuksiin sortuva väripaletti loikkaa ulos ruudulta. Tavallista jyrkempi kontrasti saa seuraa pikimäisestä pohjamustasta. Kelpaa demomateriaaliksi.

Kuva (3D)
3D-version pitäisi teoriassa näyttää yhtä hyvältä kuin 2D:nkin. Levytila ja bittivirtakatto asettavat omat rajoituksensa; kuvavirran keskiarvo on pudonnut aiemman 2D-julkaisun 27,8 Mbps:stä 24,6 Mbps:iin. Bittivirran kuristamisella ei ole havaittavaa vaikutusta soittimesta lähtevän kuvan laatuun ainakaan tämän elokuvan kohdalla.

Näyttölaitteen vaikutus onkin sitten toinen juttu. Ruudulla esiintyi haamuja korkeakontrastisissa kohdissa, kuten tummalla pohjalla olevissa paksuissa valkoisissa ääriviivoissa. Aktiivilasit tuntuivat syövän valotehon lisäksi tarkkuutta, sillä samalta levyltä katsottu 2D-versio näytti laseitta hieman 3D-versiota terävämmältä. Katseluun käytetty näyttö osasi kompensoida linssien kellertävyyttä niin, että värit näyttivät lasien läpi katsottuna vääristymättömiltä.

3D-toteutus
Poutapilviä ja lihapullakuuroja on mitä mainiointa 3D-demomatskua ja ilmiselvästi suunniteltu alusta alkaen luontevaksi 3D-elämykseksi. 3D-vaikutelma on tehokas, luonnollinen ja saumaton vailla nukketeatteri-ilmiötä, eikä katsojan huomiota kiinnitetä 3D:hen typerillä kikoilla. 3D:stä on aidosti hyötyä, sillä kuvan lukuisat elementit jakautuvat nyt sivu- ja pystysuunnan lisäksi myös syvyyteen, mikä auttaa sisällön hahmottamisessa. Tekstitys on ohjelmoitu hieman kuvapinnan taakse. Kun kuvan alareunaan tulee kuvapinnalle tai sen eteen piirtyviä esineitä, siirtyy tekstitys muualle kohtaan, jossa se ei riko 3D-vaikutelmaa.

Ääni
2D-julkaisun upeasti soiva 24-bittinen Master Audio -raita on korvattu 16-bittisellä versiolla (2,3 Mbps), joka soi aivan yhtä komeasti. Tyhjästä rakennetut tilatunnelmat soivat kuvaa myötäillen liioitellusti, eivätkä surroundit saa hetken rauhaa. Taivaalta satavat lihapullat mätkähtävät kaupunkilaisten niskaan todella vaikuttavan jysäyksen kera subwooferia säästämättä. Yleisestä sekasorrosta huolimatta dialogi soi järkähtämättömän selkeästi äänivallin päällä.

Bonusmateriaalit
Ohjaajat Lord ja Miller vitsailevat Making of -dokkarissa (10:51 min). Näyttelijöiden haastiskoosteen (12:39) lisäksi levyllä on pidennettyjä (2:30) ja keskeneräisiä kohtauksia (5:41), työvaiheiden esittelyä (8:09) ja musiikkivideo. 2D-julkaisuun verrattuna uutta levyllä on Open Season 3D -julkaisun mainos. Lisukkeet esitetään ilman suomitekstejä HD-kuvalla.

AVC-kuvastriimin bittivirta:

MVC-kuvastriimin bittivirta:

Elokuva: * * * *
2D-kuva: * * * * ½
3D-kuva: * * * * ½
3D-toteutus: * * * * *
Ääni: * * * * ½
Bonukset: * * ½

Poutapilviä ja lihapullakuuroja 3D (2009) • Jakelija: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
89:53 min • Ikärajasuositus: K7 • Media: BD50/40,2 GB
Kuva: 1080p23,98 (AVC/MVC) • Kuvavirran keskiarvo: 24,6/16,5 Mbps • Kuvasuhde 2,38:1
Ääni: DTS-HD MA 5.1 (englanti) + Dolby Digital 5.1 (suomi)
Tekstitys: suomi, ruotsi + 9 muuta

And wouldn’t you just know it: I’ve now been hired to write an article about 3D for another magazine. Luckily for me I need to approach the subject from a slightly different point of view for the 2nd article, so it’s not going to be a simple re-hashing of the first one. Not that I wouldn’t mind that at all; it would save a bit of time. Maybe. Or more likely not.

