conversion of dvd from UK to USA

[philmoran]

Help!!
I have recently moved from the UK to the USA and miss specific programmes. My Parents have a DMR-E55EB/EBL Panasonic dvd recorder to record dvds (dvd-R) and send them over to me. BUT they don't work! I went to Bestbuy and tried every DVD player and the dvd didn't work (one player recognised the dvd but couldn't play them, the others couldn't even read the dvd)
How can I watch these dvds over here and why don't they work???

[Gurm]

You just need to find a player that:

1. Likes that media.
2. Plays PAL.

Many of us have purchased, specifically for this purpose, the extra-super-cheap $30 Cyberhome player from Best Buy or Target. I paid $27 for mine, sometimes it's as much as $39.99, but it's always cheap. It plays all kinds of media, and plays PAL no problem.

Take your media down to Best Buy and try out the Cyberhome if they even have it set up.

[Soopafresh]

or play them on your PC/Mac, but Gurm is right. You'll need a DVD player that handles the PAL standard.

[Noahtuck]

You just need to find a player that:

1. Likes that media.
2. Plays PAL.

Take your media down to Best Buy and try out the Cyberhome if they even have it set up.

Except at best buy im sure they wont have the region hack activated so they might not work at first there either, assuming the panny region encodes, I have both a panny recorder and cyberhome but i never checked to see if my panny region encodes, i'm guessing it does

I just checked a dvd-r i did on my panny and it shows through DvdInfo Pro
As being all region, through IfoEdit also.

[Gurm]

Oh crud yeah I just remembered that.

Dude, none of the players will play a R2 disc without a region hack! Look to see what's available at your local store, then look in the players section of this site to see which ones have region hacks. The Cyberhome definitely does (one time only you have to do some fiddling with the remote to turn off region checking).

[philmoran]

thanks for all the replies -BUT - I have just bought the Philips 642/37 DVD player as this seemed to be the best region free pal/ntsc player out there. I have put in the region free hack (and that has worked as I tried a UK dvd in there) BUT it still doesn't play the dvd-r s that my parents have recorded for me - any further advice??????!!!!!
( I have my favorite programmes all set up!!!!)

[MOVIEGEEK]

This is asked several times a week,you have three options:
1.Buy a region free multisystem DVD player( www.google.com ).Best.
2.Reencode the DVD to NTSC(search "How to Convert").Better but takes time.
3.Use DJRumpy's guide HERE.Good if it works on your DVD player.

[FulciLives]

The Philips DVP-642 will play any PAL DVD and convert to NTSC output. You are having trouble with it because it does not like either the brand of DVD-R you are using OR it could be a problem due to the Panasonic DVD-R recording. What I mean is ... Panasonic stand alone DVD recorders create a DVD-R that is not 100% compatable thus many DVD players will not be able to play such discs back correctly.

The solution?

1.) Buy a new region free PAL to NTSC DVD player that likes the DVD-R discs tht the Panasonic is creating.

2.) Fix the DVD-R discs that you are getting.

As for point 1 you are on your own. Trial and error there. I know JVC models will convert PAL to NTSC even if it is a USA model (as long as the DVD is region free which your DVD-R discs will be).

As for point 2 there is a "simple" fix. Rip the DVD-R on your computer. Re-auther using something like TMPGEnc DVD Author (that program makes it real easy and once you learn it the process only takes a few moments to do). Re-burn to a new DVD-R disc. Same video and audio quality (no re-encoding) but now that video is "wrapped up" inside a new menu and an altered file system that will make it more compatable than what the Panasonic standalone DVD recorders do.

I have friends that send me DVD-R discs that were made with Panasonic stand alone DVD recorders and I have to use TMPGEnc DVD Author to re-do them so they will play on my DVD players neither of which like the discs straight from the Panasonic units.

Blame Panasonic for this. It has something to do with the finalize stage and/or the menu/file system they use. It simply creates discs that are not 100% compatable.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE:
The Panasonic stand alone DVD recorders have an option in the set-up menu called Hybrid VBR or something like that. This MUST be set to OFF otherwise you will have problems when you try to re-author.

[victoriabears]

it is always difficult to catch every aspect of these threads, but it could be that the dvd-r's have not been finalised, if they have not, NO dvd player will play them no matter what they are pal/ntsc.

Just a simple point.

[AlecWest]

Step One - Take a DVD sent to you and visit a store selling region-free players.

Step Two - Tell a salesman you'd like to try out players to see which one is compatible with your DVD. Start cheap and move up until you find one.

Step Three - If you can't find one that likes your DVD, you likely have a problem with the DVD itself. In that event, capture, reauthor, and reburn to a medium your current player likes.

[johns0]

Just rip the dvd to your hdd and reauthor as pal and then try and play it.