[lastepic]

One very important point to remember, using the IFO method you aren't actually 'converting' anything - you are just 'tricking' your DVD player into thinking it's playing an NTSC disc. If your player- or your TV - has no PAL support at all, you will still not get it to play correctly.

There is another inherent problem. Athough the DVD 'standards' were drawn up to make all things equal, the two formats have different 'standards'..For instance, PAL includes MPEG audio in it's permitted standards- NTSC does not, so many manufactured for NTSC markets DVD players will not handle anything that has got MPEG audio. So, even if you've got a DVD player that you know can handle the PAL format discs because it's played back a pre-recorded disc in the past, it may well not play a 'homemade' PAL disc that uses MPEG audio. This usually shows itself in a strange way- the sound will play back ok, but the picture will either freeze or you'll get very choppy, blocky video.

To be honest, the best solution is to grab a cheap player that can handle anything you throw at it. For instance, the Cyberhome 300-under $40 at best buy and under £20 with mail in rebates off the net - will first of all try to play the disc back in it's 'native' format- if it can't, it will do an 'on the fly' conversion which gives a very decent output. There are other players out there that will do this, but I know of the Cyberhome one as it's used by many people on other video/DVD lists i'm on.