PAL dvd's, and regions?

The place to discuss linux version of MakeMKV
Post Reply
scjet
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2013 11:44 pm

PAL dvd's, and regions?

Post by scjet »

Hello,
Presently I'm in Region 1 (US/CAN/...), which is NTSC, but I'll be receiving, for the first time, some (store-bought) PAL dvd's, as a gift soon, from my family overseas, who are in the UK (Region 2/PAL).

Ok, so right now I have an internal LG (WH16NS40) Blu-ray/DVD/... player/burner, as well as an internal LG (UH12NS30) Multi-Disc Blu-ray/DVD player/burner.
My TV here is a big flat screen NTSC obviously.
Anyway, I'm running Linux, and I've been told that PAL(DVD's) will not be a problem to rip/play on my Desktop/PC/Computer Monitor to mkv's, using MakeMKV ?
Also, apparently, the "region" can be set within linux using "regionset /dev/sr0", if need be.

I'm familiar with installing and using MakeMKV successfully in Linux,
but as I've said above, I'm in NTSC/Region 1 territory, but as long as MakeMKV can rip those PAL(Region 2) dvd's to mkv's, I can use ffmpeg to convert them to "ntsc-dvd", if need be.?

Can anyone here please confirm this, and/or let me know if there's any "gotcha's", that I should worry about, regarding using MakeMKV to rip PAL dvd's ?
TY.
Last edited by scjet on Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Woodstock
Posts: 9912
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:21 pm

Re: PAL dvd's, and regions?

Post by Woodstock »

MakeMKV really doesn't care about PAL vs. NTSC, and region coding is "almost completely" a non-problem.

"Almost completely" because there are some drives that will complain about out-of-region disks and won't respond to the work-around that MakeMKV uses in that case. It is VERY rare; While I've seen warnings in the log about region errors, I haven't had MakeMKV fail to save the contents. But others have reported that it refused to read the disk.
MakeMKV Frequently Asked Questions
How to aid in finding the answer to your problem: Activating Debug Logging
scjet
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2013 11:44 pm

Re: PAL dvd's, and regions?

Post by scjet »

Woodstock wrote:
Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:52 pm
MakeMKV really doesn't care about PAL vs. NTSC, and region coding is "almost completely" a non-problem.

"Almost completely" because there are some drives that will complain about out-of-region disks and won't respond to the work-around that MakeMKV uses in that case. It is VERY rare; While I've seen warnings in the log about region errors, I haven't had MakeMKV fail to save the contents. But others have reported that it refused to read the disk.
Thanks for the confirmation, and potential warning, I'll let you know how the PAL rip's turn out when I get them soon.
cdnbns123321
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 4:37 pm

Re: PAL dvd's, and regions?

Post by cdnbns123321 »

Hi,
I am about to get a non NTSC bluray set off amazon (assuming it needs to be PAL) did you have any issues with what you got from overseas?
Woodstock
Posts: 9912
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:21 pm

Re: PAL dvd's, and regions?

Post by Woodstock »

I've had no issues with either DVD or Bluray disks so far, including European and Asian region disks.

BD is actually easier than DVD; the region coding doesn't have to be worked around at the drive level, like with DVD. Some drives are stubborn about DVD regions, and some may need firmware updates because of it, but I've not seen that with BD disks.
MakeMKV Frequently Asked Questions
How to aid in finding the answer to your problem: Activating Debug Logging
Post Reply