Can I do this folks?

[gavriil1]

OK here is what I am trying to do. First let me say that I am new into this "region free DVD" stuff. Also, I currently have no DVD-R drive.

So I have this DVD disk that came from Europe (I am 99.9% sure it is in PAL format). I live in the USA (from what I see we are NTSC and region 1).

What I want to do is load the content of that DVD (PAL, region 2) movie into my PC, then add some more taken with my USA spec DV camcoder, edit the thing with Pinnacle's Video 8 DV software (which looks like it only supports NTSC), then be able to burn the edited piece on a DVD so that it plays in Europe (PAL) as well as another DVD which will play in the USA (NTSC). And I am talking about being able to play the final DVDs (burned ones) on portable DVD players (not PC ones) that people buy from the store.

What do I need to do that? DO you have any DVD drive suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

[El Torro]

well, at first you will need a DVD-W drive

DVD WRITTERS can also read DVD's, but if you don't even have a DVD-R, you might just as well forget it...


Oh, and if you might buy a DVD-W or a DVD-R, be sure to have enuf space on ur hard disk, cuz DVD movies are very big...

I'm just saying: if you don't have a DVD-R or W you might just as well forget your id, cuz, as you probably know, CD-R drives can't read DVD's

Cheers

[kitty]

If you don't have a DVD writer then you have 2 alternatives:

Video CD (VCD) or Super VCD. While these formats don't play on all standalone DVD players they play on many and you'll only need a DVD ROM drive to read in your PAL DVD (called "ripping" - see at left under ripping for more), then use your copy of Studio to patch everything together (your "rip" should be in AVI format then because STudio is an AVI/DV only editor), then use an encoder program to make either a VCD or SVCD in either NTSC or PAL.

[El Torro]

hey, kitty, he can't huh... How is he able to READ the DVD...?
it is true you can burn (S)VCDs with your CD-Writter... and i also would do that if i was in ur place... but you can''t get the DVD Data on your comp!

[Tbear]

He will need a DVD-ROM drive to read the DVD's. He then has to have Either a CD-RW drive to burn VCD or SVCD, Or a DVD-RW or DVD+RW or DVD-RAM/-R to burn to a DVD.

[gavriil1]

I am sorry to confuse everyone here with my statement "...I dont have a DVD-xxx right now...".

What I meant folks was that, although I dont have a DVD-xxx right now, I am planning in buying one, a decision which will be based on what I will find out by asking folks like you, as far as, what is the smartest buy to make for my above need.

In other words, my main issues are with formats. And I mean both with NTSC/PAL as well as Region= xx related formats.

So, will all DVD-R/W or DVD+R/W (for PC use) be able to read my PAL DVD disk sent form Europe? Is one question.

Will Pinnacle's Studio 8 DV have a problem with PAL? I think it will. And if it will have a problem, can I use a utility to convert the PAL signal to NTSC before I load into Studio 8 DV ?

Afterwards, let's say I have done all that successfully and I am done with editing the content, can I burn that content on both, PAL as well as NTSC DVD disks?

What (for PC) DVD player/writer/re-writer do you recommend for the above and which conversion utilities?

[El Torro]

Without a DVD-XXX you can forget the ID to get the information on the DVD on your computer...

[vtoskov]

Hi,

-First you will absolutelly need a DVD-RW (for PC) I'm not sure of whether or not PAL format will work on but I think it will, but I would suggest that you ask the salesman for this and if you decide to buy it keep the receipt in case you have to return it.

-Let's say it does read PAL formats
-I think that a program such as Pinnacle's Studio 8 DV will not except PAL formats, but it won't cost you anything to try, the only thing that you will probably get is an error message.
-Now if it doesn't except PAL format you will need encoding software such as TMPGEnc to convert the PAL format to NTSC format.
-After you do all your editing
-Using the same software TMPGEnc make sure that you save one copy of the video as PAL and one as NTSC format on your hard drive.
-Final step is just burning the video on blank DVD using any DVD burning software (usually comes when you purchase the DVD-RW)

-KEEP IN MIND THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE WORKING WITH LARGE FILES SO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH SPACE ON YOUR HARD DRIVE

I hope this helps

GOOD LUCK

[thxkid]

oh , by the way, you won't do this all in a couple hours and don't be surprised if you end up with a few coasters, most of us here have got to where we can get very good to great results with the finished product by trying over and over again, modifying this and that, reading this forum and all the how-to's to left of us here, I say this not to discourage you but you will need patience and just keep trying if the result is not what your looking for. now I use Pal or NTSC in my Stand alone players, but I have used TMPGe to convert Pal to NTSC all the time, though I have never had the use to convert from NTSC to Pal before. Now there are a couple good programs out there you can tinker around with,
DVD2SVCD, Smartripper, Virtualdub, TMPGE, to name a few but if you go to the tool section to the left of the forum here might find some others that will suit your needs.

[vitualis]

This is completely off topic , but:

roses are red, violets are blue, i am schizofrenic, so i am two

Schizophrenia is completely and utterly different from multiple personality disorder and mutliple personalities is in no way a feature of schizophrenia. I have no idea where this popular misconception comes from...

Regards.

[offline]

from the same place where the similar misconception that schizophrenics are violent comes from - TV & Film media.

[gavriil1]

Thanks folks for all your help.