Simple program to strip reagon codes on Mac?

[beatmaker]

Hello,

Having a bit of a problem here. I have a lame Sony DVP-NS55P Dvd player and I have some video files that I have burned to DVD-R using Toast 7.1 on my G5 Mac. The video files are encoded as Xvid avi's at 576 x 432 29.9 fps.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong here? Pretty much set Toast to burn as DVD then drag the files to the window and it shows them ok. I burn the disc which is fine. It can play just fine on my Mac in DVD Player... but when I try the disc in my Sony I get the ever so annoying "region code error"??

Wondering if the files maybe have a bad region on them or if there is a simple Mac program that would allow me to simply open the video file and change the region code to something that the DVD player could recognize?

Any thoughts?

[rumplestiltskin]

Check to see if Toast is set for NTSC; if it's set for PAL, it won't work with your US DVD player/TV.

Region codes shouldn't have anything to do with an Xvid as, in that format, there's nothing there that stores region codes.

[Herve]

use myDVDEdit to correct§ region codes
doubleclick on an .IFO file
select (middle-bottom) the "DVD" tabs
check regions 1 to 6, uncheck region 7 & 8
save
burn

bye

[stanislawski]

Use MTR (mac the ripper) to rip the burned dvd to your desktop and make sure that MTR is set to strip the region coding off. Then burn a new disc with toast and use the video ts option.

[beatmaker]

Thanks for the replies back...

Toast usually asks me and says "Your content is set to PAL but your current settings are NTSC would you like to convert" and I always say yes. Sometimes it doesn't ask at all so I would assume the files are the correct format.

I tried ripping the burned DVD using MTR to strip the code... but get this... when I do that I only get *SOME* of the video but not all? For example, if its a show with multiple episodes and I try to 'rip it back to my desktop to strip the regions I only get maybe the 1st one or a few other random things. I tried burning it again after the rip-strip but got a new error message on my DVD player. This time it simply says "cannot read this". I'm not really sure whats going on there? Again, plays fine on my Mac.

Never tried myDVDEdit before... so let me give that a try. Will that let you open the AVI and edit the region?

Dumb 2 pt. question, #1. I think I read somewhere that if your MAC dvd player is set to a certain region then all your burned DVD's will be that too. So is there a way I can edit my Mac's region or make it region free? #2. I thought Toast burned region free and rumplestiltskin had a good thought that the AVI's shouldn't have anything to do with the regions? Perhaps it is something weird with the screen resolution?

[rumplestiltskin]

Your source video is, indeed, not what we'd see in NTSC material. Do you really need to output it to DVD? Why not go to H264 and let your AppleTV handle sending it to your TV? (Okay; that's another discussion... )

MPEG Streamclip can take your material and export it to DV-Stream which iDVD can re-encode to an NTSC disc. Toast can do the encoding from the DV-Stream, as well. That should resolve the issue.

Let us know what happens.

[beatmaker]

Awesome! Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try that and see what happens. Will re-post and let you know how it turns out.

Sorry... no AppleTV for me. Suckers are crazy expensive! haha! I just have a regular DVD player. Nothing special. So was hoping to find a way to just 'make it work'.

Is there a reason to encode and burn using iDVD vs. Toast? Just curious? I do have both but always thought Toast was the app of choice for this type of thing?

[beatmaker]

You know what... I do have Quicktime Pro. I think you can change the settings of the resolution in there. Would just doing that work maybe? Just a thought?

Also, what do I do about the region code thing? Is that a result of the video not being the correct NTSC resolution settings? Or is it something else I'm missing?

[Herve]

Also, what do I do about the region code thing?

Nothing, was my misytake (I thought you used a DVD-Video, not AVI on DVD-R)

So yes, the easiest way to broadcast it, is to re-encode your AVI for DVD
bye

[usually_quiet]

I am a PC user, and unfortunately, I can't suggest software for Mac users that can do it, but you ought to have something, perhaps even your software DVD player, that can tell you the region code and video format (NTSC/PAL) that your DVD actually has, assuming it is an authored DVD disc, not a data DVD disc.

The region code error isn't likely to be real. Self-authored DVDs are normally region-free/all-region, and region codes don't apply to data DVDs where the video is a collection of files copied onto a disc. (If your DVD is just a collection of Xvid video files, that's your problem. I don't think that your DVD player can play such a disc.)

In addition to being correctly authored, the video needs to be MPEG-2 with a valid NTSC resolution and framrate in order to be watchable with your DVD player and TV. NTSC resolutions are normally 352 x 480, 704 x 480 or 720 x 480 (most common). The framerate should be either 29.97 fps (usual) or 23.976 fps (less common).

If you need to verify what is on the DVD, MPEG Streamclip can tell you about the video and audio for each title. Assuming the interface is the same on both platforms, run MPEG Streamclip, then open the DVD. Find and open the VIDEO_TS folder for your DVD and choose a DVD movie number from the list, then type Ctrl+I.

Hopefully you'll see "MPEG-2", plus an allowed NTSC resolution and framerate listed under "Video Tracks" Audio shoud be PCM, DTS, MP2, or AC-3 (AC-3 is usual in NTSC land). If not, maybe somebody else can help you with the conversion. I have only worked with DVD compliant video, and have never needed to convert anything.