What do you need to play region 1 DVDs?

Animo said:
Gawyn said:
Animo said:
One more question does it matter what type of TV you have.
Click to expand...
Yes. Your TV will have to be able to handle NTSC signals. Most modern UK TVs are able to do this but there are a few exceptions. It is worth trying one R1 DVD first (probably a cheap one) to see if it plays correctly. TVs that are not capable of showing NTSC pictures will typically show the picture in black-and-white so it should be fairly easy to spot if that is a problem. Another way of seeing if your TV is compatible is with certain console games (this is true for the Playstation at least and probably other consoles too) where you have the option of electing to play the game in NTSC.

I wouldn't worry too much about the TV though as, as I said, most are compatible.
Click to expand...

My TV is made by NOKIA and wont play spme ps2 games so I dont think it would work.
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Wow, Nokia make TVs now? That's nuts...

Here's a quick test. Try to boot a PS2 game in 60Hz mode - most games should have the option to upon boot. If no picture appears, or it flickers horrendously, then sorry, but the TV doesn't support NTSC. If it appears but is black and white though, it means that the TV does support NTSC mode, but you'll need to get a true scart cable for the PS2 to view it in colour(a true scart being a single wire into a scart, instead of a white, a red and a yellow going cable into a scart adapter). These can be found pretty cheaply these days.

If you manage to region free your DVD player, it should just require a bit of fiddling with either the cables at the back or in the region settings to get it to work properly.

kupoartist said:
What do I have to do to get software DVD players to recognise Region 1 discs? I've got PowerDVD installed but probably have most others and can find other software if needed.
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Try DVD Region Killer. It's a little app that sits in the system tray after you launch it, and will make your DVD drive region free while it's running.
 
Wow, Nokia make TVs now? That's nuts...

Nokia used to make TVs. They were cancelled a few years ago I think because there crap.
 
Animo said:
Wow, Nokia make TVs now? That's nuts...

Nokia used to make TVs. They were cancelled a few years ago I think because there crap.
Click to expand...

Essentially you have to find out if your TV supports NTSC. Have a rummage around your menus and if its an option, all should be well.
 
I can change my DVD player to NTSC but then my TV goes fuzzy. So does that mean you carnt play region 1.

Ive also heard that you could get something to change NTSC tvs to PAL. So i was woundering if you could get something to do the opposite of that?
 
Animo said:
I can change my DVD player to NTSC but then my TV goes fuzzy. So does that mean you carnt play region 1.

Ive also heard that you could get something to change NTSC tvs to PAL. So i was woundering if you could get something to do the opposite of that?
Click to expand...
No. There is no such thing that will do that. Unlike region protection in DVDs, which is achieved through software coded onto the dics and in the player, the problem you are facing with a TV is one of the actual hardware not supporting the relevant format.
 
Animo said:
I can change my DVD player to NTSC but then my TV goes fuzzy. So does that mean you carnt play region 1.

Ive also heard that you could get something to change NTSC tvs to PAL. So i was woundering if you could get something to do the opposite of that?
Click to expand...

You should try to set your TV to NTSC, not the DVD player. If the picture is fine when playing DVDs that way, it should be fine.


...I think.
 
adamcube said:
Animo said:
I can change my DVD player to NTSC but then my TV goes fuzzy. So does that mean you carnt play region 1.

Ive also heard that you could get something to change NTSC tvs to PAL. So i was woundering if you could get something to do the opposite of that?
Click to expand...

You should try to set your TV to NTSC, not the DVD player. If the picture is fine when playing DVDs that way, it should be fine.


...I think.
Click to expand...
TVs cannot (generally speaking) be set to NTSC. They either support it, in which case they will automatically detect an NTSC source and switch, or they don't. I have only had one, very old, TV which had the ability to manually select what the source resolution was.
 
Gawyn said:
adamcube said:
Animo said:
I can change my DVD player to NTSC but then my TV goes fuzzy. So does that mean you carnt play region 1.

Ive also heard that you could get something to change NTSC tvs to PAL. So i was woundering if you could get something to do the opposite of that?
Click to expand...

You should try to set your TV to NTSC, not the DVD player. If the picture is fine when playing DVDs that way, it should be fine.


...I think.
Click to expand...
TVs cannot (generally speaking) be set to NTSC. They either support it, in which case they will automatically detect an NTSC source and switch, or they don't. I have only had one, very old, TV which had the ability to manually select what the source resolution was.
Click to expand...

I know, but how new can a NOKIA TV be?
 
Animo said:
Wow, Nokia make TVs now? That's nuts...

Nokia used to make TVs. They were cancelled a few years ago I think because there crap.
Click to expand...

I have some nokia candles :shock: Found them in an old press, theyd been there years.

on topic i find VLC is the easiest way to watch R1 disks, if you dont want to watch them on your computer you can easily hook up your pc to your tv to watch them on that.
 
Hybridchild said:
Animo said:
Wow, Nokia make TVs now? That's nuts...

Nokia used to make TVs. They were cancelled a few years ago I think because there crap.
Click to expand...

I have some nokia candles :shock: Found them in an old press, theyd been there years.

on topic i find VLC is the easiest way to watch R1 disks, if you dont want to watch them on your computer you can easily hook up your pc to your tv to watch them on that.
Click to expand...

Yeah but surely VLC doesn't bypass hardware region protection? Surely you need a compatable R1 or multiregion DVD drive.
 
I think VLC sidesteps the DVD region coding - I don't know the details but I do know it works! Maybe it's not the drive itself but the other video player software (Media Player and so on) that is affected?
 
There are two or three things that set the DVD region on a Windows PC:

1) DVD drive firmware. Drives are usually either shipped already set to the region of the market they are being sold in (e.g. R2 in the UK), or the region is set to match the first DVD that's put into them. You can usually change the drive's region setting a few times (e.g. 5) before it stays set to the last region. For some drives, you can download a tool to periodically reset the drive region setting counter. However, the most common way around this issue is to replace the firmware with a patched version (download from here) that makes the drive 'region free'. Make sure you read all instructions and warnings before doing this, as it's possible to make your drive unusable (I've never had a problem, though).

2) Windows also has a region setting. You can usually only change it a few times. There are tools, like DVD Genie that make it easy to reset the Windows region setting.

3) Some commercial software DVD players also have a region setting. Tools like DVD Genie also let you manage those. Alternatively use a player that doesn't do that (I use Media Player Classic on Windows PCs).

[Happosai]
 
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