Region Encoding Issue

[g4jedi]

I have this DVD that I got from a friend in France. It's a copy of Star Wars - A New Hope that he recorded off digital cable. He and I both own the movie on VHS. He made me a copy using DVD Backup setting it to Region 0 so that it would play on my region 1 Sony DVD Player (brand new by the way). When I try to play the disk, my player says it cannot play the disk due to region restrictions. So, I then ran it through DVD Backup myself setting it to Region 1 and my player still won't play it. I made another copy with settings of region 0. Still no go! What's the deal here? Any ideas? Does Osex do a better job of changing the Region than DVD Backup? Should I try using Osex? HELP!

[ZeroSix]

this might not be a region issue but a display issue. France's standard for TV is called SECAM. If the DVD is recorded in SECAM [as opposed to PAL / NTSC] that you might be SOL. I know of NO DVD player n the USA that can play SECAM.

This is just my guess though and I could be all wrong.


I also know of DVD players that do not support region 0, but this is rare and Sony should NOT be a problem. Strange indeed.

Does the DVD play on your computer, ie in VLC?

More info on PAL/NTSC/SECAM standards here:

http://www.alkenmrs.com/video/standards.html

[g4jedi]

Hmmm.... very interesting. You might just be onto something there. To answer your question, Yes, it plays fine on the Mac. Excellent quality even. I just wish I could watch it on the big Sony Wega TV in the living room.

[galactica]

I know exactly what this is....

DVDBackup does not remove RCE protection. which crazy enough is what sort of sets the region code ! HA (at least the way i understand it)

I have only been able to get around this with VPC and IFOedit where you just ask it to remove rce protection.

sure enough, your dvdbackup'd dvd will still have it!


insane, yes
contact dvdbackup - perhaps you should.....

[g4jedi]

Hmmm... if that IS what the problem is, how 'bout some instructions on how to fix it with IFOEdit in VPC? Please?

[Epi]

this might not be a region issue but a display issue. France's standard for TV is called SECAM. If the DVD is recorded in SECAM [as opposed to PAL / NTSC] that you might be SOL. I know of NO DVD player n the USA that can play SECAM.

I don't want to be a jerk, this is just for info only. DVD does not truly support SECAM. What happens is that SECAM is basically the same as PAL (720x576, 25fps, & etc.) the only difference is that SECAM uses a different color system than PAL. DVD's in France are actually encoded in PAL format, and are automatically converted to SECAM by the DVD Player. Makes you wonder, why not just use PAL?

[Epi]

P.S. Almost forgot!
Here's a guide to help you remove RCE using IfoEdit

http://mpucoder.kewlhair.com/Derrow/rce.html

[g4jedi]

So, is it the PAL/SECAM problem or the RCE problem? Where should I start when I want to try and fix it to play on my DVD Player?

[ZeroSix]

Epi, the fact that it might be a SECAM issue was pure stipulation on my part. The link i provided for a brief explanation shows the difference between SECAM and PAL... I personally have no experience with discs from France, and was unaware that SECAM output comes from the players themselves and NOT the discs. Thanks for clearing that up.

Galactica, if the disc was created region free, and i assume any sort of copy protection free, as it was recorded from a TV broadcast using a capture card, you still think that RCE is the culprit?

My suggestion to you is try to playback the disc on a different set top player BEFORE DOING ANYTHING. This will save you time in the long run if it is just your player that is the problem.

[g4jedi]

IFOedit found the problem. It IS encoded as region free, however, it is also PAL. So, how does one convert a PAL DVD to NTSC?

I would have thought that my new Sony could handle PAL, but I guess not. The friggin thing plays everything else though...

[ZeroSix]

you are entering into a realm that is not worth your time. It would be better to spend the money on a new player.

You will spend double that in your time spent.

They have PAL/NTSC dvd players at Best Buy for $35.

Cheers!

[g4jedi]

Aint gonna happen. This DVD player rocks! I aint getting a new player just for one or two movies that are in PAL.

[BDMTHRFKR]

Don't want to change DVD players? Then Hack it!

http://www.regionfreedvd.net/player/sony.html

Hope this helps

[g4jedi]

It's not the region that is the problem. The DVD is set to "Region Free". It's because of the video being in PAL format. Besides, there are NO confirmed hacks that work with my Sony DVP-NS725P. From what I've read, people have tried to hack it without success.

I might just try to rip the movie to a high quality Quicktime Movie and drop it on Toast 6 and make my own DVD... We'll see though... Not sure I want to waste the time...

[g4jedi]

Maybe I should just convert the DVD to an NTSC VCD. I dunno, maybe the quality would suffer doing that. I wish there was an easy way to just convert the PAL DVD to a NTSC DVD. Anyone have any ideas? Keep in mind, I have all the software tools for this video/DVD stuff as most of the rest of you do too. There has got to be a way to do this. Even if it's just the movie only. Although, it would be nice to convert the entire DVD since the guy I got it from went through a lot of trouble by making menus, chapter selections, subtitles, french AND english audio tracks etc. Lucas should hire this guy to make the real DVDs.

