General

Questions for those who collect Blu Rays (for anime, general media, etc.)

I'm doing a thread to answer a series of questions from those who collect Blu Rays of anime. I am a newer collector that hasn't really thought a lot about collection probably ever, so please keep this in mind if questions seem painstakingly obvious.

If you don't want to answer, but know some general guides or places you can pinpoint to me, that will be GREATLY appreciated.

Starting off with questions:

What was your experience importing Blu Ray Releases from other countries?
Does having an HDR or non-HDR screen matter when it comes to Blu Ray?
Does the sound system (Stereo, 5.1/7.1 Surround) impact your watching experience?
Is the PS5 a good enough option for a Blu Ray player? Or would you recommend another player over a PS5?
What are some things a newbie should know?

Any advice or any information is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

Zeryther 3y
About PlayStation: Keep in mind that blu-rays are region-locked and if you're importing releases from regions other than your own, you might want to consider something else.

There's places online you can buy region-free blu-ray players, but to my knowledge PlayStation keeps the region check on.
- CorneliusCornbread 3y
  Gotcha.
  
  Is there a region-free Blu Ray Player that you could recommend?
  Zeryther 3y
  I've been pushing this back myself so I don't actually have one yet. I've been seeing some on eBay but not sure about how good they are.
- Asano 3y
  wat I've been playing japanese blu-rays on my ps4 without any issues....
Basenji 3y

Does having an HDR or non-HDR screen matter when it comes to Blu Ray?

Considering there are very very little anime with HDR-grading (like 10s), it doesn't really matter for now.
Most of them are rescanned/remastered really old film movies (GitS, Akira, lots of Gundam) but also some modern digital ones upscaled and post-processed with HDR (like Your Name and Mary and the Witch's Flower)

There is only 1 that was produced with 4k/HDR/Atmos in mind, Sol Levante but it is more of a proof-of-concept tech demo than an actual enjoyable show.

Having a non-HDR screen doesn't affect the quality when watching HDR movies as the data can be ignored by the TV. Actually that is for Dolby Vision-encoded HDR. It would apparently look slightly washed out on watching HDR content on an non-HDR TV unless you can adjust the tonemap.

Does the sound system (Stereo, 5.1/7.1 Surround) impact your watching experience?

Yes. Generally, more speakers around you = more immersive (as long as the thing your watching is mixed in 5.1/7.1). It's not necessary to go all out with the most expensive, there are affordable soundbars with speakers firing different ways to give the same effect, or get headphones that have spatial audio option.