Europe DVD US iMac

[stoid]

I want to make a DVD of a school production for one of our German exchange students. I have a 800MHz iMac with iDVD. I know that standards are different in Europe/Germany, and I don't want to wind up with a DVD that's works in America but is a coaster in Germany. What do I need to do???

 

[AlphaTech]

Will the person that you want to be able to use it going to play it on a Mac, or a dvd player??? I would imagine that as long as they go with another Mac it will all be good. If on a dvd player, test it out on one if you can, or search on Apple's knowledge base section.

 

[stoid]

DVD Player. I have Quicktime Pro also if I need it

 

[AlphaTech]

I'd suggest searching the knowledge base. Can you test it out on a dvd player before sending it?? How about setting your player to the same region settings the person receiving it will be using?? I don't imagine it will be too much trouble to make sure it works...

Maybe make a test dvd first, unless you have a short supply of media.

A little research ahead of time, could save you lots of time during production of said dvd.

I just put idvd into the knowledge base search and got 74 hits... These are the results...

 

[Wildcat]

I dont know if this helps but on my G4 400 if you insert a foreign region DVD it asks you if you would like to change the region settings. But it only alows you to change them 4 times. Maybe the case would be the same for your supper drive?

 

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by Wildcat
I dont know if this helps but on my G4 400 if you insert a foreign region DVD it asks you if you would like to change the region settings. But it only alows you to change them 4 times. Maybe the case would be the same for your supper drive?

The person receiving it will be using a dvd player attached to a tv... not a computer. Stoid has already said that...

 

[strider42]

Originally posted by AlphaTech


The person receiving it will be using a dvd player attached to a tv... not a computer. Stoid has already said that...

DVD players still have the region coding, only its not changeable like the computers are. I believe however that iDVD burns DVD's in region 0 format, which is universal and should play anywhere, but you'll want to double check on that. It would make sense thuogh since region coding is an anti-piracy type measure and iDVD isn't made for creating material that would need such protection.

 

[AlphaTech]

Good points strider42, I have changed the language settings on dvd's as I play them via the dvd attached to my tv, but haven't tried messing with other settings. I would have to check the manual that came with mine (high end Sony unit) to see what other alterations can be made.

I still suggest searching the knowledge base to confirm the info, and testing the dvd to make sure it works before sending it overseas. That way you know if there will be an issue or not.

 

[stoid]

So the region problem is solved, but do I need to make it PAL format?? I think that the US uses NTSC.

 

[strider42]

Originally posted by stoid
So the region problem is solved, but do I need to make it PAL format?? I think that the US uses NTSC.

I could be wrong here, but I don't think so. I believe the difference would be handled by the player itself. I believe that if you have a region free player, you can play DVD's from anywhere in the world, meaning the disks themselves must be the same except for the region coding.

 

[irmongoose]

okay.. just to make things clear.. I can ASSURE you that...

1. iDVD burns in the Universal region code... so it will work on almost ANY DVD player... if it doesn't work, the DVD player must not be supported by Apple, it's not the region code problem.

2. There is no NTSC or PAL crap like on VHS. Just make sure your DVD player has the same format as your TV.. NTSC or PAL.

Yeah. Hope this helps.




irmongoose

 

[atomwork]

Fake it

Hi,

there is a trick to fake the DVD player. I have this problem since my DVD player is one of the first of its time and i had problems with columbia DVDs since they try to force the player only to play region 1 discs.

The trick for me was that I had to go to the program menu and tell the player to combine all chapters of the DVD and make it to one. I don't know the true command but it was easy on mine (FISCHER). After i combined all chapters i wasn't able to skip chapters or see the menu, however i could see the movie.

May be this helps.

DS