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  1. I went to England and purchased a PAL (region 2) DVD. I figured I could convert it using DVD Backup and Cinematize, then burn it to region 1 DVD. Well, neither DVD Backup or Cinematize will work with it. I'm not trying to bootleg anything, I just want to watch the bloody thing on my television. I know I can watch it on my computer, but then I'll have to change the region code and you can only do that 4 times (why is that?). Any advice?
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  2. No Longer Mod tgpo's Avatar
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    DVD converter application
    http://www.mpeg2works.com/m2w.html
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  3. Member
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    Can't you just rip it with MactheRipper and make it region free, then reburn and watch?
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  4. First use DVD Decrypter to rip the dvd files to hard drive. Then Use dvdSanta to convert the DVD to NTSC. It's simple and there is a guide in their website http://www.dvdsanta.com/screenshots.html

    I used this and convert many DVDs like this and it works really good!
    Ranjith
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    Originally Posted by ranrobertcanada
    First use DVD Decrypter to rip the dvd files to hard drive. Then Use dvdSanta to convert the DVD to NTSC. It's simple and there is a guide in their website http://www.dvdsanta.com/screenshots.html

    I used this and convert many DVDs like this and it works really good!
    This is a mac forum!
    20"iMac 2.0Ghz 1GB RAM : internal 250GB HD : 128GB Lacie FireWire d2 external HD : DVD-RW Lacie 4X d2 : iBot Firewire : OS 10.4.8
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  6. if you just want to watch it on your NTSC american TV buy a $30 stand alone DVD player like the cyberhome that will convert PAL to NTSC and is region free! Click the DVD Players section on the left side of this screen


    https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=2664&Search=Search&#comments



    Bernie
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  7. Originally Posted by BernieR
    if you just want to watch it on your NTSC american TV buy a $30 stand alone DVD player like the cyberhome that will convert PAL to NTSC and is region free!
    Will the image quality look just as good as a regular region 1/NTSC disk?
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    Still asking: why cant you just decrypt (and set region to 0) the DVD and reburn it, no conversion/quality loss necessary?
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  9. Originally Posted by AntnyMD
    Still asking: why cant you just decrypt (and set region to 0) the DVD and reburn it, no conversion/quality loss necessary?
    I've tried it and it doesn't want to work with this DVD. But Mac the Ripper worked just dandy.
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  10. If you have an encrypted DVD, the drive will lock the data until there has been an "authentication" process. If you use DVDBackup, then you have to run Apple DVD Player first to do the authentication. With MacTheRipper, the authentication is built-in. You probably didn't run Apple DVD Player because of the region mismatch, and that is why DVDBackup wouldn't work-- the drive was still locking the data.

    Note that even after you decrypt the DVD using MacTheRipper and extract what you want with Cinematize (or just burn everything back to a region-free DVD), you will still have the problem of playing PAL video. It will work on your computer, but you will need to search around to find a good NTSC player that will play PAL video. They are around, but the manufacturers are not good about advertising this capability. JVC and Pioneer seem to be good bets, as well as many low-end Chinese brands.
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  11. Member decay's Avatar
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    region and encoding (PAL/NTSC) are two completely different beasties.

    i've used MPEGWorks with success. i downloaded a PAL-encoded DVD recorded from BBC-TV & used MPEGWorks to convert to NTSC. the $15 shareware was worth it.

    JES Deinterlacer is supposed to do it for free, but I haven't fully explored that yet.
    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/13069

    dk
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  12. Originally Posted by vivsavage
    Originally Posted by BernieR
    if you just want to watch it on your NTSC american TV buy a $30 stand alone DVD player like the cyberhome that will convert PAL to NTSC and is region free!
    Will the image quality look just as good as a regular region 1/NTSC disk?

    Spend the 30 bucks at wally mart and take it back if it doesnt live up to your standards ......

    Bernie
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  13. Member AlbcAlbrr's Avatar
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    Spend $70 at Walmart or Target for a Philips DVP-642. Plays PAL & NTSC, no macrovision, and can be set to region zero.
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  14. Member Flarch's Avatar
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    Lovely chat about region free PAL to NTSC players, but that doesn't answer the topic question of how to convert PAL DVD to NTSC DVD.