[galactica]

I think again the problem lies in the 1st authoring of this dvd. I know that if you have a PAL dvd, ripped with DVDBAKUP 1.3 with a setting of region free and run though dvd2one it will have difficulty playing in non PAL dvd players.

However! Take the same dvd and use a (ah hum, cough cough) PC app to backup the file and then use PC dvd2one it wont have a problem playing in non PAL players because it will actually register as NTSC!

What is the culprit? I was informed it was the lac of RCE protection removal using dvdbackup 1.3. I run the remove RCE protection IFOedit and the PAL dvd now plays in a strictly only NTSC player.

It would be highly recommended to get a pal/ntsc cabpable player (and ALSO TV!!!!) because that way who cares about the pal vs ntsc because at least the region code is gone!

[g4jedi]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm NOT going to buy a new player just for one PAL DVD. I just bought this player and I'm really happy with it.

I ran the files through IFOedit last night and that was how I found out that it was in PAL. IFOedit also said that there was NO RCE used. Also note, there is NO NEED to run the DVD through DVD2one. As I said before, this is a HOME MADE DVD. It was just home made by a guy in France.

So, even though IFOedit says there is NO RCE, should I save the IFO files anyway and try to reburn?

[thorsted]

This fix may be too simple, but it is worth a try. I have a couple of region free discs from asia and to get them to play on my DVD Player or my buddies sony, when you put the disc in you cannot let it load. Press stop continuously until it stops spinning. Then press play. Not sure what is going on, but it works!

-weiheng

[g4jedi]

Hmmmm... interesting. That would be awesome if that works! I'll give it a shot when I get home. Thanks!

[g4jedi]

Nope! Didn't work...

...back to square one...

[ZeroSix]

Jedi --

Sorry for not replying. I actually typed a lengthy reply to you, and accidentally hit my browser's back button and lost it all...

If you genuinely want to convert this DVD from PAL to NTSC, here is what you need to do:

1) rip the DVD as a single .VOB in 0SEx
2) in the terminal, convert to an .avi file using the following command:

'mencoder -ovc lavc -oac pcm /path/to/input.vob -o /path/to/output.avi'

This will take several hours to complete.

3) once you have your .avi file, open it in Quicktime. Test to make sure it plays back ok.

4) export it to MPEG2 using the Quicktime MPEG2 component. The reason for using Quicktime as opposed to any other encoder is that it will change the framerate for you to be NTSC. Just make sure you select NTSC and opt to save the audio. I am still puzzled as to how this works, but it will take any framerate video [ex, 15fps, 5fps, 25fps, etc] and somehow make it 29.97 fps and keep it in sync.

5) take your .aif file and import it into A.Pack and convert it to AC-3 using 48 sampling and 224 bit rate. If you do not have A.Pack installed or it doesnt work for you [which it just doesnt for some], convert the .aif fole to .wav in Quicktime and open it in ffmpegX and convert it to AC-3 --OR-- .mp2 using the same settings as described above.

6) import the resulting .m2v and .ac3/.mp2 into DVDSP and author as a DVD.

--OR-- you can open each stream in ffmpegX and tell it to mux and author as a DVD for you.

This should work as it has for me in the past without problems. You will lose some quality as the Apple MPEG2 encoder sucks in comparison to other encoders, however, it will change the framerate and resolution for you, and keep perfect sync unlike any other encoders.

I know you are hellbent on NOT buying a new DVD player, but you are looking at an entire day spent doing this. For $35 you can get a DVD player that will not have these issues. And for $35 or less you can alternatively get a genuine Star Wars DVD [released only in Asia] that is already in NTSC [with dolby digital] to begin with.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[Dunnyman]

You have a link for the Asian Star Wars?????????
Dude, say it's so...I'll love you forever!!!



well, not like that, but ya know what I mean...

[ZeroSix]

here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3353172410&category=41575

or here: http://www.vcdmoviebox.com/DVDMovies/Star_Wars_Trilogy.html


A buddy of mine has it.

::in Yoda voice:: "Very nice it is."

[g4jedi]

Thanks for the instructions. I might just try it, although, buying the Asian version might be better. Thanks for everything.

[Dunnyman]

Zero, you're my hero... and the price ain't hard to deal with either....much much Kaiju as well there....

[g4jedi]

I like the price at VCD Movie Box, however, they don't list the specs of the DVDs. IE: features, menus, letterbox etc. I emailed them hours ago and have yet to get a reply.

[ZeroSix]

a friend of mine bought them there, and they are nice... good packaging, decent menus, etc.

Quality is also excellent.

The only thing is that they have Cantonese subtitles by default, but you can turn them off. Menus, etc. are all in English.

AS far as I can tell, it is an official release from LF.

[g4jedi]

Are they in wide screen?

[WiseWeasel]

The ebay listing has all the info, and yes, it's widescreen, surround sound, region 0 (indicative of a pirated pressing). Sounds good to me, but not from ebay. I placed my order at the other site...

[g4jedi]

Those were the ones I was asking about. NOT the ones on eBay.