Will DVDplayer (OS 10.4.x) play a PAL dvd?

[rotuts]

is there a way to play a PAL dvd on a mac or convert it to something that will?

cheers

[Noahtuck]

Well, i'm not a mac person but i'm going to assume mac's are the same as PC's in the regard they are not locked into playing only one format, PAL or NTSC.

If it's a pressed PAL dvd it is most likely a region coding problem.
So you would need to flash your drive to be region free or use some other program to allow you to play any region coded disc.

I'm sure someone with a mac will know what programs to use.

[rumplestiltskin]

Yes, PAL or NTSC are fine in a Mac DVD drive (as it's really just a normal PC DVD drive). Noahtuck is correct that there might be a region issue. Remember that the Mac will permit you to change the region a limited number of times (5, IIRC, but I may be wrong) and then it's permanently set to the last region.

The "region-free" hacks sometimes work (depending on the drive you have) but often require that this be done on a PC (BootCamp would work). However, if your Mac is under warranty, fubar'ing your DVD drive in this manner is not covered. The best way (IMHO) is to buy an inexpensive external burner and use that for "the other region's" discs. In this manner you can use the external drive to rip (and remove the region coding) and then use the internal drive to burn it back out region-free (whether to PAL or NTSC).

edit: MacTheRipper or Handbrake (ad other apps) can do the ripping for you.

Let us know if this helps.

[tomlee59]

The Mac has no problem playing DVDs that are PAL or NTSC. As Noahtuck suggested, your problem is most likely a region-control issue (google a bit if that means nothing to you).

To play a disc from another region, you can choose a new region for your drive. However, an annoyance is that you can only switch regions a limited number (e.g., 5) of times, after which the drive will forever stay locked at the last region. To avoid this, you can rip the DVD to your hard drive, and play it from there. A pain, yes, but modern Apple drives are diabolically designed not to work with the region-free hacks that are widely available for other drives.

If you plan to play many discs from another region, you may wish to consider getting an external drive that can be made region free.

edit: I see that Rumplestiltskin beat me to this by a few seconds. At least you got two guys who agree.

[rotuts]

thanks Fine replies! Record Time!

as its onlly one DVD Ill just play it on my comp[uter

I think my pioneer is region free

cheers