UK DVDs - Regions and PAL / How to Make a DVD Region-Free
Will DVDs from the UK, I believe they are Region 2? Will they play in American DVD players as well as American dvds?
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I know this has been explained on the forum once before (at least), but I'll gladly do it again! :)
Region coding and video format are two separate concepts. Region coding is an artificial scheme invented by studios to try and control where videos can be watched in the world. Most video collectors consider this to be a kind of "scam" (maybe not by the legal definition, but BS all the same). It's done to control prices, and to control licensing (which is all about money, too). Some of my favorite shows, for example, are only sold in Australia and UK. It seems you're in the same situation. The world is divided up in "regions". Region 1, for example, is most of North America. Region 2 is UK, Japan and most of Europe. Region 4 is Australia. A full map of regions is available from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code Attachment 565 The way to "get around" region coding is to either:
Modifying the disc is as easy as ripping it, and selecting the "remove region coding" option in the software. DVD Decrypter is one of many that can do this. Video format is the difference in how video is encoded. The biggest difference in the digital era is the resolution and frames per second. NTSC is 29.97fps or 23.976fps at an x480 or x240 resolution, while PAL is 25fps at an x576 or x288 resolution. Again, because DVD players are now mostly made for worldwide use -- cheaply made in places like China -- they play all standard DVD-Video MPEG formats, both audio and video. Simply put a region-free PAL DVD in a player bought in the USA (NTSC player), and I bet it will work just fine. Players made in Japan tend to be the only ones made for NTSC only, as Japan is an NTSC country that often only markets to itself and USA/Canada. Your UK discs will be PAL, possibly Region 2. However, I work with studios in Europe quite a bit these days, and a lot of their releases are Region 0. It really just depends on what it is, who made it, etc. |
Thanks for the explanation. After I posted this, I remembered about the PAL and NTSC formats, I even bought a DVD player about a year that played both Pal and NTSC formats because I had a few UK dvds that wouldn't play on my other DVD player. I do know that they seem to play on computers. However, these DVDs were probably made between 1998-2000.
There's some that I'm interested in but they're in the UK and its not specificed what region or if they're pal or ntsc, it's from a company (since you know me, if you think about it, you'll know what company im referring to) they release DVDs here..and in the UK..and the ones I'm looking at are their UK releases. I didn't think about ripping the DVD to my computer and removing the region codes that way, will that cause any quality loss? I dont see how it would, but I just wanna cover my bases :) Is this option available for all PAL format or region 2 dvds? It seems like the easiest one to do, would I just do that in DVD Decrypter?I also have DVD Fab Decrypter When I do this, would I remove the codes and burn the dvd onto a blank dvd with dvd shrink and imgburn? Thanks! |
To update my last post, I found out the DVDs that I was referring to is Region 2..
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If you copy the discs 1:1, then there will not be any quality loss, no. If the source DVD is dual layer, then simply copy to a Verbatim DVD+R DL blank, instead of using the more popular DVD Shrink method to copy it to a single-layer disc.
Copying DL 1:1 has been explained many times on this site, both in guides and in the forum, but Ill quickly recap it:
Don't be afraid of buying discs from other countries, playing them is easy. :) |
I don't believe they are DL discs...it's a 2.5 hr - 3 hr disc, just like they sell here. Would I still go thru the steps that you listed above?
Would i use the DVD Shrink or DVD Decrypter to copy them since it's a single layer? If so, can you please give me the steps on how to do that. Thanks! |
Most retail DVDs are dual-layer, not single.
For copying single-layer discs, read http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/vid...-decrypter.htm |
Where's the remove region coding option that you talked about in DVD Decrypter?
Under tools - drive, I see Regional Code - Information and Change option, when I click the change option, it brings up a box that says change regional code right now 1 usa, canade is selected, and there's 6 regional codes, but I can't find a remove regional code option.. |
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DVD Decrypter. Goto
See image: Attachment 607 Check all of them, but the two I have highlighted are the "protection" (limitations). Check the "RCE" and "RC" boxes. That does it. The other boxes remove other annoying commands and directives, like being unable to hit MENU during the firstplay (previews, FBI warnings, etc). This is also where you enable the MDS file, for DL copies. ;) |
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I'm having some problems with Decrypter. I put in the UK DVD, and as soon as I did, the first 4 errors that I included pics of came up (pics 01-04).
