# DVD Encoding help **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536 "2005-01-25T04:21:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ice1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ice1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ice1000)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/1 "2005-01-25T04:21:20Z")
About two weeks ago my girlfriend talked me into going to the Miami International Film Festival. Most of the moveis we saw were good or extremely good. I am hooked, damn her… There is one movie from Hungary, Kontroll, that I would like to buy but I just found out about DVD regional encoding. Greaaat… But I also found out that there is a potential hack for my DVD player Samsung M301. [This is the hack](http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/2/3033.html) Now, before I go off and buy another remote and a Region 0 DVD, does anyone know if this hack works? Alterantively, is there any other method (i.e. software) I could use to rip the DVD to region 1? Thanks, Ivan By the way the films really are great. Check them out at my new blog - [Irreverant](http://irreverant.blogspot.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/2 "2005-01-25T04:28:26Z")
Hacks fall into the “try at your own risk” category. There’s plenty of software to remove the region codes from DVDs. I’m not sure how the Mods feel about this though. [DVDRHelp.com](http://DVDRHelp.com) is a good place to go for such discussion. Their site seems to be down right now. ---
**Author:** ![ice1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ice1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ice1000)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/3 "2005-01-25T04:45:28Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I’m not sure how the Mods feel about this though. Why’s that? I’m not stealing anything. I want to buy the DVD and play it at home. ---
**Author:** ![Dancing\_Fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Dancing\_Fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancing_Fool)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/4 "2005-01-25T04:50:34Z")
If the DVD is region 0, then that means it is not region encoded, and should play in any player. A region 1 player should play both regions 1 & 0, a region 4 player should play 4 and 0, etc. Anybody creating very small run DVD’s (which is what this sounds like) who does not use region 0 is crazy. When you’re selling very small numbers of units, cutting your possible audience down further is just stupid. ---
**Author:** ![ice1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ice1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ice1000)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/5 "2005-01-25T04:58:25Z")
> [@Dancing Fool](#): > > If the DVD is region 0, then that means it is not region encoded, and should play in any player. A region 1 player should play both regions 1 & 0, a region 4 player should play 4 and 0, etc. OK so the follwing quote from [About.com](http://About.com), “REGION 0 or REGION ALL – Discs are uncoded and can be played Worldwide, however, PAL discs must be played in a PAL-compatible unit and NTSC discs must be played in an NTSC-compatible unit.” is really incorrect? I can play any Region 0 disk on any player? ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/6 "2005-01-25T05:02:59Z")
You can play an NTSC region 0 DVD on any NTSC player. PAL region 0 DVDs only on PAL players. Even if the DVD you get is PAL, there are ways to re-encode it to NTSC. as was previosly mentioned, [www.dvdrhelp.com](http://www.dvdrhelp.com) is a great resource. Do you have a DVD burner? IF you do, you can re-encode any DVD to work on any equipment with the right tools. ---
**Author:** ![ice1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ice1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ice1000)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/7 "2005-01-25T05:06:14Z")
> [@Nunavut Boy](#): > > Do you have a DVD burner? IF you do, you can re-encode any DVD to work on any equipment with the right tools. Yup. Just got a laptop and it has one. Never used it though. Are these tools in the dvdrhelp site? ---
**Author:** ![Dancing\_Fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Dancing\_Fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancing_Fool)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/8 "2005-01-25T05:29:24Z")
> [@ice1000](#): > > OK so the follwing quote from [About.com](http://About.com), “REGION 0 or REGION ALL – Discs are uncoded and can be played Worldwide, however, PAL discs must be played in a PAL-compatible unit and NTSC discs must be played in an NTSC-compatible unit.” is really incorrect? > > I can play any Region 0 disk on any player? No, it’s correct (mostly). Regional encoding and PAL/NTSC formatting are two seperate things. Check to see if your player and TV will play both PAL and NTSC. I haven’t seen a DVD, Video or TV for years that wouldn’t play both. But I don’t live in the US, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they only did NTSC there. ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/9 "2005-01-25T05:30:00Z")
yes, these tools are in the [dvdrhelp.com](http://dvdrhelp.com) site. If you can’t find what you are looking for, I can step you through (and even send) the stuff you need. You can email me if you need help. ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/10 "2005-01-25T05:38:29Z")
> [@Dancing Fool](#): > > No, it’s correct (mostly). Regional encoding and PAL/NTSC formatting are two seperate things. > > Check to see if your player and TV will play both PAL and NTSC. I haven’t seen a DVD, Video or TV for years that wouldn’t play both. But I don’t live in the US, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they only did NTSC there. I belive that most, if not all, north american TVs will only play the NTSC format properly. Anytime I’ve tried PAL, the image rolls. To the OP: I’ve actually written a pretty decent tutorial for DVD burning. Email me if you are interested. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/11 "2005-01-25T08:34:26Z")
Many DVD players, like my cheap Norcent DP300, will correctly play PAL DVDs on an NTSC TV. ---
**Author:** ![ice1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ice1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ice1000)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/12 "2005-01-25T11:52:33Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > Many DVD players, like my cheap Norcent DP300, will correctly play PAL DVDs on an NTSC TV. I found the manual for the M301 and it’s not that helpful. There is one sentence that instructs you to look in the back of the player to see the region encoding. It has a 1. However, the range specified in the instructions show a range from 1 to 6, not 0 to 6. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/13 "2005-01-25T12:04:39Z")
> [@ice1000](#): > > I found the manual for the M301 and it’s not that helpful. There is one sentence that instructs you to look in the back of the player to see the region encoding. It has a 1. However, the range specified in the instructions show a range from 1 to 6, not 0 to 6. As pointed out earlier, your disc has region ecoding ‘0’, aka no region encoding at all. From a region point of view, it will be playable in all DVD players. On the other hand, if it is encoded in PAL you will need one of two things: - a TV capable of showing PAL. (I don’t know much about US TV’s, but most new tellies in Europe are able to show both PAL and NTSC.) or -a DVD player that converts the PAL to NTSC. (Again, I don’t know the US market, but these are fairly common in Europe.) ---
**Author:** ![shefDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@shefDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shefDave)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/14 "2005-01-25T12:09:15Z")
> [@ice1000](#): > > However, the range specified in the instructions show a range from 1 to 6, not 0 to 6. That’ll be because there’s [no such thing as Region 0](http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.10) “Region 0” is really just shorthand for “Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8” ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/15 "2005-01-25T12:51:28Z")
If it IS region 0, pop it into your DVD player. Many, many DVD players WILL play PAL DVD’s with no need for a PAL TV set. (I own 3 DVD players currently and they all play PAL DVD’s, my mom’s however won’t so try it out first). Removing regional encoding is easy as pie, and I would be happy to detail the process to you, fele free to email me. Transcoding to NTSC is a little more complicated but mostly, it just takes longer. I’ll be happy to help you with that too. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/16 "2005-01-25T16:29:25Z")
Keep in mind that consumer recordable DVDs do not incorporate the region codes anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-encoding-help/286536/17 "2005-01-25T16:37:25Z")
Re: legality. Hacking the DVD player is not illegal. The region coding is an agreement between software and hardware industries (which sometimes are the same, e,g, Sony) to prevent releases to screw up scheduling in other markets. Man on Fire opened just a few weeks ago here, but I think it’s been out for a while on DVD in the US. However, hacking the player is as illegal as putting a Midas muffler in your car. You’re gonna hear a lot of noise from the car maker about using original parts, but it’s not illegal to use other parts.