Easy way to play PAL DVD on NTSC hardware

[silverwolf0]

My mom bought a boatload of Chinese drama DVDs from Hong Kong. The thing is, they are all PAL. It is weird. My old Toshiba laptop will play them and my crappy audiovox portable dvd player will play them. However, none of my real stand-alone dvd players will play them correctly. One is colorless and the other jumps with the refresh rate issue. What I find really odd is that both my NEC burners in my computers won't even recognize the discs and they show up as empty or nothing. I'm not even sure if the disc even spins.

Now my mom can either try to watch them on the dinky portable dvd player, or I can find some way to convert them to NTSC (I am assuming its a TV standards problem). Is there an easy method to do this? Is it a simple flag or something in the video stream?

This may also pose a problem as none of my NEC drives recognize the discs and my Toshiba laptop is slow and not a burner.

I have converted PAL PS2 games into NTSC before and it took only a few seconds on a computer program so crossing my fingers hoping there is an easy and/or quick fix for this.

[hech54]

Is there an easy method to do this?

Umm...nope.

OK...yes

watch them on the dinky portable dvd player

Sorry...truth can be painful sometimes.

[David K]

I recall a method by which you can "trick" a NTSC DVD player into playing a PAL Disc.
You rip the contents of the DVD (as a DVD folder, not an image file). (If it's encrypted, you'll need a software ripper)
Then use Ifoedit to change one of the settings in the ifo files from PAL to NTSC.
Then you burn a new copy of the disc.
Do a search on this forum and you'll find more details.

[theewizard]

maybe an external burner via USB port would allow you to rip the dvd and convert from PAL to NTSC

they can be converted there are threads and stickies about this, BUT it is not quick and easy, one click painless

the file resolution will changed the picture will be cropped to fit the ntsc standard

[silverwolf0]

You only need to change resolution or framerate for standard DVDs, not non-standard ones I think. I am thinking PAL has something added other than resolution and framerate change. Can't I just change that instead? My DVD players can handle non-standard resolutions and such.

[TBoneit]

Does your dinky DVD player have AV outputs? Many do and if you can set the output to NTSC rather than Auto then you are good to go. Or more user friendly gat a Philips 5960 or 5982 at best buy for example.

There is a region free hack here that shows this info.
"This hack was successfully applied to the Philips DVP5960/37.
It is the same hack as with the Philips DVP5140:

1. Turn on the unit
2. Open the loading tray
3. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
4. Navigate to the "Preferences" page using the right arrow key
5. Enter 138931
6. You will now see the current region code displayed
7. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to select the region required or "0" for all regions
8. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
9. Press "OK" on the remote"


I used on the the dvp 5960 and 5982 and they now play region free and PAL or NTSC as Well as Ultra Divx.

Just a suggestion and I don't know your budget but....

It avoids messing around with portable dvd players or software conversions etc.

[TBoneit]

You only need to change resolution or framerate for standard DVDs, not non-standard ones I think. I am thinking PAL has something added other than resolution and framerate change. Can't I just change that instead? My DVD players can handle non-standard resolutions and such.

The resolution and framerates are differentr for PAL and NTSC. If your player outputs PAL from a PAL disc most USA TVs will either freak or show it as B&W. The way the color information is sent is different. The Philips I mentioned above outputs PAL or NTSC as NTSC standard so there are no problems.

Yes you could change that, re-encode to NTSC DVD or if you have a Divx player convert to Divx. But a player can do the conversion internally saves a lot of time as well as the instant gratification of bring home the PAl disc, pop it in and play it.

NicheFlix rents many regions and both formats here in the USA same as Netflix but imports from overseas that may not be available here or are cut differently here or not even released here.

That's how I got interested in a player that lets me just watch a DVD no matter what.

Cheers

[silverwolf0]

Yes that sounds like the best option and the easiest. Reconverting them and burning them would be both costly in time and money. Is the Philips 5982 you mention the best alternative right now? Or will any DVD player that can play PAL and NTSC work?

I am also curious as to why I can play PAL formatted VCDs (352x288 25fps) on my DVD players without issue yet DVDs are a mystery.

[Rockas]

If your source files are progressive you can try DGPulldown... maybe you have luck

You will have to RIP, demux, dgpulldown video ES and then re-author... not very hard if you have some experience.

edit:
just in case...

ES = Elementary stream... in this case, after demux you will get the audio stream(s) and the video stream (usually *.m2v).

[TBoneit]

The thing about the Philips is it upconverts via HDMI and plays Divx/Xvid as well as DVDs. Being lazy I got the Philips rather than do conversions and use more DVDs. The main reason being the time saved. I have for example a box set of The Office from the UK that a customer gave me. We had been talking about how I liked british shows one time months before and he was through with it. It of course is PAL as well as region 2(?) but now I can play any of the episodes easily. And someone that works here brought some movies from his visit home and they are PAL and Region 2 plus other titles I've collected over the years. I was surprised to hear that Sunday papers sometimes include free movies on DVD over there?

That is the main reason I have it. To play PAl & AVIs. Sometimes it is just easier to convert to UltraDivx using TDA3 so I have menus and chapters and fit more on a disc if its episodes I doing.

Sometimes I turn my captures into DVDs instead. I just like the flexibility. I bought mine at Best Buy, online could be cheaper... I just don't like online buying. One lack on both those models is no S-Video, only composite or component or HDMI.

Cheers

[silverwolf0]

I figured out why my NEC drive wouldn't even read the disc. It was a region lock thing. It didn't dawn on me because I was expecting some kind of error like "illegal region, cannot play" or something like that but nothing happens, like its broken. Then I installed a RPC1 firmware for my NEC drive. Now I have to put some toothpaste to get rid of the scratches...