Anyhoo! I’ve had a whale of a time doing research for the article(s) and I’ve learned a lot of new things. It’s what makes life living for, I’d say. I’m well chuffed about the whole 3D lark, to be honest. Can’t remember the last time something got me quite this excited! You see, I’ve learned not only how to shoot, edit and post 3D, but I’ve had a number of rather intriguing ideas and, dare I say, epiphanies. And I will do my best to share them all with you, once I get my hands on a few missing pieces of information, hardware and software.

So, prepare yourself for a series of long-ish blog posts about what you can achieve with a remarkably small amount of money and carefully scavenged knowledge. Coming soon… ish.

Leadtek’s card has the same CPU (a Toshiba SpursEngine, based on the Cell CPU) but the card’s design differs slightly from Canopus’ effort: Leadtek’s card needs additional power fed in via a 4-pin floppy drive connector to power a cooling fan which is missing from Canopus’ card. The PC I decided to install the card into had another GigaByte motherboard, but with two PCI-E 1x slots. For shits and giggles, I first attempted to install the card in a PCI-E 8x slot. No way, no how. Mobo wouldn’t even see the card. Yanked the card out and placed it in the 1x slot, and hey presto, mobo found it and Windows started whining about drivers. Next step: install drivers, Pegasys TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress and TMPGEnc SpursEngine plug-in.

Update #1: First test running on a 64-bit Vista SP2. Source is 1080i 29.97fps MPEG-2 and has a length of 1h27min. TMPGEnc is outputting 1080p 29.97fps H.264 (video only, audio will be muxed in separately) and reports the process will take 61 minutes. Note that I don’t have an Nvidia graphics card in this PC so TMPGEnc is not using CUDA. It wouldn’t speed up the encoding in this case anyway as TMPGEnc uses CUDA for filters (color correction, sharpening, re-sizing etc.) only, and I didn’t use any. TMPGEnc lists deinterlacing under its Filters tab, however, so that might have profited from CUDA. It seems deinterlacing is now being done by the CPU. Quad Core utilization this very moment: 2%, 34%, 12% and 57%.

Update #2: It worked like a charm. TMPGEnc churned out an .MP4 file which I muxed with a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio from source file (demuxed with tsMuxeR) using MKVmerge 2.2.0. MPC-HC played the resulting .MKV perfectly and even lip sync was spot on. Next up: what TViX 6500 thinks of the file.

BD370 is a different beast altogether. It’s a surprisingly solid product in almost all respects — and it’s got a bunch of very interesting features I’ve yet to see in its competitors. Taking all that and its low price into account, it’s easy to make the following judgment: BD370 offers currently the best bang for buck as far as stand-alone Blu-ray players go.

So, what makes it so special? First of all, it’s fast. While some other BD players feel sluggish in everything they do, BD370 zips along at almost PlayStation 3 speeds. Pop-up menus… well, pop up very quickly, unlike on some other players I could name. You will still have to endure loading screens on the more elaborate titles, but at least you will no longer be waiting for minutes.

I did a quick comparison test by measuring how long it takes to enter the main menu of Pixar’s Cars BD. BD370 did it in 1 minute 26 seconds. PlayStation 3, still the uncrowned speed champ of Blu-ray players, did it in 1 minute 22 seconds. The difference is almost negligible.

Then there’s the impressive feature set. BD370 is a Profile 2.0 player and therefore handles everything Blu-ray discs can throw at it. Granted, you need to plug in a USB memory stick to use BD-Live features as the player has no internal RAM for BD-Live. The internet connection is also used for firmware upgrades and – get this – YouTube. Yes indeed, you can browse and view YouTube videos on the BD370. Once I got the internet connection to work (more on this later), I was viewing YT videos with ease. BD370 makes it easy by having a nicely thought out user interface, with large buttons labeled Featured, Recent Videos, Most Viewed, Top Rated, Search, History, Sign In and Local Site on top row. Selecting Search brings up a virtual keyboard which is responsive enough. All in all, I’m quite amazed by how well the YT feature functions.

