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General discussion

Question about DVD-Rom drives and region settings

Nov 16, 2005 1:17PM PST

I tried searching and didn't find a clear answer. I'm interested in buying some DVDs from the UK (I'm in the States) of shows not shown and sold on DVD here. Now I see that I can set my dvd drive to play whatever region I would like. My question is

a. Is PAL the same as region 2?
b. If I set a dvd drive to region 2, will it play a PAL Region 2 disk?

Because I was considering buying a second dvd-rom drive for my computer so I could watch some of these dvds, or would I just be better off buying a stand alone player for the tv?

Discussion is locked

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Just FYI.
Nov 16, 2005 9:03PM PST

The region setting and the video encoding has no direct connection. One does not make the other mandatory.

Best of luck in your endeavor.

Bob

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Re: Question about DVD-Rom drives and region settings
Nov 16, 2005 9:20PM PST

PAL and region 2 are not necessarily the same. PAL disks may also be region 3 or 4.
If you want to watch region 2 disks on your computer then adding a second drive is a good idea. The region setting on the computer drive can only be changed 5 or 6 times before it becomes locked, so if you only have one then you can only switch so many times.
If you set the new drive to region 2 and use PowerDVD or Intervideo software to play then they will play PAL disks. There may be other software that will do this but these are the ones that I have.
Before buying a new drive check out some dvd players. I have a Cyberhome 300 from Walmart that can be set to region free and plays both PAL and NTSC perfectly. I think they are about $30 in the US.
There are lots available. Go to www.videohelp.com and check out the dvd section.

SF