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PAL UK Format conversion to NTSC DVD

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sunkissedhealey

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I bought a DVD, The Big Healey Story, from a seller in the UK from eBay UK. It was a 17 minute DVD with some great footage and interviews with the Healey's extended family. Probably copied from a BBC program. The DVD played twice and then it came up with the message: Bad Disc. A few of my more DVD literate friends said that it shouldn't have played on a U.S. DVD player. Well, it did, and twice before it quit. Anyone have any ideas about how to go about converting this PAL DVD so that it is compatable with an NTSC system? Better yet, can it be copied to a VHS? I emailed the seller concerning the BAD DISC response; his reply is below. Thanks in advance for any help.

Rob

THE DVD IS RECORDED IN PAL UK FORMAT IE UK SPEC YOU WILL NEED A PAL DVD PLAYER AND TELEVISION TO VIEW THE SAME HAPPENS HERE IF WE TRY TO PLAY NTSC DVDS WHICH IS THE SYSTEM YOU USE ON OUR TVS THEY DO THE SAME HERE IE BAD DISC BUT IF YOU HAVE TRIED THE DISC ON A PAL SYSTEM MACHINE AND TV AND THE SAME PROBLEM ARRISES THEN RETURN IT AND I WILL EXCHANGE NO PROBLEM BUT THE EXCHANGE WILL BE PAL UK
 
It may play on a computer ( my laptop plays PAL DVDs) but you may be able to burn a copy and convert it at the same time. There are some companies that can convert it for you professionally.
 
I tried it on my neighbor's MAC (they'll usually play anything). No go. Didn't think to try it on my laptop. Worth a try--I'll let you know.

Rob
 
[ QUOTE ]
... Didn't think to try it on my laptop. Worth a try--I'll let you know.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've found that my laptop can play both formats- I've bought a few DVDs from the US and played them without any difficulty.

I've also been able to play them through the DVD player connected to our TV- I suspect some of the machines may support both formats as "undocumented" features so their manufacturers can sell them where ever they want. Some of the top-end players sold here support both formats, though I suspect there'd be less demand for that capability in the US, and I probably got lucky and bought a cheaper unit that used the same basic "guts" as the more expensive ones with the extra cost features....
 
What I am about to write is hearsay so I apologize in advance for any errors.

I was told when faced with a similar problem that newer DVD players are often capable of playing multiple formats. A couple of years ago this was not the case and a 'new out of the box' player might play multiple formats for a while but would finally choose and lock into playing only one format. The person who explained this to me said it allowed a manufacturer to build one piece of electronics that could service multiple markets. What he couldn't explain is why the device would need to choose one format to play for the rest of its life.

Regardless, do a Google search as there are quite a number of online companies advertising format conversions. As long as you provide them the original media and (potentially) proof of ownership they can make you a copy in another format without worrying about copyright laws. In my case, I went the opposite direction from you. I needed a PAL VHS tape converted to NTSC DVD. Using the yellow pages I located a local company to do the conversion.
 
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What he couldn't explain is why the device would need to choose one format to play for the rest of its life.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure either, I'd think it would be a really negative feature for portable PCs that get carried internationally and used with varied formats.

I think I've played enough DVDs through our home player/TV to have "set" whatever counter is being kept, and as I've noted it seems that some of these systems are now sold here in the UK as dual format capable (some advertized as such, and other just a nice surprize).

I've since spoken with my daughter whose old laptop had the limited number of plays you mentioned before it would lock up. But since she travels back and forth to the US and has a number of DVDs in both formats she was able to find a software magician who could hack the code and disable the counter (or maybe just set it really high?) to let her play whatever she wanted without problem.

It seems a software thing that you could get "fixed" for a computer, but the DVD player/TV system may not be accessible for that "fix".
 
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