PureBasic Forum

Before I buy something I can't play, I need to ask a question: Can I play an NTSC dvd on my european computer? It has a normal dvd drive.
I'm grateful for any correct answers!

Sure! I've done it for years. On a standalone DVD player there would be
issues (such as: does your TV support NTSC), but for a PC it's no problem.
Watching a DVD on a PC is just like using any media player. I use Media
Player Classic (via K-Lite Mega Codec Pack) to watch DVDs on my PC.

BTW, some DVD drives might not like discs from another region, but there
is software out there to bypass that, or you can use any good DVD ripper
to convert the video to a single AVI if you like. Bottom line: you WILL be
able to watch it; but it just may need some work at first.

Playing NTSC on Euro TVs isn't usually a problem, at worst case you can use the RGB port of the player.

Playing PAL on US TVs can be a problem if it does not support up to 625 interlaced lines (some limit just below this).

The TV would also have to sync up to 60hz for playing NTSC on PAL (or down to 50hz to play PAL on NTSC).

If playing on a computer, make sure you have a program like AnyDVD running that will stop the region code protection from kicking in.
http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html

Playing NTSC Disks an a PAL Drive on a "PC" will let ask you to choose a new Region Code for your drive. IMHO up to 5 Region Code switches you can do with a DVD Drive and after this its fixed.

The output is no Problem on a PC Monitor if overlay is used for playback, if not, the only thing could be a little tearing in the horizontal picture flow.

Almost every free Mediaplayer will playback such disks if non-cryped.
If you are living in a country where no law restricts decypting copy protections then like already mentioned like above you can choose AnyDVD or VideoLAN including DeCSS (if no Arccos or newer protection than CSS is the case).

Shure the case is different if you want to use your PC as a HTPC Setup via non-digital-connection to a TV Set. But there do also exist nice solutions

Region codes still apply to computer DVD drives.

This is #True - at least here in the US.
But with AnyDVD or other programs it's a non issue

IMHO the whole "Region Code Thing" should go away.
What are people that speak several languages supposed to do if they see movies overseas and buy the DVD of that movie?
(It's a legal buy - or not?)
Don't think that the US movie companies are willing to transfer old black and white movies from overseas to the US region code.

BTW: Would love to get my hands on the old "Don Camillo & Peppone" movies
...should visit Amazon

Thanks, I'm buying now.

One more question: do all dvds with the same region code use the same NTSC/PAL setting? I asked the original question because I thought they were independent.

(Btw. it's a region 3 NTSC dvd that I want to play on a region 2 PC.)

NTSC and/or PAL using a PC shouldn't be a problem at all. It's the region codes that have to match (unless your using AnyDVD or similar).

DVDDecyptor will solve your region zoning issue. PM me if you can't find a copy, I know Sony went on a rampage a few years back to shut down sites that hosted it.

I'm in JP (NTSC) and I have things sent to me from Australia (PAL) quite a bit. The PC is fine for it but if it's zoned I need to re-rip it to watch it (dunno what I'll do if Blueray catches on , even though I have a player the regions screw me )

PC doesn't have a problem with the frame rate drops to 25fps from 29.97 and the resolution increases.

Attempting to convert between formats can be an issue though, the FPS change can cause a jumpy effect with a lot of software

The disc played perfectly until 1 hour 10 minutes, then strange noises started to come from the dvd drive. Then the movie started to skip more and more until it stopped completely. The dvd drive made some furious noises.

Is it a problem with the disc?

That's a disc or drive problem, and has nothing to do with region code. (I have two solutions for region dependencies: a very cheap DVD stand alone player that eats anything (any region, XVID, DIVX, even some WMV's, no OGM or MKV though ). Second solution: AnyDVD if it needs to be played on DVD.

The disc or more likely the drive. You could try to rip the DVD and create a iso image. If you can't do that on your computer because it gives you error even when trying to create image the only solution is use another drive to do so, and then use the generated image on your pc.

Look around the net for dvd-ripping/decrypting software.

Thanks, but this is an old topic.

I managed to rip the movie and then it worked.

You are right, I'm sorry. Sometimes I reply to a thread resulting from a search and forget to check the date.

I'll try to remember for the future.