Wolf Creek UK Blu-ray - Wrong Format Error

[Revolutionary]

I bought "Wolf Creek" from Amazon UK and just received it today.

Before I bought it, I went to the site listing most blu-ray titles in all the regions which let you know if the title is Region Free or not.

The site lists "Wolf Creek" Region B as Region Free.

Now my problem: When the disc is loaded into my player (Sony BDPS301) it loads fine but just when it's about to play I get the error "This disc cannot be played ... incorrect Format" or words to that affect.

Does this mean the disc is Not Region Free or is there something else stopping the disc from playing?

Also, when I try to force the player by pressing the play button it plays as I can hear the audio but the screen in black.

I've noticed at the site I went to sometimes has "work-arounds" for some titles. I'm not sure if those work-arounds are for the game players or for the stand-alone blu-ray players.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Merlins]

Sounds like it is region free but the output is PAL and your TV is showing the message, not the player. Guess that you either could check the settings on the player for output format or that the opening is in PAL. The main movie should be in 1080p.

The movie have been reported to be region free and by your posts it sounds like it also is region free (wrong format instead of region, you can hear the sound etc.).

What type of TV and connector do you have to the TV? If it is a cable that can not put out HD-signal you might have a problem.

[Revolutionary]

Originally Posted by Merlins

Sounds like it is region free but the output is PAL and your TV is showing the message, not the player. Guess that you either could check the settings on the player for output format or that the opening is in PAL. The main movie should be in 1080p.

The movie have been reported to be region free and by your posts it sounds like it also is region free (wrong format instead of region, you can hear the sound etc.).

What type of TV and connector do you have to the TV? If it is a cable that can not put out HD-signal you might have a problem.

Hey Merlins,

Well, the packaging (the cover) does say PAL but I thought that was an oxymoron because of high def (both blu-ray player and my sony hidef tv).,.there is no NTSC or PAL. But correct me if I'm wrong.

Weird thing is I bought 7 other titles from Amazon UK (Exorcism of Emily Rose; Air Force One, Face/Off, Beowulf; Almost Famous, Hollow Man and The Island) and they all play fine and are all Region B.

I did check my TV and there's nothing to be found about NTSC or PAL. My output is 1080p which is the same as my bd player.

Is there something specific I could check?

I've written to Kalle at Blu-ray region codes and she was going to check with some others about this too. I also listed the problem on Blu-ray.com so hopefully I will know if this is a player issue, tv issue, disc issue or whatever.

If you find out anything else, please let me know.

Thanks again.

[Revolutionary]

Originally Posted by Merlins

Sounds like it is region free but the output is PAL and your TV is showing the message, not the player. Guess that you either could check the settings on the player for output format or that the opening is in PAL. The main movie should be in 1080p.

The movie have been reported to be region free and by your posts it sounds like it also is region free (wrong format instead of region, you can hear the sound etc.).

What type of TV and connector do you have to the TV? If it is a cable that can not put out HD-signal you might have a problem.

My TV is a Sony Bravia Full HD model I bought late last year. I have Satellite (DirecTV) and HD Cable (Comcast). Both of my HD disc players and both the DirecTV HD-DVR and the Cable HD-DVR's HDMIs go directed to my Yahama receiver. Then I use the HDMI out on my receiver to go to my Sony TV.

Maybe should I try going directly from the BD player to the TV instead of through the receiver just to see if that might be the problem? Or maybe try the component out in case the problem is due to PAL?

[Merlins]

If the video stream on the disc is HD (720p, 1080i or 1080p) it has nothing to do with PAL or NTSC but you can still but the exact same video codecs that are on DVDs on a Blu-ray and these video streams are coded to PAL or NTSC. I do not know of any movie with the main feature in anything other than HD so far. Some extra material seems to be coded to PAL or NTSC however.

Players should be able to decode from PAL/NTSC/480p/576p/720p/1080i to 1080p output but I do not think any player does this because the manufactures usually does not do multi-region players and do not want to pay for the extra cost for it. Most players will output the original videostream except then upconverting. However, I do not know if a NTSC player will be able to upconvert a PAL-signal to 1080p even if this would not cost more than upconvert the NTSC signal.

Because you get sound and not a message about wrong region it seems more like a TV/cable problem. Sony Bravia exists in both PAL, NTSC and PAL+NTSC models. It all depends on which model you have. Is it a Multi-system or not?

You could try to plug the player direct to the TV just to test it but if you are using HDMI cable all the way it should not be a problem (if not ICT flag is turned on and your system with the receiver does not count as HDCP compliant system). Component out could be a problem but you could always test it..

Which model on the TV do you have? What result do you get if you test to connect the player direct to the TV?

[MidnightWatcher]

Problem is with the Sony player, not the disc. Try the disc in a PS3 and I bet it'll work.

[Revolutionary]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for your messages.

Merlins I will try hooking the player directly to the TV. The TV's model # is KDL-46V2500. I went through the TV's menu setup again and I didn't see anything about PAL. But I can play PAL SD-DVD's using my Oppo DVD player (it's a Region Free player).

