VSO Software Forum

[kbachelder]

Hey everyone,

I have a licensed copy of ConvertXtoDVD 3.x that I use here in the US (i.e. Region 1 DVD drive).

What I'd like to do is to purchase DVDs from the UK that are listed as region 2 PAL format. After doing some searches here on the forums I found the How to Convert NTSC to PAL or PAL to NTSC Guide. However, how do I deal with the region 2 to region 1 issue?

This isn't something I plan to do very often so I'm interested in an inexpensive option, if one exists.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Kevin

[kbachelder]

I should also mention that I normally use DVDFab Decrypter to go from disc to hard drive before using ConvertXtoDVD.


Thanks,

Kevin

[camaro730]

If it works on your DVD player you could save yourself alot of time by patching in the region code.
http://forums.vso-software.fr/ntsc-to-p ... t4396.html

Use an RW disc first.

EDIT: Sorry, I meant patching it as an NTSC.

[JJ]

ConvertXtoDVD does area 0 coded movies, so they should be playable everywhere.

[HAMsmoke]

DVD HD Decrypter will remove the region coding and any other copy protection when writing files to the hard drive.

[kbachelder]

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone.

I'm no expert on this but I thought my DVD drive is set to region 1 so it won't read region 2 DVDs. Is that the case or will DVD HD Decrypter overcome that problem and just rip the files to my hard drive while removing the region coding?


Many thanks,

Kevin

[HAMsmoke]

You should be able to answer this question yourself if you have both a PAL disc and DVDFab Decrypter. If you can copy files to your hard drive, it removed the region coding. If you can wait a couple of days, I will be able to get my hands on a PAL disc and let you know. I have never tried a PAL encoded DVD with my region 1 drive using DVDFab.

AnyDVD (it costs some $$, but you can get a free trial) will certainly allow you to see the disc as region-free, and that is the solution I use with PAL. I think DVD43 will do that too (a free alternative), but I hear a lot of negative things about it, and I have not used it.

[kbachelder]

You should be able to answer this question yourself if you have both a PAL disc and DVDFab Decrypter.

There's the catch...I don't have any PAL DVDs and before I buy one I wanted to see if I could work with one.

If you can wait a couple of days, I will be able to get my hands on a PAL disc and let you know. I have never tried a PAL encoded DVD with my region 1 drive using DVDFab.

That's sounds great...I'd really appreciate hearing about your first hand experience on this before I invested in buying any DVDs from the UK.

AnyDVD (it costs some $$, but you can get a free trial) will certainly allow you to see the disc as region-free, and that is the solution I use with PAL. I think DVD43 will do that too (a free alternative), but I hear a lot of negative things about it, and I have not used it.

Thanks for sharing that info as well...learning lots of new stuff on this topic recently.


Thanks again,

Kevin

[HAMsmoke]

I'm no expert on this but I thought my DVD drive is set to region 1 so it won't read region 2 DVDs. Is that the case or will DVD HD Decrypter overcome that problem and just rip the files to my hard drive while removing the region coding?

OK - I did it myself and DVDFab Decrypter copies Region 2 PAL with no problem, to the hard drive (with my region 1 drive). You can now convert to NTSC with ConvertXtoDVD.

[kbachelder]

I'm no expert on this but I thought my DVD drive is set to region 1 so it won't read region 2 DVDs. Is that the case or will DVD HD Decrypter overcome that problem and just rip the files to my hard drive while removing the region coding?

OK - I did it myself and DVDFab Decrypter copies Region 2 PAL with no problem, to the hard drive (with my region 1 drive). You can now convert to NTSC with ConvertXtoDVD.

Did you burn an NTSC DVD yourself yet?

So ConvertXtoDVD can take the PAL files from the hard drive and make an NTSC DVD with no additional software needed? I thought something like IfoEdit was needed...no?


Thanks again for all the feedback,

Kevin

[Cougar_II]

Hi kbachelder,

I didn't read the whole thread in details but here goes:

Most DVD have protection on them.
You cannot just put a DVD in your DVD drive and copy the files to your hard drive.

The turn used is RIPPING a DVD.

You need software like DVD Fab Decrypter or SlySoft AnyDVD (Both Mentioned above).

Those software will to this:

1) Remove all protections, remove macro vision etc...
2) Will RIP all the files off the media to your hard drive.

So you end up all the video files, all protections removed, and ready to be converted.

With ConvertXtoDVD, load the VIDEO_TS.IFO file.

It will load the main movie, all the extras etc...

Then you can remove everything else, and only keep the main movie (Latest video length ~120 mins for example) should be the main movie.

Set all your menu configs, then CONVERT.

In theory you should end up with what you want.

A new NTSC DVD (Without the menus) since ConvertXtoDVD will not keep the original menus, it will only convert you the main movie.

Good Luck !

[kbachelder]

Hi kbachelder,

I didn't read the whole thread in details but here goes:

Most DVD have protection on them.
You cannot just put a DVD in your DVD drive and copy the files to your hard drive.

