Zero luck with creating Region Free discs

[THRobinson]

I just got a PS3 because wnated to start getting Blu-Ray and networking media etc. Plus, my region free DVD Player is no longer with us (rest in peace good buddy).

That being said, I have a handful of PAL discs that the PS3 won't touch.

I've tried re-ripping them with DVDShrink and had it set to Region Free, burned the disc and the PS3 says PAL not supported. So, I tried again this time set to Region 1, and same PAL error. So, switched to DVDDecrypter, with Region 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, and RCE Protection: No... ripped the disc, burned a new copy and PAL error again. I even tried a small utility called IFORegionFree which says the files should be fine but no luck.

Tried with a couple of discs, 2 still said PAL, and one went from being PAL to unsupported disc type for some reason.

Anyway... anyone have any suggestions what I'm doing wrong?

I'm not buying a cheap DVD player, I like my current setup just fine. For now, using TVersity as a media centre and have it set to share my DVD drive and auto-convert so, not dead in the water, but, quality is a bit lacking this method.

Thanks,

[TBoneit]

Your NTSC Sony PS3 will never play a PAL disc no matter what region you set it to.

Same thing I had to contend with my Sony 400 DVD Changer. Sony's are very strict that way.

You will need to convert the video to NTSC 720 by 480 and reauthor.

It nothing to do with the region and all to do with NTSC vs PAL

[Moontrash]

just buy a philips 3560 at amazon....done

[Noahtuck]

Region coding & format (PAL/NTSC) are two totally different things, one technically has nothing to do with the other.....

[guns1inger]

Sad, really. The PS3 released in Australia, while resolutely region 4 (Sony bastards), will happily play PAL or NTSC material. My guess is that the UK PS3 will do the same. Does it really save them that much in support to warrant disabling it for the NTSC regions ?

[Ai Haibara]

Stupid question, perhaps. Why do US-retailed DVD players tend not to support PAL? Is there some sort of (unofficial?) mandate?

I can imagine the companies being cheap, but then, you probably wouldn't see most of the players disabling or not including PAL support, like this.

[filmboss80]

Stupid question, perhaps. Why do US-retailed DVD players tend not to support PAL? Is there some sort of (unofficial?) mandate?

I can imagine the companies being cheap, but then, you probably wouldn't see most of the players disabling or not including PAL support, like this.

It is not a stupid question, but it would be stupid to assume there is some sort of conspiracy by US DVD manufacturers. You might want to do a little research on the evolution of video standards. Did it not occur to you to first ask why there are different standards (NTSC, PAL, SECAM, and variants thereof) instead of one? (By the way, the North American NTSC standard was here first. Others could have followed along.)

I suppose I could try to explain things, but it would require lots of writing, and I'm feeling lazy right now. Let Google find the answers for you.

[El Heggunte]

Stupid question, perhaps. Why do US-retailed DVD players tend not to support PAL? Is there some sort of (unofficial?) mandate?

I can imagine the companies being cheap, but then, you probably wouldn't see most of the players disabling or not including PAL support, like this.

It is not a stupid question, but it would be stupid to assume there is some sort of conspiracy by US DVD manufacturers.

I agree — no need for a conspiracy theory, when simple "laziness" and "narrow-mindedness" are sufficient to explain it all.

[Ai Haibara]

It is not a stupid question, but it would be stupid to assume there is some sort of conspiracy by US DVD manufacturers. You might want to do a little research on the evolution of video standards. Did it not occur to you to first ask why there are different standards (NTSC, PAL, SECAM, and variants thereof) instead of one? (By the way, the North American NTSC standard was here first. Others could have followed along.)

I suppose I could try to explain things, but it would require lots of writing, and I'm feeling lazy right now. Let Google find the answers for you.

I KNOW all that, filmboss. And, no, I'm not assuming there's some sort of conspiracy. I'm just wondering why the hell that players that seem to be the exact same hardware (yes, I don't know for sure that they are; I'm merely going on others' posts I've seen on VH and elsewhere) everywhere else in the world, as the US models, have US models that don't seem to support PAL. All I'm asking is why would it be 'disabled' for US owners? Aside from the fact that few US-sold (pre-HD) TVs seemed to support PAL (as far as I've seen), sure.

