SJG31

I have looked and looked on the computer (i am not technically sound!), i understand that the UK uses PAL and are Region 2 (i think) anyway, US is NATL and Region 1 (or something to that effect...), i want to burn a dvd of little film clips of my son to send to my Mum (who is even worse than i am with technology). I have tried to send her a zip drive but that meant she had to use a computer.... she just wants to put a dvd in her UK player and watch the films. I know i can use UK setting for burning a dvd, but i also want to be able to save the film clips and burn a dvd for my use to on a US dvd player. With the conversion between UK and US on a computer being only able to change a few times, what can i do? Is there a way of converting back and forth more times? Many thanks for any help, and yes, i probably have all the jargon wrong, so please no comments on my ignorance!

Brit3964

It's actually very easy. Just burn the DVD on your computer from the original footage format (probably AVI if taken off a camcorder) and send it. Her computer will read and play it without a problem. Although it is likely NTSC format (US TV standard) any computer can play it back and quite often many UK standalone DVD players can also handle it also. The region coding is a Hollywood thing to prevent unauthorized copying/selling in other world regions. Your homemade burnt DVDs will not have region coding on them unless you specify it and/or have software that can do this.

I've burnt many US NTSC DVDs and sent them back to Old Blighty and they played without a problem.

rpjs

Usually if you burn a DVD on your computer it's unregioned, and PAL vs NTSC is an issue for playback on old analogue TVs, not digital playback on a computer (or a modern digital TV). We had home-burnt DVDs from OH's mom in the US that worked fine for us when we were in the UK.

Bob

This.

If the dvd player is plugged into the tele via hdmi or component cables it won't make a difference.

No idea about scart though, do they even use those anymore?

guitarmaan

So the crucial point is the region, since your Mum is not using a computer but a standard UK DVD player. I have encountered a similar issue, not wanting my laptop stuck with B region for the UK. As mentioned, forget PAL and NTSC they're not relevant.

The original cam files will be converted to VOB files for DVD btw. I'll take an educated guess and say your DVD burning software will create a region free disc. Some commercial DVDs are also region free. And these region free discs shouldn't cause your PC to remain stuck on any one region. I have a Bluray in the mail and I'm going to test this out soon.

Also, if you're using a PC to view your DVDs you shouldn't worry too much though, because VLC player will play any region anyway (I believe). Plus I doubt the burning process will affect your region setting, only playing them back would do that.

Let us know how you got on!

Sally Redux

We have not had any problems with playback of home DVDs we sent back. The family were not really interested in them though. The only comment I got was from my aunt, who seemed fascinated by a t-shirt I was wearing with 'Lost' on it.

SJG31

thank you all! I am making the mini clips of film from my regular kodak camera and mum does not have a computer (i know.... how is this possible?!) so i will give the above advice a go and give feed back when all is figured out - this of course, is dependent on the postal service sending the package in a timely manner! The words OLD SCHOOL do not even cover my family!!!

fatbrit

You need "movie maker" type software if you want to do the job really properly. This can cost anywhere from nothing to a thousand bucks, and price is no indicator of quality. Also requires some technical knowhow, and this could take from no time to a lifetime to learn.

Don't worry about the region encoding. This should be set to zero.

Bob

No it's not. Burnt DVD's are regionfree.

There are plenty of software, free ones even that can bypass any hardware region limits of a computer DVD drive. So that isn't a issue these days either.

guitarmaan

You didn't read the entire post did you? I covered region free.

And her Mum wants to play the disc in a standard player, not a PC.

hobbes79

If they're just little film clips, consider using photobucket:

http://photobucket.com/

You can upload the movie then just send the link to your mother. She'd need a PC, but saves hassle and cost. Also means you could send one to her on a whim.

Bob

"I have encountered a similar issue, not wanting my laptop stuck with B region for the UK. "

That is what you said. I said that it is irrelevant these days for a PC DVD drive.

I also said that a home burnt DVD disc is also region free, so again, irrelevant as a concern to the OP's mum.

guitarmaan

Bob you're ignoring the rest of my post, where I state there are players that ignore regions on PC (you don't even need software for the drive), and burnt DVDs are probably region free. So you've posted virtually the same info that I posted. But thanks for your interest!

Sally Redux

She won't have any problems in a standard player though.

guitarmaan

I know, because the burnt disc will be region free, assuming the OP doesn't select UK or USA while burning