    Originally Posted by AntnyMD
    Still asking: why cant you just decrypt (and set region to 0) the DVD and reburn it, no conversion/quality loss necessary?
    Eh?
    That would be ignoring the fact that PAL is 25 fps @ 720 x 576 while NTSC is 29.97 fps (or 23.976 fps for NTSC film) @ 720 x 480!
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    Reviving the dead I see. Well, the topic question assumed a conversion was necessary. However, it is not necessary! For all the time and attention paid to this thread, it would have taken all of an hour to go to Wal-Mart or Target, get a frickin' PAL capable DVD player (like the fantastic Philips DVP 642), follow my suggestion (nicely quoted above) and spend time ENJOYING the disc rather than CONVERTING the disc and losing quality.

    Keep it simple, people. The hard way is so overrated!
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  16. Member Flarch's Avatar
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    Scuse me, but you did not mention in your previous posts that you were referring to watching on a machine that would play PAL to NTSC and neither did the topic starter say he had such a machine. He also asked for advice in terms of converting the DVD.

    Oh yes, all this AV stuff is simple to avoid if one has great flipping wads of cash. I could just buy all the equipment, DVD's, and services of other people necessary to do whatever.

    OR, just buying the DVD in NTSC would be cheaper and simpler even than buying the machine.

    However, that would ~ not ~ answer ~ the ~ question ~ asked!
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  17. Member
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    (1) You ought to re-read the original post.

    (2) Seventy dollars is not a great flipping wad of cash, especially for someone who can afford to travel from North America to Europe and back.

    (3) If your solution is to just buy the NTSC version of the DVD, then I'd further recommend the original poster should have just bought the DVD on amazon.ca, as they get a lot of the British stuff in Canada, formatted for region 1 NTSC!
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  18. look trust us!
    buy a $30-70 USD DVD player that plays EVERYTHING and be done with it! The troubles of conversion and losing all the menus and time ect is not worth it......

    Bernie
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  19. I work in customer service, and I gotta tell you, people don't listen.

    They come to you for a solution, ignore it, then blame you because you gave them wrong advice.

    I am trying to think of a subject on here that has been explained more than playing dvd's from around the world, around the world.

    No, its not coming to me, may be this should be a competition?
    PAL/NTSC problem solver.
    USED TO BE A UK Equipment owner., NOW FINISHED WITH VHS CONVERSIONS-THANKS
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  20. Not to fan the flames or anything...

    For the longest time I was convinced that I should find a foolproof way to re-encode my PAL discs to play on my existing NTSC-only DVD player. I spent hours fussing around with MPEGWorks and other programs. Hours.

    Sure, they do work, but many of my PAL discs have subtitles and that was just too darn complicated, and the quality of the video inevitably suffered.

    I heeded the advice of people here on the forum -- who urged folks like us to throw in the towel on the PAL/NTSC conversion. I bought a Philips 642 DVD player (the one mentioned in a previous post here) at Target for less than $70. It plays everything I throw at it, including all the DTOX movie-only compressions that used to just skip from chapter-to-chapter on my old Sony.

    Happy happy day. I'm glad that I'm benefitting from the experience of those that have gone before. That's what makes these forums so useful.
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  21. Could the last post be made a sticky and the forum member posting it be made President of the USA and prime Minister of Canada as well!
    PAL/NTSC problem solver.
    USED TO BE A UK Equipment owner., NOW FINISHED WITH VHS CONVERSIONS-THANKS
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  22. hey,
    i have thought about buying those cheap chinese brand dvd players. but is the picture and sound quality comparable to the brand name products? thats what im worrying about. I bought a nice sound system and i dont want to buy a cheap dvd player that could negate it
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  23. Get one from where it can be retunred, so you know, if you are really fussy, spend a fortune where they sell them region and format free, or buy a cheapy and do it yourself.

    daytek/rj tech/curtis are the ones I have.

    They seem fine to me.

    Good luck.
    PAL/NTSC problem solver.
    USED TO BE A UK Equipment owner., NOW FINISHED WITH VHS CONVERSIONS-THANKS
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  24. Member
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    If you like Sony, the innards of those monsters are the same as the cheapo's except Sony uses a different screensaver and enforces region coding.

    Go with the Philips and live in a region-free world!
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