burning region free DVD not working

[highpoly]

Ive read through the posts on this topic first before posting, but can't seem to find why not working as it appears what I am doing should work according to posts here.

 

I have created and ISO from DVDflick as NTSC. From what I understand, DVD flick is region free encoder. I burn the ISO in ImgBurn and it plays fine when ejected and re-inserted. (I have Region 1 DVD burner BTW).

 

If the process above is region free so to speak, why doesnt the DVD play on a PC in Japan? The user gets a region warning. Japan uses NTSC (but is region 2) and if the burned DVD is region free, it should play right?

 

Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong? I need this to play anywhere in the world as its my demo reel.

IS the problem the drive itself?

 

Thanks,

[LIGHTNING UK!]

If the IFOs on the disc don't have a specific region set, the disc is as region free as it can be. (Burning does nothing with regions)

 

A PC should be able to play NTSC or PAL content (standalone players, not so much), so that shouldn't be the problem.

 

Maybe it's to do with other factors?

 

e.g.

 

Bad reader drive on the PC in Japan

Bad burn from your burner (cheapo discs / burning too fast or slow) - do you verify your burns?

The PC software can't handle something else about the content - do you know what they were trying to use to play it?

[highpoly]

So, theoretically even though my dvd player/burner is set to region 1, as long as I make the iso from DVD flick and burn from ImgBurn, it should be region free. Someone suggesting writing to disc directly from DVDflick (which uses ImgBurn for the burn) instead of making ISO, but I dont see how that would be different.

 

As for the factors,

The drive here is fine(I am in Japan now..its my Japanese PC reading disc made on US laptop). Both NTSC countries but diff regions.

 

It could be the media and I didnt know this could make a difference. I do burn at 2.5 and always verify. THe sessions hang for a while and I have to cancel to get the disc out of the drive (even though says 100 percent/success..etc), but that cant be it because later when inserted it reads and plays fine on my US laptop (same laptop that burned it).

 

The software tried to read from was INterVideo WinDVD. I temporarily changed the region on the japanese dvd drive and it was then playable which brings me back to why is the region even an issue? Why the region warning at all then? IT's a real head-scratcher...

 

Thanks for your support!

 

 

 

 

 

If the IFOs on the disc don't have a specific region set, the disc is as region free as it can be. (Burning does nothing with regions)

 

A PC should be able to play NTSC or PAL content (standalone players, not so much), so that shouldn't be the problem.

 

Maybe it's to do with other factors?

 

e.g.

 

Bad reader drive on the PC in Japan

Bad burn from your burner (cheapo discs / burning too fast or slow) - do you verify your burns?

The PC software can't handle something else about the content - do you know what they were trying to use to play it?

Edited April 4, 2011 by highpoly

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Go back to the VIDEO_TS folder that DVD Flick creates, load up the standlone version of ImgBurn - i.e. the latest version and not the one bundled with DVD Flick.

 

Go into Build mode and add the VIDEO_TS folder.

 

Click the 'Calculate' button and then (once you've got rid of any prompts), copy + paste everything from the log window.

 

Burning a disc doesn't fix it to any region. Unlike an original pressed DVD that has a content regional code (in VIDEO_TS.IFO) and a physical media regional code, the writable DVDs only have the content regional code.

 

So basically, you don't have to worry about what region your drive is set to *for playback*, as it has nothing to do with burning.

 

All you should need is a decent quality burn - produced by a decent drive onto a decent disc. Burning at 2.4x might not be optimal for your drive/firmware/media combo.

 

For DVDs that people have created themselves, playback problems that appear to be regional issues are normally down to PAL/NTSC (a.k.a. 'TV System') issues and nothing to do with regional codes.

[highpoly]

Hey thanks, i will check the TS folder and post the calculation tonight.

 

Its funny..i thought if it was a bad burn, then it wouldn't play anywhere - including my drive.

