PAL, NTSC issues, can use help I have a DVD from Thailand that, of course, will not play in my Sony 315 DVD player. It plays in my brand new BenQ DVD burner just fine, but I was trying to figure out how to make a copy that'll play in the Sony.

I have been doing a lot of CD audio work for years, but I am new to DVDs, so I am asking either for help or links to useful information.

I have already installed the following programs:
* the latest Nero Suite
* DVDFab Decrypter
* DVD43
* Power DVD
* DVD Identifier

The disc I have is Region 9 and PAL. Here is what I did.

First, I ripped the DVD to hard drive using Fab Decrypter, and DVD43 was running in the background.

Then, I tried Nero Recoder to fit into a single-layer DVD+R. This also does not play in the Sony, and for the same reason (area restrictions). Is it PAL? PowerDVD reports it as No Region Specified, MPEG-2 (they all are, right?) and 720x576 (which SHOULD be NTSC, right?).

Then, in Nero still, I tried to make a VCD but burned to a DVD for the greater capacity. Nope.

So can anybody help me diagnose what the problem is? Or can you point to a specific article that could help?

720x576 is PAL resolution, 720x480 is NTSC. It isn't going to matter if you remove the region encoding or not, you are either A) going to have to convert the video to NTSC or B) Have a DVD player capable of converting the PAL video to NTSC for you. Option A is going to involve converting to the MPEG-2 video over to AVI and this and that and it's a complete pain in the ass, not to mention the loss in quality that you're likely to get. If you are going to be playing a number of other region discs, do yourself a favor and buy a multi-region player that converts PAL to NTSC and vice versa, such as the Oppo Digital player. But if you're dead set on converting the video, check out videohelp.com instead.