DVD watchable in several different regions

scottshackrock wrote on 7/21/2004, 12:48 PM

I am making a DVD movie that I want to be able to watch on DVD players accross the word....aka, I have people I am sending this to in USA, Brazil, Czech Republic, Spain, Mexico, and more.

How can I be sure that my DVD will be able to work on all of these players (of course, if it will read the DVD at all anyway)??

Comments

GTakacs wrote on 7/21/2004, 1:18 PM

DVD Author does not put region code on the video, so it is region free and can be played in any region. The only issue you might run into is the PAL/NTSC differences, but most PAL players are capable of playing back NTSC footage just fine.

I just authored a DVD in DVD Author 2 in NTSC and it plays just fine in Hungary on a PAL player.

But if you want to be absolutely positive that it will play on any and all players you will need to make two DVDs. One in PAL and one in NTSC.

scottshackrock wrote on 7/21/2004, 3:58 PM

ah crap, i didnt even think of that.

well, my footage is NTSC.

Can anyone give a list of countries that view which?? I havbe about 10 different countries I'm making this for (it was an international camp, ha!)

JSWTS wrote on 7/21/2004, 4:15 PM

Try this link:

http://www.high-techproductions.com/ntsc.htm

Fortunately most countries that use PAL can view NTSC based discs on their set tops, the converse is not typically true. My bet is that if you created an NTSC disc that most of the viewers will be able to watch it.

Jim

GTakacs wrote on 7/21/2004, 7:55 PM

I have looked at that list, and I must say that list is mighty old! It lists Hungary as a SECAM country, when in truth it's good old PAL now. It used to be Secam back in the communist era so they couldn't watch the western channels off the air.

I don't think SECAM is used anywhere any more, they all converted to PAL now.

I still think authoring it in NTSC (you're in luck as your original footage is NTSC) will allow almost all people to vew your DVD. Most commercial DVDs sold in Europe have their extra features in NTSC only because they are too lazy to re-author it in PAL. If they can get away with it, I am sure you can too.

JSWTS wrote on 7/22/2004, 6:08 AM

I just did a quick Google search, so I really don't know how old it is or isn't. Since there is no SECAM for dvd, you're pretty safe in concluding that most, if not all, of the SECAM countries would be included under "PAL". However, as I posted before, NTSC for most countries in "PAL" land works. If your project absolutely needs to work, then making separate (PAL and NTSC) version would be best. If it's to share with friends, then I personally would make only one version first (NTSC) and take my chances.

Jim

Cunhambebe wrote on 7/22/2004, 6:53 AM

BRAZIL uses PAL-M, its own system which is PAL at 30 fps. Regular tv sets in Brazil are set to PAL-M and are able accept NTSC too. All DVD players there play NTSC due to the fact that most DVDs, even the ones made in the country by FOX, UNIVERSAL and all the other major studios are NTSC. The region is 4 as Australia and the rest of South America. This is a curious paradox because although the official system is PAL-M, DVDs for Brazil have to be authored in NTSC. Anyway, I guess all people you are about to send your DVDs will be able to play them on a computer with power dvd with no NTSC/PAL/SECAM issues (guess so).

JSWTS wrote on 7/22/2004, 11:00 AM

"Anyway, I guess all people you are about to send your DVDs will be able to play them on a computer with power dvd with no NTSC/PAL/SECAM issues (guess so). "

You should have no issues with playback on a computer as long as it can play and read dvd's.

Jim

scottshackrock wrote on 7/22/2004, 9:27 PM

I can't even play my dvds on MY computer! haha. seriously. Windows media player will play the video streams fine, but not any audio, ever. even on commercial dvds.

not to mention, I tried to play my burnt dvds (of movies i made with DVDA2, etc.) which work on normal DVD players (most at least, of course, ha)...and it wont play at all on two of my friend's computers. Windows XP won't even recognize the disc as a DVD!

JSWTS wrote on 7/23/2004, 5:28 AM

Welcome to the world of recordable media. My point about PAL and NTSC is that a computer doesn't 'care' if it's one format or the other. With the issues you posted above, the computer wouldn't discriminate between the formats, and would be equally as bad in playback. Windows Media player will only playback audio if your computer has an ac3 decoder already loaded on the system, it's not a 'stock' audio codec installed with wmp. If your system has the codec on board, then I'm not sure why it isn't using it. I personally use Cineplayer from Sonic (because it came with ReelDVD and will play the Video_ts folder from a hard drive to test run a disc before burning), but there are others. Failure to playback on your friend's computers suggests (assuming they have a dvd rom and the appropriate software to play discs) that their dvd drive doesn't read your recordable media.

Jim

scottshackrock wrote on 7/23/2004, 2:00 PM

I wasjust thinking...I installed the DVD RW drive myself. But, I didnt connect the audio cable.. However, I have never connected an audio cable for my other 3 CDRW drives I've installed before, and those have had no problem...

what do you all think?

JSWTS wrote on 7/23/2004, 4:46 PM

If you have an ac3 audio file on your hard drive, try right clicking on it and select to open it with wmp and see if it will play the file. If so, then wmp should be able to handle the file type.

Jim

JaysonHolovacs wrote on 7/24/2004, 3:41 PM

I had a DVD ROM drive that wouldn't play DVDs... it wouldn't even recognize the DVD in the drive. Even commerial movie DVDs wouldn't work. I eventually got fed up with not being able to play back DVDs and decided to get a new drive.

Then I thought, "If I'm going to buy a drive anyway, it would be nice if I could record DVDs to." So I picked up a DVD burner.

Then I thought, "Now that I have a DVD burner, wouldn't it be cool to be able to make my own DVDs?" So I did some research, downloaded some demos, and purchased a copy of Vegas+DVD.

And now, as a fledgling DVD-A2 and Vegas user, I'm here in this forum answering your question. All because of a crappy DVD-ROM drive like the one you mentioned. Funny how things work out.

-Jayson

scottshackrock wrote on 7/24/2004, 7:43 PM

JSWTS -
you are a geinus.

I downloaded an AC3 decoder, and wala. it worked. haha.

That's wierd though, because I totally installed the software/drivers/etc. that came with the drive...oh well. haha. it works now, thanks again.

JSWTS wrote on 7/24/2004, 9:31 PM

The ac3 decoders are often left off because of royalty rights to Dolby. So even if you installed everything, there might not have been an ac3 decoder that came with it. Glad you got it to work.

Jim