I thought itcan't be NTSC issue since I used NTSC format in Flick. And why would it suddenly play on the Japanese PC

once i changed to region code of its player to region 1?

 

Well, we'll see i guess. Will post the output later.

Thanks so much for your help with this!

[ianymaty]

THe sessions hang for a while and I have to cancel to get the disc out of the drive

 

You say that you cancel the burn? What it says in status bar when you cancel?

 

Let it finalize properly.

 

Post a log.

[highpoly]

Go back to the VIDEO_TS folder that DVD Flick creates, load up the standlone version of ImgBurn - i.e. the latest version and not the one bundled with DVD Flick.

 

Go into Build mode and add the VIDEO_TS folder.

 

Click the 'Calculate' button and then (once you've got rid of any prompts), copy + paste everything from the log window.

 

Burning a disc doesn't fix it to any region. Unlike an original pressed DVD that has a content regional code (in VIDEO_TS.IFO) and a physical media regional code, the writable DVDs only have the content regional code.

 

So basically, you don't have to worry about what region your drive is set to *for playback*, as it has nothing to do with burning.

 

All you should need is a decent quality burn - produced by a decent drive onto a decent disc. Burning at 2.4x might not be optimal for your drive/firmware/media combo.

 

For DVDs that people have created themselves, playback problems that appear to be regional issues are normally down to PAL/NTSC (a.k.a. 'TV System') issues and nothing to do with regional codes.

 

 

I loaded up latest version and this is what i got from the log of the loaded TS folder...

 

I 21:03:01 ImgBurn Version 2.5.5.0 started!

I 21:03:01 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 2)

I 21:03:01 Total Physical Memory: 2,095,480 KB - Available: 1,175,072 KB

W 21:03:01 Duplex Secure's SPTD driver can have a detrimental effect on drive performance.

I 21:03:01 Initialising SPTI...

I 21:03:01 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...

I 21:03:01 -> Drive 1 - Info: SONY DVD+-RW DW-Q58A UDS2 (D:) (ATA)

I 21:03:01 Found 1 DVD-R!

I 21:07:49 Operation Started!

I 21:07:49 Building Image Tree...

I 21:07:49 Checking Directory Depth...

I 21:07:49 Calculating Totals...

I 21:07:49 Preparing Image...

I 21:07:49 Checking Path Length...

I 21:07:49 Contents: 7 Files, 2 Folders

I 21:07:49 Content Type: DVD Video

I 21:07:49 Data Type: MODE1/2048

I 21:07:49 File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)

I 21:07:49 Volume Label: [Not Configured]

I 21:07:49 IFO/BUP 32K Padding: Enabled

I 21:07:49 Region Code: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

I 21:07:49 TV System: NTSC

I 21:07:49 Size: 63,657,984 bytes

I 21:07:49 Sectors: 31,083

I 21:07:49 Image Size: 64,290,816 bytes

I 21:07:49 Image Sectors: 31,392

I 21:07:49 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:00:00

 

I can see Region is for all of them so its OK on that respect..huh.

BTW, my drive is a SONY DVD+RW DW-858A and the media using is SONY DVD-R Ver 2.1, 4.7 GB

 

Does anything above look suspicious?

 

UPDATE: just played the said DVD in question on a Japanese laptop which i confirmed as Region 2.

So, its obviously something with the drive settings/protection on the PC at my work. I guess I cant

predict everyone's setup around the world. At least I am providing region free DVD!

Edited April 4, 2011 by highpoly

[highpoly]

THe sessions hang for a while and I have to cancel to get the disc out of the drive

 

You say that you cancel the burn? What it says in status bar when you cancel?

 

Let it finalize properly.

 

Post a log.

 

I will do that next time I burn if it happens again. It did say 'completed' and 100% but never ejected the disk. I hit cancel which didnt think

would affect the burn since completed and it hung and said "heard you the first time!" and then eventually spit it out. It played fine when i checked it on my laptop but not on the Japanese PC. When i burn again will post the log for sure.

Thanks for your assistance.