[Gocamino] NTSC Region 1 v. PAL Region 2 et al

[Grant Spangler]

To clarify what Rosina has been describing reference the DVD Formats and 
Regions

US and Canada: NTSC Format, Region 1 DVD; Europe: PAL Format, Region 2 DVD.

**** DVD Regions ****
Region 1 - The U.S., U.S. territories and Canada
Region 2 - Europe, Japan, the Middle East, Egypt, South Africa, Greenland
Region 3 - Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong
Region 4 - Mexico, South America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, 
Pacific Islands, Caribbean
Region 5 - Russia, Eastern Europe, India, most of Africa, North Korea, 
Mongolia
Region 6 - China
Region 7 - Undefined (Reserved)
Region 8 – Special International Venues (Cruise Ships, Airplanes, etc.)

Those of you who want to play European (PAL Region 2) DVDs in the US or 
Canada (NTSC Region 1) should check out:  http://www.regionfreedvd.net . 
They have a concise description, and affordable products to play the 
‘exotic’ discs on your existing home television. Please note: Some of the 
DVD players will hook directly to any US or Canadian NTSC TV, to wit, the 
one you own right now. Others will play through a converter. An extremely 
good value at the moment is the JVC XV-N55SL for about 160USD. 
http://www.regioncodefreedvd.com/jvc50.html . Great native NTSC video 
quality and a great NTSC conversion from PAL discs. Something to consider if 
you, like I, are addicted to Spanish and Camino Culture.

**** Next point: Playing these PAL DVDs on you PC. ****
I have always been able to just pop there PAL discs into my DVD drive and 
watch them on my computer. There is a program you can get From SlySoft, 
AnyDVD,  http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html which will absolutely 
guarantee you can play any DVD on any PC. It strips out the encryption and 
region code, and lets you watch anything from anywhere. This may be of 
particular interest to our Ozzie friends in DVD Region 4. The price is lower 
too: 39 USD.

Hope this gives the Spanophiles a few options to watch the discs only for 
European consumption.

Grant

Grant Spangler
GASpangler at hotmail.com
http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago
http://community.webshots.com/user/ElCaminoSantiago