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  1. Member
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    Not sure if this goes here, or in the 'DVD Playing' thread.

    I've read that one can change their Region 1 DVD player(or computer DVD drive) up to 3 times before it's 'locked into' whatever region you end up with.

    If this is true, how is '3 times' defined? 3 'single-switches'(reg 1 to reg 2), or 3 'round-trip' switches(reg 1 to reg 2, then back to reg 1)?

    Once you've switched from reg 1 to reg 2, can you load multiple disks, then go back to reg 1, and that's counted as 1(or 2) switches, or is every single disk loaded counted as a 'time'?

    I've got 6 reg 2 DVD disks that I would like to load and rip, will I be able to do this with my reg 1 DVD player/burner in my Win 7 PC?

    Oh, and these disks are PAL, will that be an issue ripping/playing?

    Thanks!
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  2. Member hech54's Avatar
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    The region(switching) does not matter when you are using (computer) ripping software.
    You are in America. Making region free copies of these discs will NOT guarantee they will work on your television/dvd player however....the discs will still be PAL video format.
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  3. Member DB83's Avatar
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    It is actually 5 times.

    So you change from Region 1 to 2. That takes care of one change.
    Need to go back to Region 1 and that takes care of another change

    So, effectively, you can only change regions temporarily twice

    Region changes are controlled by the player software. Not the drive which will be locked.

    Use a software player like vlc that does not concern itself with region codes and both Region 1 and Region 2 will play.

    Or a 'driver' such as AnyDVD which also ignores regions.
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    Whoa! That was fast. So, I'll be a able to load and rip the reg 2 disks, and not have to worry about switching region codes? Yes, I realize that the resulting PAL video may not be watchable, and/or not be able to be handbraked. Is there(free) software that will convert PAL to USA format, and allow handbrake to encode it? Hmmmm...I wonder if Handbrake has a built-in PAL to US format converter?
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    If you are using Handbrake, presumably you are making MP4 or MKV files. Keep the frame rate the same in the resulting video files, since the vast majority of devices that play MP4 or MKV can handle 25fps seen in the original PAL DVD. Resolution depends on what you need for your playback devices.
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    Yeah, I've researched Handbrake, it seems it's supposed to be able to take in PAL video, and output NTSC. I'll give a shot and post back with the results. But, I've got some other ripping/burning to do first, just in case my drive gets locked up.
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  7. Member netmask56's Avatar
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    How about MakeMKV would that work in the USA with PAL discs? It certainly does the other way around here in PAL land. I have DVD's from every region and no problem playing them after putting them in a MKV container via MakeMKV.
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  8. Member
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    I have MakeMKV, but I haven't used it in a long time, I think the last time I tried using it, it didn't work(maybe I need an update). I should be able to do the Handbrake test in about a week...I have a lot of other ripping/burning to do first.
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  9. Member netmask56's Avatar
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    Assuming you are using the free version the license has probably run out you can renew it. MakeMKV doesn't change the quality of the original or size, whereas Handbrake re-encodes and is way slower of course.
    SONY 75" Full array 200Hz LED TV, Yamaha A1070 amp, Zidoo UHD3000, BeyonWiz PVR V2 (Enigma2 clone), Chromecast, Windows 11 Professional, QNAP NAS TS851
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  10. ½ way to Rigel 7 cornemuse's Avatar
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    Get a usb dvd-rom player/recorder & use it for region 2 disks exclusively.

    I have added an esata plug on back of my comp, I plug in an internal dvd-rom into it & use an external PS to run it.

    I usually keep an internal hdd bay/tray plugged in for higher speed file transfers but its easy enough to unplug/plug in the dvd-rom for the odd region 2 disk.

    -c-
    Yes, no, maybe, I don't know, Can you repeat the question?
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  11. Member
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    Originally Posted by tkmops View Post
    Yeah, I've researched Handbrake, it seems it's supposed to be able to take in PAL video, and output NTSC. I'll give a shot and post back with the results. But, I've got some other ripping/burning to do first, just in case my drive gets locked up.
    As Kerry56, already told you, you won't need to convert your media files from PAL to NTSC for display on a N. American TV, if you have an appropriate playback device. You may already have a media player available to you that can do the job. Most newer Blu-ray players and many newer TVs include a built-in media player that would be able to play video copied from a PAL DVD.

    For example I have used the built-in media player in an LG region 1 Blu-ray player connected to a US-model Samsung TV via HDMI to play a media file that I created from a PAL DVD using MakeMKV. I also have 2 US-model TVs (a Samsung and an LG) with built-in media players which accept input from USB 2.0 hard drives or flash drives. Both media players allow my TVs to play PAL video.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 1st Oct 2016 at 11:52. Reason: typo
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  12. Member
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    Update:I was able to rip the reg 2 PAL DVD's(used up one 'time' switching from reg 1 to reg 2), and handbrake those VOB's to MKV files.

    I'm surprised it worked. I haven't gone back to reg 1 yet, as I may have more reg 2 DVD's to rip in the future.

    The image looks better than a 'normal' DVD, I guess that's due to the higher resolution of PAL format?

    NTSC video frame is 720 pixels x 486 lines, and a PAL video frame is 720 pixels x 576 lines.

    Hmmm...I might just 'upgrade' some of my old NTSC DVD's to PAL format.

