Will PAL DVDs look like crap on PC with a software DVD encoder?
 

I'm thinking of buying an affordable DVD-ROM drive that can be firmware upgraded to region free.

I will be using a software DVD encoder as opposed to a hardware one.

Is this worth doing or will PAL DVDs have some kind of conversion problem and will play but not be pleasant to watch?

(...scratches head...) ..."encoder" ?... don't you mean "decoder" ?...

(signed) Ignoramus

. . . :o . . .

I haven't had any trouble with mine. It's an old drive - Toshiba SD-M1202 but everything looks fine. You'll need a decent amount of power to keep sound/picture from stuttering with the software decoder, but that's true for any disc, not just a PAL disc. I've got an Athlon 1900, 256mg of RAM and a GeForce 3 Ti200, running PowerDVD XP. As long as your machine can handle the decoding, the PAL conversion shouldn't present a problem.

I've also watched region-free PAL discs on my iMac and that has handled the conversion with no problem, as well.

Ahchoo
 

It's a non-issue. Your in VGA so PAL or NTSC is irrelevant. Only stupid stone age TV's make it an issue.

As this seems to have been asked and answered, I think it is safe to close rather than moving to the Computer & DVD-ROM Forum which would be its natural home IMO.

The threadstarter is, of course, free to seek additional input there; perhaps by bumping a pre-existing thread if the information you seek hasn't already been posted:<ul><li><A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=139781" target="_blank">pal dvds on the computer dvd player?</a>
<li><A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=133548" target="_blank">What is the best player for my DVD-ROM?</a>
<li><A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=210598" target="_blank">Please help... DVD compatibility question</a></li></ul>


Benedict