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Question

Is it possible to play PAL dvds on NTSC dvd drive

Apr 25, 2019 8:11PM PDT

Hello Tech Geeks,
I'm an older "Australian" computer user.
I purchased a MSI i5-8300H 8th Gen, 8GB Ram, 4GB Video Card, 64 bit Operating System, Win 10 Laptop from Amazon USA in March 2019 and had it shipped to Vietnam where I now reside, as Amazon won't ship to Vietnam from Australia. The new laptop does not have a DVD drive installed within it.
MY Problem.
1. I'm old school, and brought with me 30 PAL movies on DVD from Australia with me.
2. I purchased an 3.0 external dvd-rw drive from Amazon which is plug and play, so I think it comes with software pre-installed. When I plug this drive into either 2.0or 3.0 ports, itruns for a second or two then stops. Also, the dvd comes up as a data drive not dvd drive and changing its name in the Properties file, doesn't change its ability to read or play dvds.
3. Unfortunately it has NTSC software so cannot play PAL dvds.
4. If I buy another dvd drive (PAL}, will it play when attached to my laptop OR is there software out there that will allow me to convert the PAL movies to NTSC so I can play them.
5. If i change the region (even though I don't know how to do that), will it make a difference to my problem?
I have already installed VLC software but that doesn't work and Aimersoft DVD ripper software, although because the drive is listed asa data drive, I continually receive an error message.
I'm at a loss as to where to go now, as the computer shops in Hanoi (where I live) and HCMC, only sell machines that are basically 2 years behind the rest of the world, (MSI Brand not sold) and their shop technicians donot have the expertise to rectify this type of problem. If it is not in the manual, they cannot fix.
Any and all help, is greatly appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Yes, you have to change the region.
Apr 25, 2019 10:08PM PDT

Or find a drive that is region free. I can't assure you 100% since there are factors I may not know about but folk are known to get a generic USB DVDRW drive (which run 25USD or less here) change the region and use that drive for their DVDs of that region.

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Answer
Get a DVD Player That Connects to a TV
Apr 25, 2019 10:14PM PDT

I am an older Australian also but live in Australia. Assuming you have a TV set, why don't you buy a DVD player to connect to a TV rather than a DVD player you connect to a computer. I bought a multi-region DVD player for less than $A100 from Harvey Norman (you may have heard of it) and it plays DVD's no matter what the region code is, and you have a much larger screen for viewing.
By the way, with DVD players that are not multi-region you could usually purchase a numerical code you punched into the player remote control to get around it.