need help making dvd's for friends out of country....

[alucard2050]

I live in the U.S....I have a vhs capture that i want to make DVD's or VCD's for friends that live in other countries..they were exchange students...Anyway I tried last year to do DVD's but the movie wouldn't play on their DVD player's..I did make VCD's for them but they could only watch the movie on their PC's...I would rather do DVD's...Should I make them in PAL cause it was NTSC last time? I realize that some players won't play DVDr's + or - but what can I do to make these vids more compatible? I have done DVD"s, VCD's, SVCD's for myself but now I'm stuck with the other countries thing...they are home movies so they are auto multiregion.....thanks....

[David K]

You do not say what country your friends are from. Consult the following list:

Country/Territory Television Video Standard

Afghanistan PAL
Albania PAL
Algeria PAL
Andorra PAL
Angola PAL
Anguilla NTSC
Antigua and Barbuda NTSC
Argentina PAL
Armenia PAL
Aruba NTSC
Australia PAL
Austria PAL
Azerbaijan PAL
Bahamas NTSC
Bahrain PAL
Bangladesh PAL
Barbados NTSC
Belarus PAL
Belgium PAL
Belize NTSC
Benin PAL
Bermuda NTSC
Bhutan PAL
Bolivia NTSC
Bosnia PAL
Botswana PAL
Brazil NTSC/PAL-M
British Indian Ocean Territory NTSC
Brunei PAL
Bulgaria PAL
Burkina Faso PAL
Burundi PAL
Cambodia PAL
Cameroon PAL
Canada NTSC
Cape Verde PAL
Cayman Islands NTSC
Central African Republic PAL
Chad PAL
Chile NTSC
China PAL
Colombia NTSC
Comoros PAL
Congo, Democratic Republic of (formerly Zaire) PAL
Congo, Republic of PAL
Cook Islands PAL
Costa Rica NTSC
Croatia PAL
Cuba NTSC
Cyprus PAL
Czech Republic PAL
Denmark PAL
Djibouti PAL
Dominica NTSC
Dominican Republic NTSC
East Timor PAL
Ecuador NTSC
Egypt PAL
El Salvador NTSC
Equatorial Guinea PAL
Eritrea PAL
Estonia PAL
Ethiopia PAL
Falkland Islands (Malvinas) PAL
Faroe Islands PAL
Fiji PAL
Finland PAL
France PAL
France (Metropolitan) PAL
Gabon PAL
Gambia PAL
Georgia PAL
Germany PAL
Ghana PAL
Gibraltar PAL
Greece PAL
Greenland NTSC/PAL
Grenada NTSC
Guadeloupe PAL
Guam NTSC
Guatemala NTSC
Guiana (French) PAL
Guinea PAL
Guinea-Bissau PAL
Guyana NTSC
Haiti NTSC
Honduras NTSC
Hong Kong PAL
Hungary PAL
Iceland PAL
India PAL
Indonesia PAL
Iran PAL
Iraq PAL
Ireland PAL
Israel PAL
Italy PAL
Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) PAL
Jamaica NTSC
Japan NTSC
Jordan PAL
Kazakhstan PAL
Kenya PAL
Kiribati PAL
Korea (North) PAL
Korea (South) NTSC
Kuwait PAL
Kyrgyzstan PAL
Laos NTSC/PAL-M
Latvia PAL
Lebanon PAL
Lesotho PAL
Liberia PAL
Libya PAL
Liechtenstein PAL
Luxembourg PAL
Macau PAL
Macedonia PAL
Madagasgar PAL
Malawi PAL
Malaysia PAL
Maldives PAL
Mali PAL
Malta PAL
Marshall Islands NTSC
Martinique PAL
Mauritania PAL
Mauritius PAL
Mayotte PAL
Mexico NTSC
Micronesia NTSC
Moldova PAL
Monaco PAL
Mongolia PAL
Montserrat PAL
Morocco PAL
Mozambique PAL
Myanmar (Burma) NTSC
Namibia PAL
Nauru PAL
Nepal PAL
Netherlands (Holland) PAL
Netherlands Antilles NTSC
New Caledonia PAL
New Zealand PAL
Nicaragua NTSC
Niger PAL
Nigeria PAL
Niue PAL
Northern Mariana Islands NTSC
Norway PAL
Oman PAL
Pakistan PAL
Palau NTSC
Panama NTSC
Papua New Guinea PAL
Paraguay PAL
Peru NTSC
Philippines NTSC
Pitcairn Islands PAL
Poland PAL
Polynesia (French) PAL
Portugal PAL
Puerto Rico NTSC
Qatar PAL
Réunion PAL
Romania PAL
Russia PAL
Rwanda PAL
Samoa (American) NTSC
Samoa (Western) PAL
San Marino PAL
São Tomé and Principe PAL
Saudi Arabia PAL
Senegal PAL
Seychelles PAL
Sierra Leone PAL
Singapore PAL
Slovakia PAL
Slovenia PAL
Solomon Islands PAL
Somalia PAL
South Africa PAL
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands PAL?
Spain PAL
Sri Lanka PAL
St. Helena PAL
St. Kitts and Nevis NTSC
St. Lucia NTSC
St. Pierre and Miquelon PAL
St. Vincent and the Grenadines NTSC
Sudan PAL
Suriname NTSC
Svalbard (Spitzbergen) PAL
Swaziland PAL
Sweden PAL
Switzerland PAL
Syria PAL
Taiwan NTSC
Tajikistan PAL
Tanzania PAL
Thailand PAL
Togo PAL
Tokelau PAL
Tonga NTSC
Trinidad and Tobago NTSC
Tunisia PAL
Turkey PAL
Turkmenistan PAL
Turks and Caicos Islands NTSC
Tuvalu PAL?
Uganda PAL
Ukraine PAL
United Arab Emirates PAL
United Kingdom PAL
United States NTSC
Uruguay PAL
Uzbekistan PAL
Vanuatu PAL
Venezuela NTSC
Vietnam PAL
Virgin Islands (American) NTSC
Virgin Islands (British) NTSC
Wallis and Futuna Islands PAL
Western Sahara PAL
Yemen PAL
Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo) PAL
Zambia PAL
Zimbabwe PAL