THAT'S all I'm asking. It was just being curious, that's all.

[jman98]

Stupid question, perhaps. Why do US-retailed DVD players tend not to support PAL? Is there some sort of (unofficial?) mandate?

I can imagine the companies being cheap, but then, you probably wouldn't see most of the players disabling or not including PAL support, like this.

A few possible reasons:
1) US consumers are STOOPID. I deliberately spelled it that way. I'm born and bred in the USA and we are by and large a nation of morons. Frankly not supporting PAL is just easier because then you don't have to worry about the DVD player or the TV not being configured correctly and an angry consumer calling you and saying that "your crap is broken" when in fact it works fine, it's just not set up correctly.
2) Hollywood doesn't really want anyone to buy any DVDs outside of their home region so getting some US manufacturers to not support PAL just goes hand in hand with that. If the DVD hasn't been released in the USA then Hollywood isn't getting a cut of it and they don't want you to have it. Some companies like Sony and Samsung are quite happy to go along with this. Others like Pioneer and Philips are more resistant.
3) Most US consumers care nothing about being able to play PAL DVDs. You know how many people I personally know who are interested in this? Me. I'm literally the only person I know who has any interest in the subject. I "know" others via forums and email who are interested, but I've never met those people in real life. Since the demand isn't there, there's no push to support it.

[filmboss80]

Completely agree with jman98's third assertion about market demand. In order to make DVD units at the most affordable prices for consumers, why add to expenses by including a feature that most viewers will not use?

As for the first assertion about US consumers: my travels to many places around the world have led me to conclude that humans are generally STOOPID; it is not a phenomenon isolated to the US alone. In my experience, I find that every nation is a nation of morons.

As to the assertion about Hollywood...well, nothing would surprise me.

The good news is that there are US DVD players that also support PAL (check out the Philips players). It's just not a feature on most models.

And remember, once you make a region-free backup, your computer's DVD drive (with appropriate playback software) should be able to play back any format you throw at it.

[lordsmurf]

humans are generally STOOPID; it is not a phenomenon isolated to the US alone. In my experience, I find that every nation is a nation of morons.

Just had to quote that.

[THRobinson]

just buy a philips 3560 at amazon....done

...except that in the OP I said I'm not buying another player. Even underlined it.

[THRobinson]

Hmm, didn't know that NTSC and PAL were that different, figured was just the region code. Last 2 DVD players I had, did the region free unlock and would play both just fine so assumed that's all it was.

That being said... I 'think' from the below chart that my PS3 will play NTSC/PAL games... if it does, you'd think the movies would play also. I know, games aren't movies, but still, with everything that it can play you'd think they open up PAL/NTSC for movies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_hardware

(mine is the CECH-25xxB)

[Noahtuck]

Hmm, didn't know that NTSC and PAL were that different, figured was just the region code. Last 2 DVD players I had, did the region free unlock and would play both just fine so assumed that's all it was.

Nope, region coding just locks a disc to a specific country region code, top left hand corner of every page on the site, under "WHAT IS" in the dvd link,

https://www.videohelp.com/dvd#tech

Different frame rate, different resolution.
Whatever players you had obviously would convert from PAL to NTSC on the fly so once you removed the region lock on the player they worked.

Welcome to the wonderful world of $ONY.

[hech54]

I 'think' from the below chart that my PS3 will play NTSC/PAL games... if it does, you'd think the movies would play also.

Either the chart on Wiki is bullshit....or you don't actually own that version, model. Plain and simple.

PS3 says PAL not supported.

[tinker]

Hmm, didn't know that NTSC and PAL were that different, figured was just the region code. Last 2 DVD players I had, did the region free unlock and would play both just fine so assumed that's all it was.

That being said... I 'think' from the below chart that my PS3 will play NTSC/PAL games... if it does, you'd think the movies would play also. I know, games aren't movies, but still, with everything that it can play you'd think they open up PAL/NTSC for movies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_hardware

(mine is the CECH-25xxB)

Yours is Model 25. Wiki list models CECH-21xxA and B

Get this model, philips 3560, it works for me.