Midnight Watcher if it is the Sony BD player I'm out of luck coz I don't own a PS3 as I'm not a gamer.

I just did a Google search using this phrase "Wolf Creek Region B blu-ray play error" and this website came up:
http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/archives/2007/11/

Scroll down to November 25, 2007 for the review...

Here's what he has to say about the BD UK "Wolf Creek":
I received a couple of review copies of upcoming high definition releases from Optimum on Friday: Wolf Creek on Blu-ray and Pan's Labyrinth on HD DVD.

Both titles are coming out on both formats (the Blu-ray versions were released on November 19th, whereas the HD DVD versions have been delayed a week, until November 26th), and I'm fairly sure HD DVD versions were requested for both, so I'm not sure why I got a Blu-ray Wolf Creek. In any event, I'm not able to review it, because it is coded for Region B only, and, as you may know, my Blu-ray hardware (Playstation 3) is Region A. As far as I'm concerned, Optimum is merely shooting themselves in the foot here, as they are simply denying themselves sales. It makes particularly little sense when you consider that region coding doesn't exist for HD DVD, so anyone in the world can play their HD DVD titles, whereas only the privileged few who shelled out for overpriced European Blu-ray players will be able to play their Blu-ray titles.

I don't know how accurate the above is. But it's the only other info I found. I wish I knew someone who had a PS3 just so I could try it out to see if it worked.

Meanwhile I'm going to try the HDMI direct from player to TV just to see.

Let me know what you guys think.

And Thanks again for your help.

[sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by Revolutionary

I just did a Google search using this phrase "Wolf Creek Region B blu-ray play error" and this website came up:
http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/archives/2007/11/

Here's what he has to say about the BD UK "Wolf Creek"...

Michael Mackenzie is a reviewer at DVDTimes and has a U.S. PS3 (paired with a Sony VPL-VW60 Black Pearl PJ), I've never known him to lie and he's extremely knowledgeable at HD/BD, so I'd trust it as fact.

[Mobe1969]

Being PAL regioned, maybe it is outputting 50i and your TV can't handle 50 Hz

[Revolutionary]

Originally Posted by sehnzeleid

Michael Mackenzie is a reviewer at DVDTimes and has a U.S. PS3 (paired with a Sony VPL-VW60 Black Pearl PJ), I've never known him to lie and he's extremely knowledgeable at HD/BD, so I'd trust it as fact.

I wasn't implying that he was lying at all. Actually he confirms that the disc won't play in Region A players (or perhaps non-multi-format TVs) ... I quoted him because on other sites this title is listed as Region Free (which in some way it may be) but it won't play for me.

Oh and guys, I did try the direct hdmi from player to tv with the exact same result (sound with no picture but this time no error whatsoever on the TV screen - weird eh?).

I went to Amazon.com and re-purchased the HD-DVD version of this movie (as I love it to pieces) but you know I am so pissed at the manufacturer/distributor (Optimum Releasing) that I will not try any more of their releases as I can bet none will work in U.S. machines.

Any other thoughts anyone might have please let us know here.

I soooo hate region coding ... which is why I loved HD-DVD from the get-go.

Blu-ray (while I've adopted it) is crap in my opinion.

[Revolutionary]

Originally Posted by Mobe1969

Being PAL regioned, maybe it is outputting 50i and your TV can't handle 50 Hz

Hi Mobe,
I don't know what 50i actually is. I do know that when I play the disc (even though I can't see anything but a black screen) the display shows the picture to be 1080i when I press it (I have my hdmi video out set to "Source Direct" instead of "Auto" or "1080p" or "1080i" or the lower resolutions.) Everything has worked fine with "Source Direct" (even the 7 other UK Imports that play flawlessly).

But one other question, that I think Merlins was saying was the movie should not be PAL as it's HD, however the bonus items could be PAL which would mean they may not play at all.

I have 1408 (Dutch import) that I got from Xploited on Blu-ray and the movie plays perfectly however none of the special features will work and I think it may be due to PAL. Or maybe the special features are not Region Free? I don't know but the movie does play fine.

hmmm so confusing.

[Revolutionary]

Hi Again Guys,

It seems my Sony BD player just died on me. After I hooked it up to the TV directly I only get a black screen no matter which disc I play now.

I even tried to see if the picture showed by hooking it back up through the receiver. Same thing.

So I'm off to Costco to return it.

I don't know if this happened due to the Wolf Creek disc or if something else caused this to happen. Luckily the player is less than 30 days old. Don't know if I should go for a different brand or not. I think Costco just carries Sonys though.

Oh well ...

[sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by Revolutionary

I went to Amazon.com and re-purchased the HD-DVD version of this movie (as I love it to pieces)...

It's actually better than Optimum's release anyway.

DVDTimes: Wolf Creek Optimum HD DVD Review

[Booga85]

To put this to rest, wolf creek is not region free, it's region B only. Also there is no such thing as a PAL or NTSC blu-ray! PAL & NTSC went out along with 720 by 480 & 576 res. Now it's just 1080P HD! That's why i'm happy to import any blu-ray now, i hated the whole PAL & NTSC.