You can find modified region free players pretty cheap on Ebay these days. I’m going that route if my LG player ever drops dead or I want to watch Doctor Who in another part of the house.
I only have a couple European Blu Rays at this point and haven’t encountered any PAL encoded extras on them, which I’ve heard might give certain displays trouble.
Are region free blu-ray players affected when they need to be updated? Since they, sometimes, pointlessly, update the encryption keys, you need to update to view newer discs.
Does that wipe the region free mod? Does it need to be reapplied or are you even screwed permanently in some cases?