But wait, there’s more! LG has decided to add support for Matroska container. That’s right, BD370 plays High Definition .MKV files as well as a myriad of SD resolution file formats. The manual also lists HD resolution support for XVID and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC formats. (Transport streams, such as MPEG-2 .ts files, are not supported.) Unfortunately BD370 supports only USB Flash Drives with FAT16 or FAT32 format so you can forget about connecting an NTFS formatted HDD. The player seems to have no such restrictions when it comes to DVD media, however. A UDF 1.02 formatted DVD9 containing a 7.94GB x264-encoded 1080p Blu-ray rip of a popular animated movie played flawlessly. Even embedded English subtitles worked perfectly, as did the DTS-ES 6.1 Matrix audio which the player sent via HDMI for decoding in the amplifier.

While this is an impressive technical feat, I can’t help but wonder whether LG has inadvertently hammered the first nail in Blu-ray’s coffin. A Blu-ray player which plays 1080p Blu-ray rips? Think about it. This is clearly a subject for another post, so I won’t spend any more time on it here.

A bit more on nice touches, starting from design. The player actually looks good. That silver square in the fascia contains power, eject and play/pause buttons in a clever and functional way. See that blue circle in the middle? It reacts to user actions. Skip a chapter and the circle dims for a moment, then brightens up again when playback resumes. What’s more, the circle changes color to red when you insert a DVD to denote that the player is now using a red laser instead of blue. Menu system looks great and offers five selectable skins that change the way the GUI looks. It’s also fast and easy to use.

OK, time to harp on the few negatives. Firstly, the flip-down fascia lid makes a very cheap sounding clank whenever disc tray opens or closes. It’s not such a big deal, I know. Some might moan about connectivity: BD730′s rear panel features HDMI, component and composite video outputs. For audio there’s optical and coaxial digital outputs, and a measly stereo RCA output. In other words, forget about 5.1/7.1CH analog outputs.

The biggest issue I’ve bumped into so far has to do with the player’s network connection. I set the player to acquire an IP address automatically from my DHCP server and switched the player on. 15 seconds later all hell broke loose. My router/DHCP server went nuts, dropped out of LAN thus cutting all my PCs from the internet, reset itself and lost connection to both ADSL modems. I yanked the ethernet cable out of the BD370 and the router recovered.

“Oh you buggy POS”, I thought and updated the player’s firmware to the latest one (v4.090) available on LG UK’s website, then tried again. Same result. I then entered a static IP address manually into player settings and rebooted it with ethernet cable attached. Router stayed sane and player accessed the internet without problems.

With the internet issue solved, I have to say BD370 is easily my favourite stand-alone BD player at the moment. It’s affordable, fast and has features no other BD player currently offers.

I’m also happy to report that yours truly managed to shock the entire conference by making a very audacious question during a Q&A session. In reply, a representative from Macrovision tried his hand in damage control by giving incorrect information and the organizers killed the session very quickly after that. Chris Deering, former CEO of PlayStation Europe, leaned over and said, “That was a good question. You nailed them.”

I might post more pics and thoughts about the conference, time and stamina permitting.

[Show as slideshow]

key: [title (release country)] – [RC as listed in covers] – [disc free of Region Coding?]

