I have traded for dvds that were "formatted" in Germany. I live in the states and have basic Dvd-R player. Is there any means that I can "convert" the dvds obtained to play in my recorder? If not, are "foreign" dvd players available to us? Or am I just out of luck? Many thanks in advance to all you fellow traders for advice.
Elliot
ellwin1@bellsouth.net

There's two issues with foreign dvds; region coding and video format. Many dvds are coded specificly for their region of the world (US is Region 1, Europe is Region 2, etc.). Most dvd players in each region of the world are restricted to only play dvds for their region. You can get region-free players (more $$) or try to get region-free (Region 0) dvds. Region-free dvds will play anywhere. Most dvd authoring programs allow you to create Region-free dvds. Also, dvd decrypter and other apps can read a dvd and strip off the region coding.

The video format is different. Europe and I believe Australia, use PAL, while we (in the states) us NTSC. They are different frames per second (fps) and resolution. Many dvd players in the US do not play PAL dvds, but most PAL dvd players will play NTSC dvds. Converting a PAL dvd to NTSC is a complicated issue, it can be done - just not easily.

Easiest but time consuming is to hook up a modified DVD Player into a dvd recorder and burn at real time. Modified player will play Region 2 PAL discs on your system and then you burn in real time with recorder. I have 3 setups all using modified Apex 1500 dvd players.

Tom

Just get a cheap $30 CYBERHOME 300 DVD player and use that for 'foreign' discs. The player plays a quasi-signal your tv set can understand. It plays PAL discs fine, and the region code can be set to "0" with a secret menu accessible by hitting a few buttons on the remote (do a google search, this is easy to find, several sites have info on it).

Converting formats is a long hard process, often leaving behind artifacts and errors because home solutions to transfer video formats are severely flawed, mostly because we have end-products, not studio sources, with which to convert. When you start to acquire lots of "foreign" discs it just becomes a hassle and waste of time.

The USA, Canada and Japan are pretty much the only places in the worlds that use NTSC format video. Everybody else is PAL. We are the minority. If you can watch PAL, there is no reason to convert.

hi, so lordsmurf, you are saying that if i get a PAL dvd that i could play it without any problems with a cyberhome dvd player. let us know. your expertise is always welcome. thanks

Yes, that's precisely it. It will play PAL discs on your USA tv set.