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So I've given up waiting for some anime to ever get an official EU/UK release, however annoying both DVDs and Blueray are region locked for most players and systems. So even if I do import DVDs I have to contend with that aspect. So are there any simple/easy steps? I've done a bit of googing but the answers are all over the place. Some suggest you can change your computer reader but only a limited number of times; others suggest getting external players and others getting a second blueray player with the different region encoding.


So for someone who only has a PC with DVD/Blueray drive to watch the films on (no Tv system), what would be the most affordable option.

Definitely a separate player. I've tried the switching method on PC before myself, and effectively bricked a drive, because the last switch I was allowed was changing it to US region (it was 3 times total at the time) - I then couldn't change it back to UK again afterwards.

I swear my PS4 plays Region 1 DVDs?

Some DVD players have an 'all regions' setting that you can switch to. We did that with our last one, although sadly this didn't seem to be a thing with Bluray players.

Some computer dvd players have a "software" switch that allows it.

Some stand alone players either have a code to allow it, or are set to region 0 or 11 ("all") and many codes are known (there are sites you can google with your player brand/model).

Our current player is also a HDD/dvd recorder and plays all regions. So does the standalone small form factor player.

My wife's old Sony dvd player was region hard-locked. (Sony was behind the region code-locking thing. It's not part of the original specs for the format created by Philips.)

I've been through this too and I think the easiest way if you are serious is just to get another blu-ray player. There are some stupidly cheap models available now from good brands, even more so if you just get an end of line or second hand model.

Super Ready's situation I have heard of happening to other people, so that is a dangerous route to tread.

Thanks guys - its sounding like a second blueray player is going to be the way forward for this. A bit of a pain to be sure, but at least then I don't have to worry about ending up with a player that can't work with UK releases suddenly when it hits its switch limit