home burnt DVD compatability: US/Europe

PossibilityX wrote on 7/24/2006, 9:29 AM

I've read the threads about NTSC DVDs and their compatability (or lack thereof) in standalone European (PAL) DVD players.

But how about if NTSC DVDs are played back on European computer DVD drives? Compatable, or not? Same issues as with standalone players, or no issues at all?

Comments

Coursedesign wrote on 7/24/2006, 9:48 AM

A lot of regular TV-connected DVD players in Europe play NTSC DVDs just fine.

A lot of those play most Region 1 commercial DVDs fine too, i.e. the players are region-free (and even the major brands advertise them as such).

Computer DVD drives play back either PAL or NTSC home DVDs just fine.

Region-controlled DVDs have one slight issue. When you install a DVD drive in your computer, the region will be set for that drive by the first region controlled DVD inserted.

You can change this up to 4 times typically, after that the drive will not change regions anymore (without a firmware modification).