    Thanks everyone for their input...everything worked out!
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  13. Originally Posted by tkmops View Post
    NTSC video frame is 720 pixels x 486 lines, and a PAL video frame is 720 pixels x 576 lines.
    It's 720x480/720x576.
    Hmmm...I might just 'upgrade' some of my old NTSC DVD's to PAL format.
    That was a joke, right? Increasing the resolution won't magically create more detail. And I, for one, would never intentionally make movement unnaturally fast and dialog and music intentionally out of tune.
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    ???? of course it creates more detail...there's more pixels. All the finished MKV's played just fine...not sped up. I haven't tried playing the files with VLC, but WMP works great.
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  15. Originally Posted by tkmops View Post
    ???? of course it creates more detail...there's more pixels.
    Sure, keep telling yourself that.
    All the finished MKV's played just fine...not sped up.
    Of course they're speeded up. They come from PAL DVDs. Just compare the length of your movies on PAL DVD with the length of the same movie as given by IMDB or some such place. Movies, like in a movie theater, play at 24fps. PAL DVDs play at 25fps. You do the math.
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    Well, I won't argue the point, the handbraked MKV files from this particular set of PAL DVD's(IMHO) look better than normal DVD's, and they're not sped up. Maybe handbrake converted them to 24 fps?, or WMP is playing them at 24 fps? In any case, I'm satisfied.
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    Originally Posted by tkmops View Post
    Well, I won't argue the point, the handbraked MKV files from this particular set of PAL DVD's(IMHO) look better than normal DVD's, and they're not sped up. Maybe handbrake converted them to 24 fps?, or WMP is playing them at 24 fps? In any case, I'm satisfied.
    You can find out if Handbrake converted your video to 24fps by opening the file MediaInfo, clicking "View" on the menu bar, and then selecting "Text".
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  18. Originally Posted by tkmops View Post
    ...the handbraked MKV files from this particular set of PAL DVD's(IMHO) look better than normal DVD's...
    They can't look better. They've been reencoded into a lossy codec. Maybe they look similar. Maybe you don't know how to tell the difference, but they do not look better.
    ...and they're not sped up.
    Sure they are. The PAL DVD is 25fps and I expect your MKV is as well. They play 4+% faster than the original film and than the NTSC version of the same film. Again, maybe you can't tell unless you have the NTSC version to play along side it to compare the movement and the sound of the voices and music.
    Maybe handbrake converted them to 24 fps?
    No.
    or WMP is playing them at 24 fps?
    No.
    In any case, I'm satisfied.
    Which is all that counts, isn't it. Me, I convert PAL to NTSC as a matter of course, and never the other way around as you're thinking of doing.
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  19. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Of course there is always a possibility that your Region 2 disks are actually NTSC - we can play these on our tvs without issue.

    Several companies do this to avoid playback issues on NTSC equipment. Also there have been issues in the past when PAL sources have been butchered in creating NTSC disks.

    As for 4% speed-up I guess over this side of the pond we do not notice it whereas it may be more evident of there. Never actually compared a NTSC and PAL version of the same film to find out and even then I might not notice it.
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  20. Originally Posted by DB83 View Post
    Of course there is always a possibility that your Region 2 disks are actually NTSC
    He did specifically mention them being as PAL, but you could be right. R2 Japan and a very few R2 European DVDs are NTSC. I've encountered a couple from an English company (Masters Of Cinema) that were. My understanding is that it's quite rare, though, and that only 'boutique' houses and not more mainstream media companies do it.

    Never actually compared a NTSC and PAL version of the same film to find out and even then I might not notice it.
    You'd notice it during a song or musical passage, since they don't ordinarily pitch-correct music. And if you know someone's voice well, you'd notice when it's higher pitched. But yes, complaints about the 'PAL speedup' are few and far between from PAL people. They are more liable to complain about NTSC 3:2 pulldown which some find intolerable, although, having put up with it all my life I don't even notice.
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  21. Member netmask56's Avatar
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    NTSC discs/files etc play just find in Oz. Most of the gear simply switches to the appropriate frame rate. Can't say I've noticed pitch changes for years - back in analog TV days yes. If I hear a noise like bus brake squeal I can go to the piano and play the corresponding note without thinking. Most of the difficulties seem to be in NTSC world for some reason. On regions I've had a couple of region 4 (Australia/NZ/South America now that is a weird combination!) discs that were NTSC. Time they got rid of region coding - In Oz it's a bit like schrodinger's cat both legal and illegal all at the same time so it's easy to buy a region free DVD player out of the box, bit more difficult with Blu ray but a few local on-line companies market 'switchable' zones.
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  22. I'd recommend trying RipIt4Me. It requires DVD Decryptor and DVDShrink to do the work. It hasn't been updated in a while so can't handle the very latest copy protections, but it'll rip 99% of DVDs. It'll use a "brute force' ripping mode. No ned to change your DVD drive region.

    I'd be willing to argue there's a "potential" for encoded DVDs to look better than the original but only if they're resized with sharp filtering (no idea what Handbrake uses) because it can sharpen, or if filtering is used to improve the quality. And it's personal taste. Some pics to prove I'm not lying though, or that resizing when encoding can at least make a difference.... for better or worse. That resizing is somewhat different to resizing NTSC to PAL resolution though, which I wouldn't do.

    Increasing the resolution increases the number of pixels but it can't increase the picture detail as such. There's just more pixels to encode.
    If you encode a 23.976fps video with Handbrake and specify a 25fps output, I'm fairly sure all it does it duplicate one frame in 24(ish). You end up with a 25fps output but it's no different to the 23.976 source, aside from a bunch of duplicate frames so the video isn't sped up. That's less than ideal. The audio will be the same.

    I Live in PAL-land and usually don't slow PAL "film" back down to 24fps, although I'm wondering if I should be. Normally I don't notice the pitch increase but recently I encoded a couple of seasons of an old US TV show. Season 1 was NTSC, and season 2 PAL. I had to slow the PAL season down because when I had an NTSC season as a comparison, I couldn't handle the increase in audio pitch that came with the PAL version.

    Unless you're using a program that can speed up or slow down "properly" though, don't change the frame rate.
    Last edited by hello_hello; 13th Oct 2016 at 07:59.
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