Just wanted to share that I performed the RattleByte multi-region mod, today.
Just having had upgraded to my first 4k TV in December, I decided on this 4k-BR-player and simply forgot to think about multi-region when I bought it.
I enjoyed this Sony very much and when I looked into multi-region options, I thought that €450+ for a multi-region UBP X-800m2 compared to me paying €220 at the time, would be quite steep. So a few days ago I went for it, paid €49 for the mod kit and thought: the player worked fine for 4 months, so to hell with the warranty.
It was a challenge, since I am not a micro-soldering expert, but it worked out fine. I am very pleased and it was quite satisfying to do. I wouldn‘t say that it‘s super easy, but on a scale of 1 to 5, it‘s a 3 to me. With downloading and installing the special Firmware after the mod, which you will only have to once and then it‘s back to standard FW-updates, it took me 2 1/2 hours. I‘d say, that it will take you an hour if you have done micro-soldering before.
As far as I can tell, the modded X-800s you can buy, all work the same way as mine. For DVDs there is nothing to do. Only for BR region change you will have to push one button on the original or universal rc (yellow, blue or red for A,B or C) when the unit is off, after which it will turn itself on with the new region. It will not forget the region when unplugged. Firmware updates work in the same way as before the mod. No special FW needed after the mod.
And if you like, you could always remove the mod later. Not sure why, though.
For those who don‘t mind fiddling a bit, I can recommend it. It can save you €200 if you don‘t mind loosing the warranty.