Can anyone tell me how to play a DVD purchased from the UK on my standard DVD player....My DVD player plays DVD, CD-R, CD-RW, VCD, and SCVD no problem but shows up as a "check regional settings" when I try to play the DVD.....

Well, first off you need to know that DVD players are deliberately designed to NOT allow you to play disks from regions other than the region you live in - so it's not a fault but a designed-in feature of the player. Bummer, eh?

Some - but not all - players can be "hacked" via their setup menus or firmware to play disks from other regions - go to DVDhelp.com and search for your player in their listing to see if you are in luck.

Alternatively, you could use "ripping" software to copy the files onto your computer hard drive, set it to region-free, and view it from there (or burn it to a SVCD or DVD-R if your player supports those - although doing that has a significant learning curve).

$100 buys you a modified SAMPO all standards player with built in conversion. NOTE that being able to play a PAL DVD is not "converting" pal to NTSC. You would still need to convert the singal.

Buy a modified SAMPO and your set.

What is "sampo"? where do I get it? is it software or hardware? does it work with my computer or my dvd player?

Dean, do you know if your problem is a "region" problem or a NTSC vs PAL problem?

The Disc should have printed on it somewhere which region it's been unlocked for. The great gods of DVD decided that the world should be divided up into regions.
This has to do with studio's releasing movies to movie houses in different parts of the world at different times.

So it's "regional-lized" so you can't get the DVD if it hasn't been released yet to the movie houses in your region. (uh er .. something like that)

Like Nap says .. some DVD players (Sampo is the name brand of one of cheaper and more versatile ones) can be "hacked" to "unlock" them.

Now if your DVD is simply a PAL format (that's the video frame size and frames per second rate) then that's a different issue. That video format is different in PAL countries (PAL format) as in the US which is NTSC format.

My SAMPO model 620 by the way accepts BOTH PAL and NTSC format DVDs and makes the conversion to match my US type NTSC TV. So it's NTSC or PAL in and NTSC out.

Do a search on the web for SAMPO and DVD. I got mine via the web over a year ago and paid about 125 bucks. There are two version of the model 620 (there may be newer ones now - a year later) One of the models was something like an "A" version and the other a "B" version. Point is ONE and I'm sorry I forgot which but am pretty sure it was the A version .. was the one to get because it's firmware was easier to update or hack and make region free. By "region free" I mean it was unlocked to enable it to playback all regions.

By the way .. it also can be retro-fit with a standard PC DVD ROM drive instead of the cheap DVD-ROM drive it comes with. This enhances some things and makes it even more compatible. For what it's worth, I've never updated or changed anything in mine as it seems to suit my needs perfectly as is.

http://www.nerd-out.com

http://www.mindlogic.com/Prod_MSDVD.shtml?source=overture

http://www.dvdcity.com/codefree/codefreeindex.php3

I believe it is a region issue....it says 'check regional settings' when I try to play it...
I have a Toshiba SD-3755 5 disc DVD player...does this player have a hack for it? It would suck to go out and buy a new dvd player....
Also, I am about to purchase a DVD burner for the home computer...will the DVD burner be able to copy the Region 2 DVD and be able to re-burn it onto another dvd that will allow it to play?
Sorry for the ignorance guys, but I really appreciate the insight to this....thanks...

DVD burners are region coded as well, dammit. I think, although I havent tried it, that you may be able to change the region several times (computer DVD drives typically let you do it 5 times before it locks on the last one). If so you could change to region 2, rip and burn the DVD, then change back.

Alternatively, there is "hacked" regionfree firmware for some DVD-R drives such as the Pioneers - but personally I'd be a bit cautious of trying those.

Again alternatively .... you only need to solve the region problem to READ the disk, not to write it again with your burner, so chances are that either you or a friend can access a "hackable" DVD drive that CAN be safely made regionfree (go to http://perso.club-internet.fr/farzeno/firmware/ for a list). Get the files onto your hardrive using that drivem, then burn them with your new drive.

Finally, for anyone interested in PAL/NTSC conversion players, the Sampo 631CF is a mere $109 after rebate on Amazon.com - with free shipping - which is the lowest price in the known universe.

ok....keep in mind that I am very new to this...

I went out and bought a Sony DRU500a DVD burner....it can read the format and I can play it on my computer...I was searching around and found DVD Decrypter and attempted to "rip" the video and then inturn, burn it back onto a blank dvd.....
question: Is this the righ way to do this? Once I copy the video to the harddrive, what program can I use to copy it back onto a disk? I have Nero Burn, Easy CD creator, and RecordNow and none of them state in the load settings, how to burn a dvd....
thanks again for your insight....dean

Good choice using DVDcrypter - great program!

Ripping and burning DVDs has a bit of a learning curve and THE place for guides is www.doom9.net.

If the main video on the Region 2 DVD will fit onto a single DVD-R then its easy - here's the guide:
http://www.doom9.org/mpg/ifoedit-menustripping.htm

If not, you can use Ifoedit to split the files in a manner that allows you to burn them to 2 DVDs:
http://www.doom9.org/mpg/ifoedit-2dvdrs.htm

You'll see, in the guides, that disabling region checking is one step in the process so the end result is an all-region disk.

Is you have a current version of Nero, the basic steps are: 1) select your DVD-R drive using \Recorder\Choose recorder
2) Start a new compilation using \File\New
3) Select DVD from the compilation window's CD\DVD option box
4) Select DVDvideo from the list of options down the left of the compilation window
5) Drag your IFO BUP and VOB files into the VIDEO_TS directory that will appear in the left-hand panel of the compilation window.
6) Set to ISO9660 and no multisession etc etc and burn away! Good luck.