dvd playback from disk recorded in europe

[malagash]

A friend from Germany would like to send me DVD. Can my PC's DVD reader/burner play it without changing any settings? Does she have to do anything special in burning it?

She also asked in which format it is the best to burn them.

Any help appreciated
TIA

 

[kestrel1]

It depends on what you or your friend want to record to DVD. Is it data or video?
If it is data, then you don't need to do anything special. If however it is video, you will need the correct software to burn the video file to DVD.

 

[malagash]

It's video.

If she uses a program such as Nero will I be able to play the DVD on my PC or what settings might she have to make at her end for me to view it?

Thanks

 

[kestrel1]

I am not sure, but I dont think that Nero burns to a specific region. As you probably know the US is region 1, UK & Germany region 2.
Are you in the US or UK?
Your DVD in your PC should be able to be changed to another region. You can normally make a region change five times before you are unable to change it again.
If you want to use a stand alone DVD player, you would need a multi region one or one that you are able to change.
You shouldn't have a problem. However you could get you friend to save the file as an mpeg or similar format & just burn it to DVD without rendering it as a DVD video. This way you could play the file in media player or similar with no problems or burn it to DVD yourself.

 

[malagash]

I am in Canada. I was aware that you could change the region on the DVD drive but I thought it was only once.
Thanks, I shall find out more info from her and possibly get back to Tek-Tips

 

[kestrel1]

Most DVD drives allow five changes, but it would be best to check your drive.
This link gives a bit more info on changing regions:

http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/WindowsXP/dvd/regions/regions.php

 

[malagash]

We are checking to see if the software she has can burn to a region.
Thanks for the link

 

[NMremote]

The problem with changing region on a PC Drive is that it has the 5 times limitation. If it is a DVD with region protection, merely use DVD Decrypter and ImgBurn to create a region-free DVD. If it is a dual layer disk and you have to reduce the size to make it fit onto a single layer DVD, use DVD Shrink.
If your DVD from Germany is merely PC Data, you will be able to read it on any PC with a DVD drive.
Finally, the cheapest DVD drives for playing movies are usually not region protected - I sacked my $350 Sony for a $39 Walmart special - it plays everything, including VCDs and MP3 disks.

 

[Nelviticus]

If it's a video DVD they've made themselves it will be region-free, which means that anyone can play it. No need to change the region on your DVD player or drive.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[malagash]

Thanks everyone. It's on its way. We shall see what arrives

 

[jurgen36]

You actually can change the firmware in your drives, that will make the drives region free. I did this to all my drives and it works very well indeed. However you have to get the exact drive type etc. then google it. It is very dangerous, if you select the wrong drive you will ruin it permanently. There is a lot of info about it on the net.
Regards

Jurgen

 

[Nelviticus]

No need to make the drive region free!

Nelviticus