[Five]

check over at videohelp.com for the best advice.

also search this forum for other "PAL to NTSC" and "NTSC to PAL" threads...I've seen this topic posted many times before and full explanations posted in those threads.

fwiw I live in n.america and my $25 dvd player can play PAL or NTSC

the main reason we want the dvds kept in the original format is because say it was broadcast in PAL, then somebody converts it to NTSC, then their friend needs it in PAL, so they convert it to PAL and mail it to them, then that person seeds it on a bt site, then somebody downloads it and needs it in NTSC, then they do a b&p of that to somebody in Europe who converts it to PAL... changing from (aprox) 25fps to 30fps and back again and back again and then back again etc and the quality goes down the toilet.

as for "region 1" and such, that only applies to copy-protected official dvds, and you should not be copying those anyways. buy a copy from the store, problem solved. none of the dvds here have copy protection and are not officially released.