Then, it starts to run thru a little bit, and the big error comes up (pic 05) I've tried 2 UK DVDs, and the exact same errors have come up on them both. What do these errors mean, and how can I get around them? |
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The disc might have a newer form of copy protection. This means that you cannot use DVD Decrypter by itself.
You'll have to do one of two things:
When Using DVD Fab ... If you use DVDFab, understand that it is the program used for ripping. DVD Decrypter is not used. It automatically removes the region data by default, there's nothing special to set up. It's really easy to use. Attachment 646 Attachment 647 You'll notice there are some extra options to choose from. I'm not going to go into that here. It should be self-explanatory what those do. Again, completely optional. Legal versions, only! ... You cannot use cracked/hacked/"free" copies of these payware programs. Only the legitimately purchased versions work as needed. Most people who obtain these by other means (torrents, for example) end up disappointed. It's often easy to find who has and who has not bought the programs, based on their reviews, blogs or forum posts. The negative-comment-leaving complainers are almost always the people with illegitimate copies! |
I've tried to use DVD Fab twice now for this, and after it runs thru and ejects the original dvd, i put the blank in, and it continues to run thru and then a box comes up that says process completed successfully, so i put the new copied dvd in to try it..but nothing comes up when I put it in...
When it was running thru and it ejected the original, i waited a few minutes wanting to see if it would close the tray and continue working on it, but it never did, but when it did eject it the program kept running, like it was still working on it, but it already ejected it, so thats why i put the blank in...(even though it didnt tell me to) did i do that right, or should I of gone to imgburn? I thought i did it right because after i put the blank in, it ran thru for about 3-4 more min and then it said the process was completed successfully But it seems like the blank dvd that I put in, is still blank, like it didnt write anything to it This was with the free version of dvdfab by the way |
I decided to try AnyDVD, so after it ran thru I tried to burn it in ImgBurn but it was too big, so I ran it thru DVDShrink, and it burned in ImgBurn, however the picture was jumpy, and black and white...so for some reason it didnt work totally..
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It was a dual-layer DVD-Video press retail disc, and you'd need to burn it back to Verbatim DVD+R DL media. Or shrink it with DVD Shrink, although there could be quality loss. (Knowing the topic of your DVDs, quality loss is very likely!)
B&W video quality on the DVD player would indicate an inability to play PAL DVDs. Finding players that will not play PAL are more rare than ones that do -- at least in 2009/2010. You'll maybe need to consider buying a cheap $30 Magnavox from Walmart. |
Well the whole thing is, I want to transfer the uk dvd to region 1 dvd..its region 2 right now..
thats what i tried to do with fab and any dvd.. |
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Converting PAL to NTSC is wholly unnecessary (and damaging to te quality) in most cases. This one be one of them. For further information on converting a PAL DVD to NTSC DVD (including reasons NOT to do it), see http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/vid...t-pal-ntsc.htm Converting PAL to NTSC is not simple (at least if quality matters), takes a lot of time, and is generally "fixed" by simply getting a cheap $30 player. |
Ok then I must've misunderstood..what I want to do then is make the UK DVD from Region 2 to Region free then I guess?
What I did with AnyDVD is let it run thru, then I brought it to DVDShrink, and it took like 3 hrs to shrink, and then when I burned it is when it went black and white and jumpy. |
"Buy AnyDVD. It will acts as the copy protection remover, and DVD Decrypter will function as the ripper. It will have ways to bypass all of the latest protections. " I did it just now in AnyDVD again, and I tried to open it in Decrypter, but I really dont see how I could without having the original disc in..under mode there was some other settings, file f, ifo i, iso..which one do I pick?
Ok then I must've misunderstood..what I want to do then is make the UK DVD from Region 2 to Region free then I guess? What I did with AnyDVD is let it run thru, then I brought it to DVDShrink, and it took like 3 hrs to shrink, and then when I burned it is when it went black and white and jumpy. |
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I tried doing it in Decrypter again and pic 01 came up...I clicked yes and then pic 02 came up immediately after
Attachment 649 Attachment 650 |
Well, I just ran it thru DVDFab Decrypter and it went thru with no problems, and I burned it in ImgBurn and it burned perfect and actually worked on my player, but before I did this, I used the hack on my player so it changed it to Region free..so I'm not sure if the DVD burned finally or if it was the player.
I kinda wish that I got it to burn before I did the DVD player hack, so I'd know for sure which one worked, because I'll want to use the new burnt one for backup purposes, but at least I got it to work. Thanks again for your help. |
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