[johnfowles]

I note that James made the following pair of statements in this thread

Originally Posted by jj

has anyone got a DVD copy that plays in an NTSC player

Originally Posted by jj

can the .VOBs be converted using some sort of freeware?

Yes I for one have. My second DVD (burnt using the freeware program imgburn from the downloaded 1.91GB video_ts folder plays perfectly on two of my available DVD players with perfect sound thank goodness whereras:my first effort using Express Burn burnt with errors and had no sound whatsoever in our main player. see the fine imgburn tutorial at:-
there should be no question of needing to convert the set of Visual OBject files *.vob. (although you could use the delightfully named SUPER © Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer.freeware conversion program)
In fact every DVD if you look at its file and folder content comprises two folders
a dummy empty one named AUDIO_TS and the ubiquitous VIDEO_TS
and most if not all DVD burning programs encourage you to add the VIDEO_TS folder

Originally Posted by jj

btw, it seems like the .VOB dvd files are PAL format, according to the player hooked up to my tv...as one suggested, a Blu-ray player such as PS3 streams youtube directly to large tv screen with good audio...it pixelates a bit (not as clear as Netflix)

Since the original DVD was made from a digital recording made in the UK it was inevitable that the DVD's vob files would be in PAL format
yes well regarding PAL DVDs playing on NTSC systems this is shall we say somewhat of a rad herring,


I started a most relevant thread on this very subject almot 4 years ago using as my thread title
PAL vs NTSC of relevance to all video viewers
at:-
http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=17560&highlight=fundamental
In it I highlit an article by Michael from Australia after I firstly reviewed my equipment for dealing with the problem of watching my stock of UK made PAL VHS videotapes
on a standard American NTSC player/monitor setup
I then went on to describe a cheap DVD player I had recently purchased that claimed to be suitable for both PAL and NTSC although it very soon expired
and moving on to PAL versus NTSC DVDs I said in part
It reminded me that a while ago I came across a brilliant web page describing the salient differences between PAL and NTSC and how that affects DVDs.Having just reread it I must say that it is required reading for anybody with any interest in burning or indeed playing DVD's
It is quite simply the very best and most comprehensive explanation of the complex and oft misunderstood subject of PAL and NTSC DVDs
http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/articles/palvsntsc/palvsntsc.asp
PAL vs NTSC
or,Which DVD Do I Buy?

In which a thorough review of the different frame rates and resolution standards etc is presented along with some most useful observations starting with a basic statement essential to the understanding what is going on digital-wise
Michael then said
"The first thing I need to clarify about DVD is that PAL and NTSC are words and formats that are applied to DVD for convenience, and because of historical convention. There is nothing fundamental about a DVD which makes it either PAL or NTSC , but for simplicity and brevity, I will continue to use these terms throughout this article."
He then spent the rest of the article describing a number of actual differences between PAL and NTSC mainly due to the larger number of scanning lines on a PAL monitor and the different television set scanning rate (in frames per minute) value due to the different electricity supply frequencies (Europe is "50 Hz" which is the shortened form of "50 hertz" which means "50 cycles per second", North America is 60HZ )
Michael usefully summarises these effects as follows:-
"When video source material is transferred to DVD, it is usually transferred in the format it was created in - PAL or NTSC, and the subsequent image has either higher temporal resolution (more frames per second - NTSC) or higher spatial resolution (more lines per image - PAL)."s

I can now add that although the grievious question of the designated region coding of a DVD remains (I have had to change the setting of one internal DVD drive on my computer to Region 2 expressly to play UK sourced videos I now get in order to be able to use DVDDecryptor to rip the vob fileset to my hard drive with any region or other coding etc discarded and then I can use those files to burn a DVD that is then suitable for my purposes .However I think there is one DVD player in our family that had a problem with one Australin PAL DVD so as I intend trying to play the PAL 1972 concert DVD on it I will soon have confirmation