• 10,000 BC (Scandinavia) – B? – yes
• 30 Days of Night (Scandinavia) – B? – yes
• 300 (USA) – A? – yes
• 3:10 To Yuma (Scandinavia) – B – yes
• A Knight’s Tale (Ritarin tarina) (Finland) – B – yes
• All Star Yakyuken Battle (Japan) – A? – yes
• American Psycho (USA) – 1 – no
• Ant Bully, The (USA) – A? – yes
• Arlington Road (USA) – ABC – yes
• Arn (Scandinavia) – B – yes
• Apocalypto (USA) – A – yes
• Appleseed Ex Machina (USA) – A? – yes
• Behind Enemy Lines (Finland) – B – no
• Big Fish (USA) – A – yes
• Big Fish (Finland) – B – yes
• Black Book (USA) – ABC – yes
• Black Hawk Down (USA) – A – yes
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (USA) – ABC – yes
• Brave Story (Japan) – A – no
• Breaker Morant (USA) – A? (no mention of RC on covers) – no
• Breaking and Entering (Finland) – B – no
• Bridge to Terabithia (USA) – A – yes
• Broken Arrow (Finland) – B – no
• Broken Arrow (USA) – A – no
• Brothers Grimm (USA) – A – no
• Cars (USA) – ABC – yes
• Casanova (USA) – A – no
• Casino Royale (Finland) – B – yes (NOTE: Uncut version, 2hr 24min 34 sec)
• Casino Royale (USA) – A – no (NOTE: Cut version, 2hr 24min 12sec)
• Casino Royale (UK) – ABC – yes (NOTE: Another cut version, 2hr 24min 20 sec)
• Catch and Release (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Chain Reaction (Finland) – B – no
• Chicago (USA) – ABC – yes
• Chicken Little (USA) – ABC – yes
• Cinderella Man (Finland) – B – yes
• Click! (Klik!) (Finland) – B – no
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (USA) – ABC – yes
• Closer (Iholla) (Finland) – ABC – yes
• The Company (USA) – A – no
• Con Air (Finland) – B – yes
• Corpse Bride (USA) – A? – yes
• Courage Under Fire (Finland) – B – yes
• Crank (USA) – A – no
• Crimson Tide (Purppuravyöhyke) (Finland) – B – yes
• Cruel Intentions (Julmia aikeita) (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Curse of the Golden Flower (USA) – A – no
• Dark Water (USA) – A – no
• Day of the Dead (USA) – A? – yes
• Dawn of the Dead (Romero) (USA) – A? – yes
• Death Sentence (Scandinavia) – B? – yes
• Deep Blue (Japan) – A – no
• Deja Vu (USA) – A – no
• Departed, The (USA) – A? – yes
• Descent, The (USA) – 1 – yes
• Destiny’s Child Live in Atlanta (USA) – A? – yes
• Devil’s Rejects, The (USA) – 1 – yes
• Die Hard (Finland) – B – yes (BD+)
• Die Hard 2 (Finland) – B – yes (BD+)
• Die Hard 4.0 (Finland) – B – no (BD+)
• Dinosaurus (Dinosaur) (Finland) – B – yes
• District B13 (USA) – A? – yes
• Disturbia (USA) – A? – yes
• *NEW* Diving Bell and The Butterfly, The (Perhonen lasikuvussa) (Scandinavia) – B – yes
• Doctor Strange (USA) – A? – yes
• Edward Scissorhands (Finland) – B – no
• Eight Below – Seikkailu etelänavalla (Finland) – B – yes
• Entrapment (Finland) – B – no
• Eragon (Finland) – B – yes
• Evil Dead II (USA) – A? – yes
• Exorcism of Emily Rose, The (UK) – B – yes
• Eyes Wide Shut (USA) – A? – yes
• Fantastic Four (Finland) – 2 – no
• Face/Off (Finland) – B – yes
• Face/Off (UK) – ABC – yes
• Face/Off (Japan) – ABC – yes
• Fifth Element, The (USA) – A – yes
• Fifth Element, The (Remastered) (USA) – ABC – yes
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (USA) – ABC – yes
• Finding Neverland (USA) – ABC – yes
• First Blood (i.e. Rambo) (USA) – 1 – yes
• Flatliners (Raja tuntemattomaan) (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Flight of the Phoenix (Finland) – B – no
• Flight of the Phoenix (USA) – A – no
• Flightplan (USA) – A – no
• Flyboys (USA) – A – no
• Four Brothers (USA) – A? – yes
• *NEW* Funny Games (UK) – ABC – yes
• Ganes (Scandinavia) – B – yes
• Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (Japan) – A – no
• Ghost Rider (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Gridiron Gang (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Guardian, The (Meripelastaja) (Finland) – B – no
• Guardian, The (USA) – A – no
• Halloween (USA) – A? – yes
• Hart’s War (Finland) – B – yes
• Hellboy (UK) – ABC – yes
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The (USA) – ABC – yes
• Hollow Man (USA) – A – yes
• Hollywoodland (Finland) – B – no
• Hostel (UK) – B – yes
• Hostel: Part II (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Hostel: Part II (USA) – A – no
• House of Flying Daggers (USA) – A – yes
• Ice Age (Finland) – B – no
• Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (Finland) – B – no
• Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (USA) – A – no
• Identity (USA) – ABC – yes
• *NEW* I’m not there (Scandinavia) – B – yes
• Immortal Beloved (Ikuinen rakkaus) (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Infernal Affairs (Hong Kong) – A? – yes
• Initial D (USA) – A – yes
• The Invisible (USA) – A – no
• Isiemme liput (Flags of Our Fathers) (Finland) – B? – yes
• King Arthur: Director’s Cut (Finland) – B – yes
• King of New York (USA) – A? – no
• Kingdom of Heaven (Finland) – 2- no
• Kung Fu Hustle (Finland) – B – yes (99min 25sec)
• Kung Fu Hustle (Japan) – A – yes (99min 25sec)
• Layer Cake (Finland) – B – yes
• Letters from Iwo Jima (USA) – A? – yes
