Converting a DVD to play in the U.S?

[toria_dances]

I have a home made DVD that is on a DVD-R 16x disc. It plays on my computer but not on any of my DVD players. I have a DVD player that says it plays both -R and +R. This DVD is from Africa. It looks to me that its in the right format but it still wont play. when I open the file on my computer the file name is DVD_VR when I open that file I see 2 folders one says "VIDEO_RM"
the other "VIDEO_TS"
Anyone know how I can get this DVD to play on the DVD player?

[*Shira*]

One possible explanation: the DVD you received may be encoded in the PAL (widely used in Europe and Australia) format, whereas your DVD player may be able to play only NTSC (the format used in North America). Or, your DVD player may be able to play both PAL and NTSC, but your television may understand only NTSC.

Which computer application do you use to play DVD's on your computer? If you can tell me that, I can guide you in looking for certain information that will help me steer you in the right direction.

[toria_dances]

I use windows media player to watch the DVD

[khalida777]

I use windows media player to watch the DVD

So do I and am curious to see what solutions anyone has to offer here. Shira? :)


Khalida

[*Shira*]

I use windows media player to watch the DVD

Ack. I usually don't use Windows Media Player myself, so I kind of have to stumble around to figure out what I want you to do. Okay, try this:

1. Put the disk in your computer and open Windows Media Player.

2. If Windows Media Player is not already showing you a menu bar at the top (File View Play Tools Help) tell it to display that menu. To do this, right-click in the lower right-hand corner of your Media Player window. That will raise a pop-up menu. Pick "Show Classic Menus". That should give you the menu bar.

3. Click on File from the menu bar at the top, and then pick Properties from the drop-down menu.

4. The window that results will have tabs across the top that say File, Content, Playlist, and Media Usage Rights. It should automatically bring you to the first one, which is File, but if for some reason it doesn't, click on the File tab.

5. Go down to the line that says "Video Size" and tell me what the numbers are. For example, the Mickey Mouse video in my computer right now is 720 x 480.


I might be able to figure out from those "Video Size" numbers what the problem is. Maybe. No guarantees! But post the info, and we'll see....

[Linnyg]

I recently had to convert a DVD to another format to get my Zune to play it. DVD Shrink worked well to get it onto my computers hard drive and VLC media player I know has a "convert" option. I guess you could use that and burn a new DVD?

You may just want to wait for Shira tho, cause I am REALLY new to all this digital stuff.

[Salena]

Wow. You guys are good.
I just took the one I had that wouldn't play to the same guy who converted some of my old VHS tapes to DVDs and he converted it for me.
I need to evolve and do some of this stuff myself!

Thanks for posting!

[toria_dances]

Ack. I usually don't use Windows Media Player myself, so I kind of have to stumble around to figure out what I want you to do. Okay, try this:

1. Put the disk in your computer and open Windows Media Player.

2. If Windows Media Player is not already showing you a menu bar at the top (File View Play Tools Help) tell it to display that menu. To do this, right-click in the lower right-hand corner of your Media Player window. That will raise a pop-up menu. Pick "Show Classic Menus". That should give you the menu bar.

3. Click on File from the menu bar at the top, and then pick Properties from the drop-down menu.

4. The window that results will have tabs across the top that say File, Content, Playlist, and Media Usage Rights. It should automatically bring you to the first one, which is File, but if for some reason it doesn't, click on the File tab.

5. Go down to the line that says "Video Size" and tell me what the numbers are. For example, the Mickey Mouse video in my computer right now is 720 x 480.


I might be able to figure out from those "Video Size" numbers what the problem is. Maybe. No guarantees! But post the info, and we'll see....

The size say 768 x 576

[*Shira*]

The size say 768 x 576

Bingo! I know what the problem is.

This DVD is encoded to support the PAL format, which is used in most of Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. I know this because PAL's dimensions are 768 x 576, whereas NTSC's are 720 x 480.

In the U.S., nearly all of our televisions and many of our DVD players won't play PAL. The U.S. format is something called NTSC.

Computers can play both PAL and NTSC. *Some* DVD players in the U.S. can accept either a PAL or an NTSC DVD, and then output it as NTSC to the television, and if you had one of those it would solve your problem.

I would suggest hiring someone who is knowledgeable about video editing to convert your disk to NTSC. Or, if you're brave, unafraid of kludgy technology, and on a tight budget, you could poke around this web site to see if there are any free utilities to do it yourself: VideoHelp.com - Forum, Guides, Tools and hardware lists

But let me caution you, doing video work yourself has a HUGE learning curve. It's not for the faint of heart.

[toria_dances]

Thanks!

[toria_dances]

ok my brain hurts just from doing a little research on converting PAL to NTSC. I think it would be easier to buy a $30 DVD player that plays both. If I buy a DVD player that plays both I shouldn't have a problem with hooking it up to any t.v right?

[toria_dances]

FYI!!!! I dug out an old DVD play just to try it and it worked! its a Magnavox MDV 485

[*Shira*]

FYI!!!! I dug out an old DVD play just to try it and it worked! its a Magnavox MDV 485

Glad to hear you found a DVD player already lying around that could play it!

Just in case others following this thread want to know the answer to your question about buying a cheap DVD player that can play both....

It might, it might not.

If the DVD player simply passes through to the television the same video image that appears on the disk, it won't solve the problem. Ie, if it sends a PAL signal to the tv when the DVD is encoded as PAL, and if it sends NTSC when the video is NTSC, it won't solve it.

However, if it converts the PAL image to NTSC before feeding it to the television, then it will solve the problem. It sounds like that's what your Magnavox is doing, which is a Good Thing.

Also for the benefit of others reading this thread, I've found that GoVideo DVD players can convert PAL DVD images for playback on U.S. televisions. So can my little Polaroid PDV-0700 Portable DVD Player.