DVD Players and "ZONES"

[silver-eagle]

We got a DVD (-R) from a friend in England he recorded off TV. It plays on a PC but not on our settop DVD Player. Are the DVDs I record "ZONED" - either off the settop or the PC? And do PCs (particularly using Intervideo WINDVD player) honor the "ZONES" or will they play multiple zones?

 

[wsuffa]

We got a DVD (-R) from a friend in England he recorded off TV. It plays on a PC but not on our settop DVD Player. Are the DVDs I record "ZONED" - either off the settop or the PC?

I thought the recorders did not set a zone on recordings. I don't know whether specific recorders convert video formats (NTSC/PAL/SECAM).

Obviously, the US settop player will attempt to play the video back as NTSC. A PC won't care.

And do PCs (particularly using Intervideo WINDVD player) honor the "ZONES" or will they play multiple zones?

The zone setting is usually established in the DVD drive, not the software. Most drives allow you to change the zone 6 or 7 times before it becomes established in permanant memory.

 

[jesse]

We got a DVD (-R) from a friend in England he recorded off TV. It plays on a PC but not on our settop DVD Player. Are the DVDs I record "ZONED" - either off the settop or the PC? And do PCs (particularly using Intervideo WINDVD player) honor the "ZONES" or will they play multiple zones?

Does your DVD player play DVD-R? Also keep in mind that England is PAL. Most likely the video is 720 x 576 pixels. This is the size for PAL. The vast majority of Region 1 DVD players have PAL playback disabled.

 

[Greebo]

Jesse's got it. The DVD from england is in PAL format. To watch it on your dvd player you will first need to have it converted to NTSC format, which will degrade the quality somewhat.

Alternatively if your TV will take inputs from your computer, you can use the computer as the playback device, but this assumes convenience of location (laptops make this easier).

 

[silver-eagle]

I'll know on Tuesday when I actually see the disc. Since we're dealing with notebook PCs, it may be easy enough to connect one of them to the tv and/or convert the disc to NTSC.
I'll let you know my success.
Thanks.