This Guide is a brief guide to define what to look for in the Blu-ray Listings and what this means.  It is not Technical, there are many excellent guides on ebay/web that go into the gritty technical stuff, and some that do parts of this guide at a higher level.  I needed a guide to pull it together to use as a reference for buyers of Blu-rays to undertsnad what the listing is saying (or not saying).

Region Coding
Blu-ray Discs have a region coding system, this is not the same as the DVD regions.  The regions are:

• None: Region Coding is optional, None plays in all regions.
• Region A: North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Korea, South East Asia
• Region B: Europe (excluding Russia), Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand
• Region C: Central Asia,  Russia, South Asia (including India), China, Mongolia

Symbol
Blu-ray regions are shown on the case as an A, B, or C inside a hexagon.  You may see 2, or all three hexagons meaning it is coded for all these regions.

Can I Play It:
Blu-ray players can be multi-region, however most are not.  Unless you are sure and have tested this [ie borrow a region coded to A or C) you should assume you can only play Australian (None or Region B) discs.

The good news is that many Blu-ray Discs are not region coded, or multi region coded.  As long as this continues you can still buy from anywhere as long as you are careful to ensure that the Region Coding is None or includes Region B.

Playstation 3
If you are using the Playstation 3 to play your Blu-rays it is Region Locked and there is no legal way to unlock it.

Personal Computer Use
Note that similar rules apply to PC Blu-ray Drives.  Unless specific Multi-region, it is probably region coded, there is software (a google search will help you for that) that allows your PC drive to act as a multi-region player, but you need to be sure you have done this and it works before assuming you can play other regions on your PC.

Video Format
Listings may identify video format.  This would usually be 1080p, this indicates the resolution (1920 x 1080 progressive) which would be displayed on a 16:9 wide screen TV. You may also see 1080i (interlaced) which means it displays half a screen at a time interlaced.  Bonus features may be in 480p or 480i which is sometimes referred to as standard definition.  Beware foreign Blu-rays that are not in at least 1.85.

Sometimes the Aspect Ratio is also stated.  This is the ratio of the Width to the Height of the picture.  There have been many used over the years, but must you will never see.  The main ones are:

• 2.4:1 (or 2.35:1) This is typical for most Blu-rays and indicates the full High Definition wide screen experience which would be in a letterbox format (top and bottom small bars) on a widescreen (16:9) TV.
• 1.85:1 This is 16:9 widescreen (not full High Definition) format (no letterbox).
• 1.37:1 This is 4:3 fullscreen (remember the days before sidescreens)

Audio Format
Rarely listed but on the Blu-ray Disc.  As a minimum this is usually Dolby 5.1 or equivalent and may even go to 7.1.  So unless you are an audiophile with more then five speakers hooked up it won't be an issue.

BD-Live
Where refered to this is part of the later Blu-ray standards and provides Internet connectivity for special features, or access to limited  access websites.  

Caution Note - Buying PS3 / Blu-ray Player:
Caution note out of above is to beware if buying a PS3 or Blu-ray player from an international seller to check what Region it is coded for.  You would not be the first person in Australia to have a USA (Region A) player which you can not hire local discs for (Or at least only those not coded).