I want a movie that I can't only find in Region 2 format on ebay, although I'm sure it was released in NA. Can I buy it and convert it to region 1/NTSC with some program and burn a copy? Even if there's an intermediate step like making it an xvid or something and re-burning it with convertxtodvd. Thanks.
The disk would be playable on the PC, but generally the burner is only allowed five region changes, then becomes locked to the last region selected - which might be a nuisance.
I think that 'AnyDVD' (21 day free trial) can circumvent this.
It also removes any protection on the disk and allows it to be ripped with 'DVD Shrink'.
'Backup' only the main movie (not 'Full Disc').
Once it's ripped, there is no region coding on the files.
The ripped video files will be in PAL format - this is why you only rip the movie;the menu's won't convert easily.
If you select the .ifo file with ConvertX, it will convert the output to North America NTSC video files and optionally, burn the new DVD disk..
In this instance, the movie is not being converted to DivX.
After the DVD files have been ripped and processed with DVD Shrink, they are going to be converted to a DVD format that a Region 1, standalone DVD player will accept.
You will still select 'NTSC' for the output in ConvertX, however the folder containing the ripped files reflect the layout of the DVD.
Typically the main title contains files like:
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_01_2.VOB
etc.
But the DVD also contains .IFO (information) files.
When you tell ConvertX to open VTS_01_0.IFO it brings in all the relevant video files that it needs to convert the movie from PAL to NTSC format.
If you didn't do this, you would have to load the individual .VOB files (in the correct order) so it could convert them.
If you use 'AnyDVD', take care to run the program before inserting the Region 2 disk - that way AnyDVD will be in control.
