Region Coding and PAL/NTSC questions.

[hech54]

Please remove this post if it appears twice...not sure if the first one worked....thanks

I'm trying to understand the relation between Region Coding and NTSC/PAL. Alot of people say that they have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other....which in most cases is true....however if this is the case....why don't you ever see an NTSC - Region 4 DVD for sale anywhere?
OK...here's the deal. It is my understanding that when you download DVDDecrypter to use....it comes to you with the default setting that basically says "everything I do in this program will result in a Region Free object"....correct? So why is there an option in the settings that allows you to assign a Region Code to your creation? Also what would be the advantage of creating something like an NTSC - Region 4 object or eventually DVDR? It won't fool the DVD player into thinking the disc is really a PAL disc(since Region 4 is PAL territory) and therefore be able to play it with no problems....it will still either look like crap or not play at all because it is the wrong video format....correct?


Isn't Region Free what everyone is looking to achieve?.....meaning....one less hassle to deal with?
If you have a DVD Player with no known Region Hack available....doesn't a Region Free disc solve all of your problems provided it can play home made DVDR's provided the disc is of the same format(NTSC or PAL)?
Sorry for all of the questions in one post...and please don't feel you need to answer ALL of them. I'm just trying to get a feel for the rationality behind all of this stuff. Having lived in an NTSC environment....having dealt with playing(viewing) PAL material in that NTSC environment...and now living in a PAL environment I feel I have a BIT more knowledge than the "Average Joe"....but this is one hurdle I can't seem to get over.
In my little warped brain....Region Coding and Video Format(PAL/NTSC) are tied together in some ways.
Any thoughts?....comments?....HECH bashing?....

[Duchess]

<chuckle> OK region coding and format are somewhat tied together but only in respect of geography. However, technically there is no link whatsoever since you can have whatever combination you want.

In regard to your question:

why don't you ever see an NTSC - Region 4 DVD for sale anywhere?

That's purely down to the fact that none of the countries in that region use the NTSC format and not because of the fact that they are incompatible. However, that only relates to commercial DVD's as you can get situations where a home burnt DVD could be so coded. A very few DVD players will only play DVD's that have the correct region and will not play region free DVD's (bloody stupid really) but will play NTSC and PAL.

It's a real pain converting NTSC to PAL so most of us in regions that are PAL territories just don't bother and just leave it as NTSC region free, or perhaps set to the region we are in because most equipment in our region will handle both NTSC and PAL formats. For instance I have a friend who regularly buys DVD's from the USA and he gets me to copy them as region 2 NTSC DVD's so that he can watch them on the DVD player in his bedroom (the main household one in the living room is region free).

Does this cover your questions?