[DustyDan]

Originally Posted by stoner

what is the issue then? I have a friend who has some problem with this. He's asked me to convert PAL's to NTSC to play on his mac...

That a WHOLE other issue. And you won't be thrilled to hear the answer.

First though, your computer will play NTSC or PAL either one. It's the regions you can only change so many times. Region 1 is North America, Region 2 is the UK, and so on. The UK, and much of the rest of the world uses PAL. Your current DVD player may or may not play a PAL (Sony, I know, won't play it); your current DVD player WILL NOT play a Region 2. (I'm assuming you're in North America.) There are a couple of free programs that will let you rip a DVD so that it's region-free. But you'll still have a PAL video.

Here comes the answer about converting PAL to NTSC: Forget it. Unless you have the right, expensive software, it's too much to bother with. Take my word for it. Save yourself from finding this answer over and over again. The only easy, cheap way is to rip your video to AVI then take it back up, but it looks seriously crappy.

Here comes your best answer: Buy an all-region DVD player. That's it. If you're not worried about the region thing, there are some DVD players that will actually play a PAL. Take your region-free PAL video to the store and see if any of them will play it. Alternatively, do some research on Amazon and find a cheap DVD player that has been hacked to make it region-free AND plays PALs. Follow those hacking instructions. It's a simple code and done in no time. I can play my Region 2 PALs on it, no problem, and it only cost about $70 or $80 bucks if I remember. I was able to find the right model locally and just followed the hacking instructions. Still better, look at something like what Oppo makes. It upconverts everything, and upconverts it for high-def, too.

Again, the simple answer about converting PAL to NTSC, or vice versa, is to NOT EVEN BOTHER unless you have some fancy, expensive software. Get another machine that will play them.