NTSC/PAL DVDs

[KingKoopa]

I assume this is entertainment related, though I guess it may be bound for the Depot...

I am in Europe, and though I can never remember which format the US uses (NTSC?), will the other format (PAL?) play on my laptop if I were to rent a DVD over here? I know it wouldn't play on my dvd player back home, but I wasn't sure if a US-bought laptop would have a 'region-free' dvd drive on it or not...

Anyhow, thanks, as always, in advance, and aufwiedersehen.

 

[Rusk]

not sure, but I suggest opening up the program you use to watch DVDs (like WinDVD or whatever) and find an "options" or "preferences" menu.

See if there are choices or settings for NTSC/PAL.

I think it just depends on the software of the player on your computer. The drive itself should read it fine.

 

[goofybevo]

In reply to:

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[KingKoopa]

Ich esse rosafarbene Elefanten.

 

[MizzouSnives]

PAL is europe. from what i remember and what others have told me, your us computer will switch formats up to 5 times. after that it will not switch, so you would be stuck in pal format. i never tested this out so i can't be sure, but that would be teh suck.

 

[goofybevo]

I thought people only saw pink elephants, not ate them. Deutschland ist sehr fremd!

 

[Fancy Pants]

Hey man, you can get Euro Porn in the states.

 

[kellenarb]

MizzouSnives is correct.

the actual number depends on the DVD player, but you can only switch a limited number of times before it freezes on whatever the current mode is.

 

[Rusk]

yea, but it's a laptop. Isn't that stuff just done by the software?

Even if it did lock to PAL, he could just reinstall the player and it should be fine.

It's not like this is a stand alone DVD player.

 

[MulletHorn]

You guys are confusing region codes with video formats. The US and Japan use NTSC. Europe uses PAL. Your DVD player will allow you to switch region codes, but that has nothing to do with the video format you are trying to play.

 

[BNB]

I agree with Rusk. It is a software issue. I believe most if not all dvd player software for the computer should allow you to play both formats. I have over 300 dvd's and about 50 are Pal. I have never had any problems with anything locking.

 

[wherzwaldo]

Mullet is correct also. If you buy PAL DVDs that are only for Region 2 (Europe, Japan, a few other places), and your computer originated in Region 1 (USA and Canada) then you would have to change the region on your computer, which is limited. I do not know whether that can be remedied by uninstalling/reinstalling.

However, if your PAL DVD is region-free, then you don't have a problem.

 

[BNB]

It looks like you should try this as it is free.

www.inmatrix.com/files/dvdgenie_download.shtml
or if yours isn't region free you might have to d/l that dvd region free sw. for 40 bucks.