• Linnunradan käsikirja liftareille (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) (Finland) – B – yes
• The Lives of Others (USA) – A – no
• The Lookout (USA) – A – no
• Masters of Horror: season 1 volume 1 (USA) – A? – yes
• Masters of Horror: season 1 volume 2 (USA) – A? – yes
• Masters of Horror: season 1 volume 2 (USA) – A? – yes
• Meet The Robinsons (USA) – A – no
• Memoirs of a Geisha (USA) – ABC – yes
• Men of Honor (Finland) – B – yes
• M:I:III (Japan) – A? – yes
• M:I:III (USA) – A? – yes
• Monster House (Monsteri Talo) (Finland) – B – yes
• Nature’s Journey (USA) – ALL – yes
• Night at the Museum (USA) – A – no
• Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You In Time (USA) – A? – yes
• Nip/Tuck: Season 4 (USA) – A? – yes
• No Country for Old Men (USA) – A – yes
• Oldboy (USA) – A? – yes
• Omen 666, The (Finland) – 2 – no
• Open Season (Karvakamut) (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Open Season (USA) – A – no
• Pan’s Labyrinth (UK) – B? – yes
• Paprika (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Paprika (Japan) – A – yes
• Pathfinder (Finland) – B – no
• Pearl Harbor (Finland) – B – yes
• Phonebooth (Finland) – B – no
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Finland) – B – yes
• Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man’s Chest (Finland) – B – yes
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (USA) – ABC – yes
• Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man’s Chest (USA) – ABC – yes
• Pirates of the Caribbean III: At World’s End (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Pixar Short Films Volume I (USA) – ABC – yes
• Pixar Short Films Volume I (Finland) – B – yes
• Planet Earth (USA) – A? – yes
• Planet of the Apes (Finland) – B – yes
• Premonition (USA) – A – no
• Prestige, The (Finland) – B? – yes
• Prestige, The (USA) – A – no
• Primeval (USA) – A – no
• Project PAPO (Japan) – A – no
• Protégé (Hong Kong) – A – yes
• Puhallettu 60 sekunnissa (Gone in 60 seconds) (Finland) – B – yes
• Punisher, The (USA) – 1 – yes
• The Pursuit of Happyness (Onnen potkuja) (Finland) – ABC – yes
• The Queen (USA) – A – no
• Thirteen Ghosts (Finland) – ABC – yes
• To Kill a King (USA) – A? – yes
• Ratatouille (USA) – A – no
• Reign of Fire (USA) – ABC – yes
• Rescue Me: Complete Third Season (USA) – A – yes
• Reservoir Dogs (USA) – 1 – no
• Rocky Balboa (Finland) – B – no
• Rocky Balboa (USA) – A – no
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Finland) – B – yes
• Rikidozan (Japan) – A – no
• Rising Sun (Finland) – B – yes
• Robocop (USA) – A – no
• Sahara (USA) – A? – yes
• Saw II (USA) – 1 – yes
• Saw III (USA) – 1 – no
• Scary Movie 4 (Uncut & Unsanitized) (Finland) – B – yes
• Searchers, The (USA) – A? – yes
• Secret Window (Salainen ikkuna) (Finland) – ABC – yes
• The Shining (USA) – A? – yes
• Silent Hill (USA) – A – yes
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (USA) – A – yes
• Sky High (Finland) – B – yes
• Sky High (USA) – A – no
• Species (Finland) – B – no
• Speed (USA) – A – no
• Spider-Man Trilogy (Australia) – ABC – yes
• Spider-Man Trilogy (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Stargate (USA) – 1 – yes
• Starship Troopers (Finland) – B – yes
• Starship Troopers (UK) – ABC – yes
• Stranger Than Fiction (USA) – A – no
• Sunshine (Finland) – B – no (BD+)
• Surf’s Up (USA) – A – no
• S.W.A.T. (Finland) – B – yes
• Talladega Nights (USA) – A – no
• Talladega Nights (Finland) – B – yes
• Tears of the Sun (USA) – A – yes
• Tekkonkinkreet (USA) – A – no
• Terminator, The (USA) – A – yes
• Terminator 2 (USA) – 1 – yes
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (USA) – ABC – yes
• The Art of Disney (Japan) – A – no
• The Big Hit (USA) – A – yes
• The Fountain (Finland) – B – no
• The Hills Have Eyes: Unrated (Finland) – B – yes
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Finland) – B – no
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (USA) – A- no
• The Marine (Finland) – B – no
• The Patriot (Extended Cut) (Finland) – ABC – yes
• The Rock (Finland) – B – yes
• The Sentinel (Finland) – B – yes
• The Sixth Day (USA) – ABC – yes
• The War Within (USA) – A? – yes
• The World’s Fastest Indian (USA) – A? – yes
• Thirteen Ghosts (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Total Recall (USA) – 1 – yes
• Transporter, The (Finland) – B – no
• Transporter 2 (USA) – A – no
• Twilight Zone: The Movie (USA) – A? – yes
• Ultraviolet (USA) – A – yes
• Underworld Evolution (USA) – A – yes
• Underworld Evolution (Finland) – B – yes
• Vacancy (USA) – A – no
• Valtion vihollinen (Enemy of the State) (Finland) – B – yes
• Vertical Limit (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (USA) – A – yes
• Warriors of Heaven and Earth (USA) – ABC – yes
• Wild, The (USA) – A – no
• We Own The Night (USA) – A – yes
• Wild Things (Villit kuviot) (Finland) – ABC – yes
• Weeds: Season 1 (USA) – A? – yes
• Weeds: Season 2 (USA) – A? – yes
• Windtalkers (Finland) – B – yes
• X-Men III The Last Stand (USA) – A – no

