Question about Region 1 dvd conversion to Region 2... ?

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

Hey,


I have a pretty weird question. I'm living in Belgium and I would REALLY REALLY like to have the documentary 'American Movie' on dvd - anybody who knows it ? - but it's only out in a Region 1 version, but I don't have a regionfree dvd player. Is there any way to - if I could buy the Region 1 version somewhere - to 'convert' all the dvd files to computer files and then write to a region 2? Like a NTSC/PAL conversion?

I know this probably isn't possible, but I just wanted to check...

Thanks,

[Rob Lohman]

There are two things:

- region "protection"

- NTSC video standard

A lot of players sold in Europe have some secret button combination to make it region free or select a region. Type your player name into google with "region free" and see if you can find any.

After this I would probably simply get a region free DVD player? These shouldn't be too hard to find for under a 100 euro's. Unless you have a HQ player with upscaling and stuff, then obviously you don't want to get another one.

Lastly you can copy a DVD on a computer and simply remove the region protection. Things like DVD Region Free and I think DVD Shrink can do that. Then burn it on a DVD-/+R and watch that.

All of the above assumes your player & TV (or whatever you're watching on) supports NTSC playback. Most European TV's do!

Before I had a complete Media Center setup I had a 75 euro DVD player with a region hack through the remote control. Worked like a charm. I would need that anyway, about half of my pretty large DVD collection is region 1 ;)

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

Thanks Rob.
I suspected some solutions like that. Do you know that movie by the way? It's a hilarious documentary about a redneck trying to make films, without many and without that much talent. It's really hilarious, but touching also.

How is it going at RED, BTW?

[Rob Lohman]

Nope, don't know the movie. Sounds like fun :)

Busy busy here at RED. Million+ things to do and get ready for NAB ;)