You need software like DVD Fab Decrypter or SlySoft AnyDVD (Both Mentioned above).

Good Luck !

Thanks for the feedback.

I've used DVD Fab Decrypter for several months.

My original question was...

Can I use just DVD Fab Decrypter and ConvertXtoDVD to convert a region 2 PAL DVD to a region 1 (or region free) NTSC DVD?

Based on the helpful feedback from 'HAMsmoke' it sounds like DVD Fab Decrypter will be able to rip a region 2 PAL DVD to my hard drive using my region 1 DVD drive. So the $64,000 question is do I need anything other than ConvertXto DVD to get my NTSC DVD?

Based on this guide I don't think I'll need to do anything else...

http://forums.vso-software.fr/guide-how ... t3077.html


Yes? No? Maybe?

Thanks,

Kevin

[camaro730]

So ConvertXtoDVD can take the PAL files from the hard drive and make an NTSC DVD with no additional software needed? I thought something like IfoEdit was needed...no?

The IfoEdit patching would be a shortcut IF it works on all your DVD players. You've already ripped or collected the IFO and VOB files so why would you take 2 or so more hours converting when you can patch it in 5 minutes? If the patching doesn't work on at least one of your DVD players than it is necessary to convert. It's at least worth a try to save you some time. This method works on 2 of the 3 players we have.

[kbachelder]

So ConvertXtoDVD can take the PAL files from the hard drive and make an NTSC DVD with no additional software needed? I thought something like IfoEdit was needed...no?

The IfoEdit patching would be a shortcut IF it works on all your DVD players. You've already ripped or collected the IFO and VOB files so why would you take 2 or so more hours converting when you can patch it in 5 minutes? If the patching doesn't work on at least one of your DVD players than it is necessary to convert. It's at least worth a try to save you some time. This method works on 2 of the 3 players we have.

So using IfoEdit is an 'optional' step that might save a couple of hours of conversion time for some DVD players

Cool...good to know and thanks again for sharing the links on how to use it earlier in the thread.


Kevin

[HAMsmoke]

Based on the helpful feedback from 'HAMsmoke' it sounds like DVD Fab Decrypter will be able to rip a region 2 PAL DVD to my hard drive using my region 1 DVD drive. So the $64,000 question is do I need anything other than ConvertXto DVD to get my NTSC DVD?

Kevin

To answer the $64,000 question is that you do not need a thing other than ConvertXtoDVD to convert the files on your hard drive, and for that, as we discussed, DVDFab HD Decrypter works just fine.

I converted an episodic PAL DVD, letting ConvertXtoDVD make the menus, and it worked perfectly. Let me state that I have looked into this conversion matter at some length, and have previously tried Nero Vision for the conversion (I have Nero 8 suite as well), and I was not satisfied with the result. My DVD player, while certainly not of any quality, has the ability to play a PAL DVD (once it is region free that is), and I cannot tell you how painful that is to watch. Last - the IFOEdit patch - I cannot say that I tried that. As I understand it, all you are doing is setting a flag, fooling your DVD player into doing something it will not do normally. Certainly IFOEdit cannot change the aspect ration of the PAL disc as ConvertXtoDVD can. The other concern of mine is the frame rate difference between PAL and NTSC - ConvertXtoDVD does something as the converted DVD looks much more natural using this software.

In summary, I am happy with this technique, and you will be too.

[kbachelder]

To answer the $64,000 question is that you do not need a thing other than ConvertXtoDVD to convert the files on your hard drive, and for that, as we discussed, DVDFab HD Decrypter works just fine...

In summary, I am happy with this technique, and you will be too.

Thanks very much for all the feedback...now I can go looking for a good price on a couple of those titles that are not available here in the US as of yet!


Thanks,

Kevin

[HAMsmoke]

One last thing to add - should you desire to watch your region free PAL video files from your PC using a software player (VLC, MediaPlayer Classic, PowerDVD, etc) you do not need to convert to NTSC. You could watch your region 2 PAL DVD direct if you have AnyDVD installed.

[kbachelder]

I received the region 2 PAL DVD boxset from Amazon.co.uk for the TV show I was interested in.

I used DVDFab HD Decrypter 4 to get the files to my hard drive and then I used ConvertXtoDVD 3 to create the DVD. It was an easy and straight forward procedure and it worked well! I can view the burned DVD on my TV with no quality loss from the original.

The only issue I had is that I didn't get the original menu on my burned DVD. I choose the 'no menu' option in ConvertXtoDVD because I thought it might read the menu info from the vob files. I guess I need to read up on how to keep that original menu.

Thanks again for everyone's help and advice...much appreciated.


Kevin

[lapinou]

indeed the menu options are attended to be used when you add video files for source which doesn't contain a menu like it is the case with a DVD source.

[Cougar_II]

Hi,

VSO: Is it really hard to convert PAL to NTSC menus ? (Vice Versa)

That would be an awsome tool if we could keep the original menus.

VSO Movie Translator could be born