[bugster]

If your friends DVD player simply refuses to play the disc, it is NOT a PAL/NTSC issue, it is a media problem. If you have a dual format burner, why not send them the same movie on both a + and - type disk to see if they can play one or the other. If the player is an older model you may be unlucky and find it will play neither.

As to PAL/NTSC, All DVD players will play both, its then a matter of what is output. If the player outputs NTSC, and the TV can't handle it, it will display in B&W. Some players can output either NTSC or PAL 60, given an NTSC source, so again its down to the player and TV. If your source material is NTSC, then it is preferable to stick with NTSC if you can get away with it.

[alucard2050]

Friends are from all over the globe so it is mix and match NTSC or PAL.....Good point though as far as a + or -....Their are about 30 of them that want a copy and to figure out what each ones player is just can't happen...They wouldn't even know themselves and I'm not about to track each one down and get the specks...I guess I can just go with the VCD cause all of them last year was able to play that on their computer.....thanks for the info.....

[FulciLives]

In many countries that use PAL it is somewhat common to have TELEVISIONS and DVD players that can output NTSC that can be viewed on the TV.

However, not everyone in a PAL country will be able to view a NTSC DVD so you really should consider conversion from NTSC to PAL for those people.

My "expertise" is with the reverse ... converting PAL to NTSC since I live in the USA

My understanding is that PAL is much easier to convert to NTSC than it is to convert NTSC to PAL but it CAN be done.

Check out this website:

http://www.geocities.com/xesdeeni2001/StandardsConversion/

It's not perfect but damn good for info on doing PAL <--> NTSC conversions.

Good Luck

- John "FulciLives" Coleman