Does the wdtv media player handle dvd pal iso files?

[yoda313]

Ok I just bought a dvd set on ebay last night not realizing it was a region 2 European set. That should teach you to not shop online late at night! (It was only 8.00 so not a huge loss)

Anyway I have the first edition of the wdtv media player - would the easiest pain free way to watch these be to rip to iso and simply transfer to a harddrive for my wdtv media player?

I've only done iso's once on the wdtv media player - you lose menus right? How about special features and commentary audio tracks? Would I need to rip each video segment I want into seperate isos? Things like featurettes and behind the scenes?

I'd rather not have to reencode all 5 discs to ntsc. I don't have a region free dvd player - that I know of. I have an old toshiba sdk620 dvd player and a liteon dvd recorder 1107hc1 model. I don't think either do region 2. Also I mainly use my playstation 3 or xbox 360 for dvds anyway and I am 99.9999% sure they aren't region free - and I have NO INTEREST in modding them so don't suggest that please.

Basically I'm looking for the pain free way to watch the region 2 dvds without necessarily buying another dvd player - in the end if that is the only acceptable alternative than I would appreciate suggestions for ones under 50.00 (no upconversion necessary but would prefer progressive if available).

Thanks.

Edit - I do have my vista premium pc connected to main viewing tv. However I have never gotten a good remote for it. Would that be the "best" way to watch the discs? Rip to the pc then watch through the computer? Fyi I'm connected via hdmi at the moment but will probably go back to my dvi-hdmi cable to reconnect my wdtv media player (maxed out on hdmi inputs even with a switcher)

[jman98]

I don't use the WDTV to play DVD ISOs. I did a test once of an ISO I happened to have on a flash drive, but it was NTSC format. It worked. I was not able to access the menus, but given that I tried this exactly once, I'm hardly an expert on playing ISOs with it. I'm not real impressed with using the WDTV to play DVD ISOs, but some do it. PAL should work, but honestly, I haven't tested it and don't really have time to do so right now. If you get really really desperate to know and nobody else responds, send me a private message on Monday about it and I'll do a test for you.

I'm not trying to state the obvious here, but don't you know that if you rip and re-burn the DVDs that ripping removes the region coding? It's possible that one of your existing DVD players can play region free PAL DVDs, but you'll have to test to see.

[jagabo]

It will play DVD ISO but not the menus. It picks the longest title and plays that. That's usually fine for movies but useless for TV episode DVDs. Those are best ripped in IFO mode, one title per folder.

[yoda313]

I'm not trying to state the obvious here, but don't you know that if you rip and re-burn the DVDs that ripping removes the region coding? It's possible that one of your existing DVD players can play region free PAL DVDs, but you'll have to test to see.

Yes I had forgotten about this. I do remember I have a cyberhome dvd player. I think this can play pal when its region free. I had also forgotten I do have a region 2 dvd (music video dvd). I'll have to fool around with that.

Thanks for the info jagabo.

EDIT - well looks like I have a working alternative. I dug up my cyberhome chdvd300 dvd player. I popped in my pal dvd and it worked! I don't remember if I hacked it or if it does it natively. Now this must have been region 0 (its a pressed disc however) because I tried the only other import disc I have which is ntsc but a different region. The dvd player did not play the other region ntsc disc.

So it looks like I should be able to rip the dvd set and burn them to play on the cyberhome. Now its not the best dvd player but at least it has progessive output and coaxial output so it will work in a pinch.

Too bad it didn't have fiber optic output - I could do realtime dubbing with component and 5.1 to my hauppauge hd pvr. However I don't know if I'd want to do it for all 20 episodes or however many are on the set.

Thanks everyone. Looks like I have a relatively easy approach. I'm gonna try the region free pal disc on my ps3 and 360 for a laugh. I seriously doubt either will accept a pal signal but you never know.....

EDIT 2 -Wow the xbox 360 plays the pal dvd! Its the original pressed disc and the 360 played it no problem.

To see if it would do it I popped the disc in my ps3 to test it. No go! The playstation 3 said it does not support the pal broadcast standard.

Who would have thunk it huh? The 360 has a trump card in the video department. It will play region free pal dvds without an issue. Nice......

[yoda313]

bump

'm not trying to state the obvious here, but don't you know that if you rip and re-burn the DVDs that ripping removes the region coding? It's possible that one of your existing DVD players can play region free PAL DVDs, but you'll have to test to see.

Well as I mentioned in my other post the xbox 360 does play region free pal dvds.

My dvd set arrived today. It was indeed region 2 pal. Fortunately it was only 5 discs so that won't take so long to copy.

I already did the first disc of the set. I ripped to region free using anydvdhd. I then burnt that to a dual layer disc to avoid compression. I popped it in my xbox 360 and it worked like a charm! It looks great and just as good as any of my native ntsc region 1 discs.

Thanks for the advice jman98. Now I am on to burning the rip of disc 2 I just finished ripping.