Momitsu BDP-899 Region Free Blu-ray player

[The Lizard King]

I'm having trouble playing the Japanese release of Casino Royale on my Momitsu BDP-799. I bought it from amazon.co.jp, because it's supposedly the unedited version of the film. I don't know if it's a firmware problem, or what. It takes longer than usual for the loader to recognize that it's a BD. Then, once it does recognize that it's a BD, it goes into "play" mode, but the screen stays dark in perpetuity and the time counter never goes up past 00 min 00 sec.

I'm going to take it to my local Best Buy to see if any of their machines will play it. That should give me a clue to see if it's a firmware issue, or not.

Any other suggestions?

It, indeed, must be a firmware problem. I took my BD into the local Best Buy and the floor associate put it in the latest, greatest Samsung 3D BD player, and it started up immediately. I asked him to put it in a 2D player, and he did so in a Sony BDP-S360 that hadn't been updated with new firmware for nearly two years; the Sony balked and stated that the disc was "invalid."

So, I guess I'm going to try that March 2010 firmware for the BDP-799 soon in order to play this disc! This means, of course, that I won't be able to switch between region settings like I used to be able to. However, I've read in this thread and elsewhere, that I can "downgrade" to the 11/2009 firmware if I so desire.

EDIT: Even the newest March 2010 firmware doesn't allow the BDP-799 to play this BD.

TLK

[dvdbear]

I haven't, I don't know about its capabilities on that end of things. Sorry about that. I do know BD Live doesn't work, even if you hook it up to the internet.

As far as the remote goes, it's weird -- you will still need the CM remote command for Power Standby, even after going over to the Momitsu firmware. So even if you get another remote, whether it's a Harmony or other universal remote, you'll need to use the Momitsu commands -- with the CM command for powering it off (I manually tweaked my Harmony so that it powers down using the CM command but otherwise uses the Momitsu remote commands).

Some of them are absurdly priced but a few of the Harmonys aren't THAT expensive...Amazon frequently has them on sale for $50 or thereabouts...it's worth that amount of money for how well it works, once you figure it out.

Good luck!

After monkeying around with cheap universal remotes (none of which worked) I got an email from Momitsu that they still had remotes for sale for $20, so that's the cheapest alternative at the moment. I flashed my CM with the firmware you provided and it seems to work like a charm! (except that I can't get it to do much without the remote!). Just in case anyone else is curious or has a need, with the Momitsu firmware it recognizes avi file discs . . . . nice!

So once I get the remote I'm golden. Thanks again very much for your help!

[DrBobDrake]

I'm having trouble playing the Japanese release of Casino Royale on my Momitsu BDP-799. I bought it from amazon.co.jp, because it's supposedly the unedited version of the film. I don't know if it's a firmware problem, or what. It takes longer than usual for the loader to recognize that it's a BD. Then, once it does recognize that it's a BD, it goes into "play" mode, but the screen stays dark in perpetuity and the time counter never goes up past 00 min 00 sec.

This is the behavior if the machine is set to the wrong region. The Japanese BD should be region A, like the US. I bought the Australian version of Casino Royale because it was supposed to be unedited but I have not played it on the 799.

By the way, there is a new (March, 2010) Japanese firmware update for the 799. The March, 2010 update for the 899 reportedly killed region switching. I recently bought a Sherwood 5004 from Ritz Camera via Amazon and was worried that it would not switch regions. I was at first using my Momitsu 799 remote to control the 5004. It worked fine until I attempted to use it to switch regions using the 899 code, at which point a red "no" symbol appeared in the top corner of the screen. However, when I used the seemingly identical 5004 remote and entered the 899 code it did switch, and I am able to play region B BDs. HOWEVER, the 5004 seemingly will not play 1080i/50 "superPAL" discs that the BBC and 2 Entertain are releasing in the UK, though the 799 will. Does anyone have a suggestion how to fix?

If your 799/899 does not want to play PAL discs, try this: Go to the screen settings and switch the setting to PAL and then back to NTSC. Then it should play both PAL and NTSC and output NTSC.

