Several of the DVDs I’d like to have are only available in PAL format. A friend told me that all I’d need to play them is a region-free DVD player. Only she tends to believe things other people say; and, when presented with contrary evidence, says ‘Well, So-and-so is a [whatever] so I tend to believe him/her.’ It has been my understanding that not only does one need a region-free DVD player, but also a TV that will play PAL. Only my information is half a dozen years out of date. Is this still true? Or will region-free DVD players convert to NTSC? If some will and some won’t, which ones will? If none will, and I need a teevee that plays both NTSC and PAL, which ones are available? If resorting to converting the medium itself, what is the typical cost of copying a DVD from one format to another?
Finally, I have Final Cut Pro HD on my Mac. I’m going to buy Final Cut Studio 5.1 so that I have a legitimate copy. Will either allow me to convert PAL to NTSC? How difficult would it be to set up menus?
Actually, if the DVD is PAL but also region 1, you don’t even need a region-free DVD player. But I can’t imagine any such thing exists. So realistically, a PAL disc is going to be region 2, and then a region-free DVD player will let you play it. I know that because I have one and play UK DVDs (purchased from amazon.co.uk) from time to time. And note that this is a conventional $50 region 1 player that I unlocked using codes available on the internet.
To be clear: You’re playing a PAL DVD on your ‘unlocked’ DVD player and watching it on an NTSC television that has not been modified or is not designed to play PAL?
I read on a message board that my particular model of DVD player (a cheap Sony) does not have a ‘hack’ to allow it to play other regions.
To paraphrase Wikipedia, in the context of digital video such as DVD the PAL/NTSC distinction is reduced to 576 line interlaced video at 25 frames per second vs 484 lines at ~30fps (which, strictly speaking, is nothing to do with them - you can have ~30fps PAL, for example). Dewey Finn’s TV must have been designed to handle both.
Apart from one very old portable DVD player, every DVD player I own can be made to play PAL discs on an NTSC-only TV. Granted, this is just a sample size of five, but I see no reason why mine should be an anomaly.
After entering the code to reveal the hidden region menu, another menu also appears, called “TV type”. It gives the options of PAL, NTSC, or MULTI. For the TV in the living room, I’ve got the DVD player set to NTSC and it converts PAL discs just fine (though the image quality drops a bit, in my opinion). For the projector in the screening room, I’ve got it set to MULTI, and it switches between PAL and NTSC automatically (with great quality for both).
I’ve been using Final Cut Studio 5.1.4 for a while now and I should be able to answer all of your questions. Only I can’t. So why would I post? Two reasons: one, to publicly shame myself into learning more about FCP, and two, to say that you should be able to play back any DVD with your Mac DVD player, but that won’t help you play it on your TV set unless you have some sort of proper I/O board like a Kona.
I’ll just add that Compressor, which is part of the Final Cut Studio suite, seems to be pretty good at converting all kinds of odd formats. I’m pretty sure I could use it to convert between PAL and NTSC. I’ll try to find a true PAL disc around here today and experiment a little with transfers.
Some friends of mine here in Baltimore, from Australia like me, bought themselves a cheap DVD player (it was only about $60) that plays PAL DVDs so they could watch Aussie TV shows that their relatives sent them on disc. Their TV is quite old, and definitely not designed or modified to play anything but NTSC. The player didn’t require a hack or anything; it was designed to play both PAL and NTSC discs. It’s fun going around there and watching stuff i can’t see on American TV.
I don’t know anything about Final Cut, but i must say that i’d be very surprised if a relatively high end video program like that couldn’t convert between NTSC and PAL. Especially since the program is sold worldwide. If it can’t, i’d be demanding my money back.
Region-free DVD players will not play PAL. The only way I know of doing this is to convert the vob files on the disk to AVI using Auto Gordian Knot (free) and then converting them back to DVD using an appropriate converter. I can’t for the life of me remember the name of a free AVI to DVD converter (starts with a D I think), though I’m certain you can find one at doom9.net.
This is not going to work for DVD menus (read: TV shows) as far as I know, so it’s treading into “I’m not sure if this is fair use” territory and I don’t explicitly advise you to do it.
FYI I have never had problems playing PAL DVDs nor other-region DVDson a computer. This is by far the simplest solution, albeit inconvenient, as your computer monitor is likely smaller than your television.
I can’t answer the question about converting, but I can answer the first question affirmatively. I have at my house a DVD player that is region-free and will play PAL and NTSC DVDs. It is hooked up to a JVC NTSC television purchased in the USA. I have bought PAL DVDs in Europe and have successfully played them with my DVD player.
P.S. If you’re still around So. Cal. (I can’t keep track of you vagabonds) you can come by the house and I can prove it to you.
Also, when I bought my region-free DVD player, I purposely chose one that is capable of converting the PAL signal. Not all region-free DVD players could do this.
And finally, for my DVD player, I didn’t need to use any “unlock” codes. It played the DVDs as is. I assumed this is legal since I purchased my DVD player in the United States.
If the player is only region-free, you are correct.
But there are also players that are both region-free and multi-format. Here is one for $60; the one owned by my friends cost them about the same.
One free avi to dvd converter is called, surprisingly enough, AVI2DVD. I use it, and it’s excellent. But converting a DVD to avi and then back to DVD again takes a lot of processing power and a lot of time, even on a relatively new and powerful computer. If you need to do this on any sort of regular basis, you’re better off just spending 60 bucks on a player that will play both PAL and NTSC.