Greetings,

I have a DVD that is in a region 2 PAL format, and I need to convert it to region 1 NTSC in order to view on my standalone player. Is there any straightforward way to do this? Any good programs to use without problems? I have seen a number of other threads on this forum dealing with similar issues, but no real answer came from them. Any help on this would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time and attention.

No. There is no good or easy way to do this. What most of us do is buy a REALLY cheap player that plays PAL.

I bought a Cyberhome from Target for $25. Plays PAL just fine.

But then again, most new players will also play PAL. My friend's old Proscan finally died, so he bought a new JVC for around $80. It plays NTSC and PAL, and does so VERY WELL.

Doesn't AnyDVD remove the region encoding when if you copy the VIDEO_TS folder to your hard drive? If not, then try DVDFab Decrypter.

To convert from PAL to NTSC, I believe Nero Vision Express or TMPEnc Plus can do this. I've created an NTSC DVD using imported PAL MPEG files using both methods.

WARNING: This takes a long time...probably 4+hrs for a 2hr MPEG.

It takes a LONG time, and won't really look right if you do it with one of the cheapie programs. Using TMPGEnc or Mainconcept or Procoder you can do it, but it'll be painful... and if you do even one step wrong it'll look awful.

Seriously, work a couple hours of overtime and buy a Cyberhome player.

dvdSanta is a program that will convert it.

The Cyberhome player is cheaper than most programs and little chance for user error....

I agree that there is no easy or "straightforward" software method of converting PAL to NTSC. Regardless of the claims of such by Nero Vision Express or dvdSanta ... it will not really produce very good results. The results may look only a bit flawed but acceptable (depending on your opinion) on a regular TV with a simple, low bandwidth composite cable (three pronged red, white or black, and yellow) connecting the player to the TV. But will look terrible on a regular TV or HDTV with a higher bandwidth component cable (three pronged red, green, blue) connection from the player especially if the player is set to play in "Progressive Scan" mode to either type of TV. The "frames per second" playback differences between PAL and NTSC formats become much more apparent with higher bandwidth playback.

As mentioned by Gurm, the higher end software products will work better but it is a complex set of steps to set up and so time consuming that it is hardly worth the while to do over and over to convert PAL for each original you own.

You should indeed go for a PAL compatible player solution. The cheap player route is one solution. Take a region free PAL format backup disk (made with AnyDVD running) to the stores and check out compatibility with different players. Or spend a little money and get a good conversion player here:
http://www.mindlogic.com/Prod_MSDVD.shtml
Make sure the model you choose states that it has a "Built-in Video Converter" to be able to play your PAL backup disks on your R1-NTSC Standards television. I like the JVC conversion player I bought from them. The other feature to maybe look for is that a player be able to play backup formats of -R, +R (or at least +R bitset/booktyped to DVD-ROM) and also play Dual Layer backup media.

Best regards,
Whisperer

I have purchased the LIVE 8 DVD from England on Amazon UK and it states it is 'Region Free" PAL format, however it only plays on my computer. I had a super cheap Norcent DP-313 DVD player made in China and bought at Wal-Mart for $40. It played the Live 8 DVD. Gave to my daughter and got a Pioneer DMR-ES40V, VHS to DVD Dubbing player and recorder and it won't accept PAL. Go figure. I have tried DVD Santa and after 21 hours of trying to decode disk one to NTSC I figure it ain't worth the time. Get the $40 DVD player.

I have a CyberHome CH-DVD 300 Player and when I try to watch one of my PAL DVD's all it says is region error. It cant play DVD+R as it states it should. What models are people using that work with PAL?

@ RJCHudson,

Welcome to the Forum.

Suggest visiting VideoHelp (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers) and search their extensive database for a Desk Top Stand Alone DVD Player that meets your needs.

Best Regards,
bjkg