[Dursman]

After monkeying around with cheap universal remotes (none of which worked) I got an email from Momitsu that they still had remotes for sale for $20, so that's the cheapest alternative at the moment. I flashed my CM with the firmware you provided and it seems to work like a charm! (except that I can't get it to do much without the remote!). Just in case anyone else is curious or has a need, with the Momitsu firmware it recognizes avi file discs . . . . nice!

So once I get the remote I'm golden. Thanks again very much for your help!

You're quite welcome man. Enjoy it! Certainly was a great value for the price.

[The Limey]

Anyone needing the August 2009 Region Free Firmware for the BDP-899 can access it at this link:
http://momitsu.com/TEMP/89/bdp_899_spec_o.html

[The Lizard King]

Anyone needing the August 2009 Region Free Firmware for the BDP-899 can access it at this link:
http://momitsu.com/TEMP/89/bdp_899_spec_o.html

Here's the direct link for the November 2009 region-free firmware for the BDP-799:

http://momitsu.com/TEMP/79/BDP-799_FW_ENG_091118.rar

TLK

[Sarang]

I'm looking at multi-region and the clones and it looks like the Momitsu is the best around, being able to convert the PAL 1080i50 to NTSC format so I can watch them. My question is...aside from the DVDTalk deals, has anyone seen the Momitsu even cheaper, like $200 new with free shipping or shipping included? Just curious.

[The Limey]

I'm looking at multi-region and the clones and it looks like the Momitsu is the best around, being able to convert the PAL 1080i50 to NTSC format so I can watch them. My question is...aside from the DVDTalk deals, has anyone seen the Momitsu even cheaper, like $200 new with free shipping or shipping included? Just curious.

The regular Ebay seller (who we have long suspected is Hkflix) has both 799s and 899s available, The 799 is weighing in at $200, plus $40 shipping. The 899 is $100 more expensive:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Momitsu-BDP-79...5a8d000f1#shId

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Momitsu-BDP-89...#ht_2351wt_935

The 799 is not that far outside of your budget.

[The Limey]

Annoyingly my BDP-899 will not play the brand new German of Flash Gordon. Irrespective of Region Code or firmware, I keep getting an error message which says 'FullStop' and the player will simply not go any further.
No biggie as my Pioneer 51FD plays it perfectly but I have emailed Momitsu support with this issue.

*EDIT* IGNORE THE ABOVE.
Flash Gordon now plays perfectly, the issue was just using the Region A only firmware after all.

[Dack]

Just a heads up that my 899 started acting finicky this week.

It was working fine until recently. I've had an issue with it loading discs. A few nights ago, it didn't start up a movie and read "disc error". I restarted it and it worked.

For 30 minutes or so tonight, any disc I tried to play didn't load. I heard it repeatdly trying to load, but then it ejected it and read "disc error". After restarting for the 5th time (this time with no disc in the player at start-up), it started working again.

I tried to find some sort of a support e-mail for Momitsu, but it seems like they are not around anymore, at least in the US.

I'm hoping that this was just a random problem that won't happen again and not the start of the player going totally out. I'd really hate to shell out $350+ for another region free Blu-ray player so soon..

[The Limey]

Dack,

Have you tried them on this contact addy?


support@momitsu.com

[Dack]

Dack,

Have you tried them on this contact addy?


support@momitsu.com

My Momitsu 899 is working again (hopefully this continues), so I'll hold off on giving that e-mail a shot, but momitsu.com doesn't exist anymore as far as I can see. I'm not sure if any of the @momitsu addresses would even go anywhere.

[The Limey]

My Momitsu 899 is working again (hopefully this continues), so I'll hold off on giving that e-mail a shot, but momitsu.com doesn't exist anymore as far as I can see. I'm not sure if any of the @momitsu addresses would even go anywhere.

My player sees very little use these days as it is now a back up to my Pioneer LX91. It still plugs away quite happily when I do use it though... See what you mean about the Momitsu site though.

[The Limey]

With the imminent arrival of a multi region Oppo BDP-95, it is time to say good bye to the 899. What a great little player it has been too, even in its later role of back up.
Shame Momitsu did not get the chance to build upon these...

[Retro Ramblings]

Hi. Does anyone by any chance still have a copy of the Momitsu 899 firmware that will get the Tevion back to multi-region capability? I updated the firmware on mine not realising that it would change it, and the Momitsu is not available to download anywhere any more.

Thanks!