Converting region 2 dvds to region 1???

[coffenut]

I purchased a bunch of videos that turned out to be Region 2 dvds. Is there anyway to convert them to Region 1 dvds?

Many thanks.

[AntnyMD]

You can rip them to region free. If your DVD player and/or TV rejects PAL video then you're up a different creek.

[AlecWest]

As mentioned by AntnyMD, any DVD can be ripped to remove regional limitations. The real problem is in the format - PAL vs. NTSC.

Just a hint. While I live in NTSC territory, I've found that some films are available on DVD in the U.K. that aren't available on DVD in North America (ie., "The Quiet Earth") ... and some films available at Amazon.com are actually cheaper, even with shipping added in, when bought at Amazon.co.uk (ie., "A Passage to India"). At first, I tried with complete success (but a lot of time consumption) to convert PAL to NTSC. But later, when I bought a region-free DVD player that switches between PAL and NTSC at the push of a button ... and later bought a Hauppauge PVR150 capture card, I just decided to do things the easy way.

In essence, my DVD player converts the PAL signal to an NTSC signal that will play on my NTSC TV ... and I just plug my DVD player's audio/video outputs into my capture card inputs ... capturing an NTSC format MPEG2 file of the film, later burning it to a DVD. If there is any loss in quality, I sure haven't seen it yet. I lose any fancy menus ... but can capture the film itself and any special video features as well. It's how I backup all films I buy from the U.K.

In fact, I have one on order right now:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000CCB8ES/

The film is "Night Watch," a vampire flick considered to be the most expensive film production to come out of the Russian Federation. The version sold in the U.K. is the international version that appeared in theaters last year ... as opposed to the North American version "currently" appearing in a limited release to mainly artsy theaters. And sadly, one person who has seen both versions says that the North American version cuts a lot of stuff out (including an entire character). Also, the North American film release is "subtitled" ... while the British DVD release is "dubbed" and "subtitled" (a choice of tracks). And while Amazon.com originally planned to release the North American version of the film on DVD in July, it has since "yanked" the page on it ... suggesting that perhaps they've had a change of heart to releasing it in North America or that they may release it at a later date.

Anyhoo, I'll make an NTSC backup DVD as soon as the PAL DVD arrives (estimated May 2-4) using the method I described. Of course, if you don't want to go to the expense of buying a region-free player for $39.99:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6100961&type=product&id=1069297420815

or an MPEG2 capture card for $88.99:

http://www.buy.com/retail/Product.asp?sku=10385910&SearchEngine=NexTag&SearchTerm=1038...=0&dcaid=15894

you can always use the various methods discussed here:

https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?howtoselect=4;41#4;41

though some of them may require the purchase of proprietary software. And of course, the bottom line in all of these suggestions is that they need to be compatible with your Mac (which is something I'm unsure about).

[coffenut]

Thank you so much for your help! I appreciate it. <G> I went out and bought the region free dvd player ... now I have to figure out how to get my dvd recorder to record it. <G>

[ondrovic]

I would say that if you were using a PC ( not sure what program you can use on a mac ), get a copy of canpus pro coder 2 and rip the dvd to your hard drive. Then load the main movie file into procoder 2 and select the output as an NTSC dvd file. Worked for me as I orderd a region 2 movie and converted just the movie to NTSC. The end result was perfect took some time to do though.

In theory you could do this for all the special feature and then just make your own dvd / menu using tmpeg dvd author or something like it. If you are going to go this route ( since you have a mac I dont see you doing it), make sure that you have media that is large enough to hold the movie. When I converted the my project just the main movie with menu and everything was 5 gb had to use dvd shirnk to drop it down to the right size.

Hope this helps