I have in my possession a box set of the TV show 24, season 8, on Blu-Ray disc. This was purchased from Amazon-Japan for about $220. The Godzilla-sized price tag was because it includes Japanese-language audio and subtitles. I can confirm that yes, these features did work properly in Japan, on a Blu-Ray disc player purchased and used there. However, the discs were then shipped to me here in the US, and I’m unable to access these features on a Blu-Ray player purchased here in the US. I can bring up all kinds of European-language subtitles, but not the Japanese subtitles (or audio) that I know is in there somewhere.
What gives?
I know that Blu-Ray discs have region codes, but unlike for DVD’s, Japan and the US are in the same region. Moreover, I thought regions just dictated whether a particular disc would play or not. Are there also "sub"regions that limit language options? Is something wrong with my Blu-Ray player?
It was scary, but I went on the Sony website, and downloaded a software upgrade for my Blu-ray machine. I put the update on a CD-r, and put it in the Blu-ray machine and did a successful upgrade.
I am not sure this would ‘fix’ your specific issue, but, if the player is running out of date software (firmware?) this shouldn’t hurt.
I know nothing of blu-ray region codes, so I don’t have a helpful answer for you, unfortunately. I feel your pain, though. The person who invented the concept of region codes should be sent to a special hell where their genitalia is region 1 and everyone else’s is region 2.
I am not sure how you confirmed that these particular discs have Japanese audio and subtitles, but I will guess that you had them initially shipped to a friend in Japan who checked it on their equipment and then forwarded the discs to you. (The product listing page for Season VIII blu-ray discs that I found on Amazon Japan only listed them as being subtitled and dubbed, not specifying what languages, although logic demands that Japanese be one of the choices.)
If you did have a friend check them on their equipment in Japan, then as a way-out, off-the-wall totally unlikely possibility, I wonder if the Japanese audio came through on their setup as the secondary audio program, and if the subtitles were actually produced by the Japanese TV’s closed-captioning feature? While I guess I am reaching with the SAP angle, it seems entirely possible that someone could have spaced on whether they were using their TV’s built-in CC feature and not the disc’s subtitles.
So you might try your TV’s SAP feature.
Since the discs are from Amazon Japan, it seems very unlikely that they are actually bootleg copies that just didn’t have the Japanese audio and tracks copied to them or something.
The only other suggestion I could make, especially if you are in the habit of watching Japanese discs, is maybe to buy a blu-ray player from Amazon Japan. (Amazon Japan might not be willing to ship electronics out of the country, so you may have someone else ship it.) You might need a transformer, but it is also very possible that the unit might be designed for U.S. voltage as well. At least Japan is an NTSC country, so you don’t need to worry about that.
In for a penny, in for a pound, and all that. Good luck … it is a puzzlement.
I know nothing of blu-ray region codes, so I don’t have a helpful answer for you, unfortunately. I feel your pain, though. The person who invented the concept of region codes should be sent to a special hell where their genitalia is region 1 and everyone else’s is region 2.
I am not sure how you confirmed that these particular discs have Japanese audio and subtitles, but I will guess that you had them initially shipped to a friend in Japan who checked it on their equipment and then forwarded the discs to you. (The product listing page for Season VIII blu-ray discs that I found on Amazon Japan only listed them as being subtitled and dubbed, not specifying what languages, although logic demands that Japanese be one of the choices.)
If you did have a friend check them on their equipment in Japan, then as a way-out, off-the-wall totally unlikely possibility, I wonder if the Japanese audio came through on their setup as the secondary audio program, and if the subtitles were actually produced by the Japanese TV’s closed-captioning feature? While I guess I am reaching with the SAP angle, it seems entirely possible that someone could have spaced on whether they were using their TV’s built-in CC feature and not the disc’s subtitles.
So you might try your TV’s SAP feature.
Since the discs are from Amazon Japan, it seems very unlikely that they are actually bootleg copies that just didn’t have the Japanese audio and tracks copied to them or something.
The only other suggestion I could make, especially if you are in the habit of watching Japanese discs, is maybe to buy a blu-ray player from Amazon Japan. (Amazon Japan might not be willing to ship electronics out of the country, so you may have someone else ship it.) You might need a transformer, but it is also very possible that the unit might be designed for U.S. voltage as well. At least Japan is an NTSC country, so you don’t need to worry about that.
In for a penny, in for a pound, and all that. Good luck … it is a puzzlement.
Have you tried playing around with the default languages in your player’s setup menus? Maybe Japanese only shows up if you have the player set to Japanese by default (though that’d be a strange way of doing things).