Noticed a rather worrying trend. Lionsgate used to leave their catalog titles without region codes, but the latest shipment had two Lionsgate titles out of three region coded. The coded ones are Reservoir Dogs and American Psycho; you can’t get much more catalog than that.

7.6.2007: I was certain all 20th Century Fox titles would be region coded, but the latest batch of Finnish titles proved me wrong.

28.10.2007: New titles from Fox contain a small warning text in the rear cover informing the consumer that the disc is copy protected and may contain BD+. Of the five new titles only two have BD+ protection on them, however.

01.04.2008: The list is being updated again, after a longish break. I’ll keep adding titles whenever I have spare time. Oh yeah, Fox is again region coding even their catalog titles, so beware.

23.07.2008: Long time between updates, yeah, I know. Been very busy with work and all that rubbish. Added a few Scandinavian releases, in case anyone outside Europe wishes to do some importing :)

28.07.2008: Added two new Scandinavian releases, both region free.

The chip comes with a four-page installation manual. Which I’m not going to scan for you, sorry. First page is kind enough to let us know that we can kiss the player’s warranty goodbye. Noted. Then it makes no bones about the difficulty level of the task ahead: “Installing this modification is difficult.”

It all depends. I couldn’t have done it in a million years. Give me a soldering iron and you’d better run off immediately to pick up some bandages and pre-dial the ambulance service. My friend Sami, however, he’s a wizard with a soldering iron. And guess what? There are a couple of microscopically tiny soldering points here that pretty much require the skills of a wizard. How Sami got those two connected, I’ll never know. I bet it’s something to do with black magic. He said he couldn’t have done it without the really thin wire that comes with the chip. At the end there was about 15cm of it left, even though Sami used it rather generously.

Anyhoo! You’ll get some idea of the task by checking out the photo gallery below. It’s loaded with informative captions and whatnot. It took Sami about an hour to take the player to pieces, connect the wires and put the player back together again. Back in the day he modded a few games consoles and said this wasn’t as difficult as some of those were. There were only seven wires and four of them were dead easy. It’s those two tiny ones that pose a challenge. Don’t try to solder them while hung over.

Oh yeah, almost forgot: the mod works great. While the player is on standby, you press “1″ on the remote control to set the player for region A, “2″ for region B and “3″ for region C, then switch on the player. So far I’ve tested 4-5 titles from regions A and B, and have had no problems at all.

[Show as slideshow]