Can I Play A PAL DVD in The USA? YES! Try Here |DVD Help

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me for help.

“I bought a rare DVD on eBay, out of paint already. But when I try to play it with my DVD player on my television, it just can’t open. Then, I discoverer that this is a PAL DVD for Euro or somewhere else. Nevertheless, can I still play this PAL DVD on US soil? What do I need to play it though?”

I spent a few minutes telling him what is the PAL DVD and how to play it in the US with some special devices. As a result, he did watch the movie under my instructions and in return, he invited me to enjoy the movie along with a great feast.

if you’re stuck in the same situation as my friend once was, here in this post, you will find the same and effective skills that I’ve shared with my friend.

1. What is a PAL DVD?

PAL is the color encoding format for DVDs and televisions (576i/50 HZ), which is largely used on DVDs and televisions that are published and sold in regions like Europe, Africa, China, India, Australia, Israel. And note that the US is not among these PAL regions.

Same as PAL, the NTSC is the DVD format and television system that is laid on every American DVD and television. Apart from these 2 major formats, there’s one another name SCEAM that is generally used on Russian, Mongolian, and African DVDs.

And unfortunately, most television in PAL regions can play both PAL and NTSC DVDs while most American TV is not compatible with the PAL DVDs. In other words, the TV that sits in your living room is most likely unable to play the PAL DVDs.

2. How to play a PAL DVD on TV in the USA?

While many of us hate the waste of the disk and are itching to watch the PAL DVD on TV, we must grapple with this playback failure then. Now, let’s see how to play a PAL DVD on TV on US soil.

First thing first, go get a compatible DVD player.

Most PAL DVDs are region-coded that require a DVD player in the same region code to read and play. And a PAl DVD is published in regions like Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia that shares the different region codes.

Depending on the region code on your PAL DVD, buy a compatible DVD player or a region-free device (compatible to play all region-code DVDs).

Next, you need to prepare a compatible PAL TV (576i/50HZ).

Just as mentioned above, the PAL formatting DVD is not compatible with most televisions that are currently or previously sold on the US market. If you want to play the disk with a TV, purchase a new and compatible one.

When the 2 devices are prepared, the steps are quite easy then. Just insert the PAL DVD into the DVD player and start to watch it.

3. Walkaround: Rip the PAL DVD content as digital video files into your computer

Take into account that it may not be unworthy to spend thousands of dollars on a new set of DVD playback devices, which I can’t agree anymore. And the good news is there’s a cheaper and easier way to play a PAL DVD in the USA that is to rip the disk content as a digital video file into your computer.

Computer disk drives can read both PAL and NTSC DVDs, and you’re able to change the region code in every DVD drive and player, including the one on your computer. In other words, you can pop the PAL DVD into your computer disk drive and run it without any errors.

Then, you can use some DVD ripping software to transfer the movie from the disk into your computer so that you can watch the movie directly on the computer or upload it to your TV without further using the disk anymore.

Now, if you consider this is the right way to go, check out the following content to learn the skills of ripping the PAL DVD.

How to rip the PAL DVD as regular video files?

To transfer the DVD content as normal video files (MP4, WMV, AVI, MKV, etc) into your computer, you need to get your computer ready and pre-download a tool for the ripping.

Here’re the detailed steps:

Step 1 Pop the PAL DVD into the disc drive of your computer

If the default region code in the disc drive is not compatible with the one on the DVD, your computer will prompt you to change the region code of the drive.

Step 2 Change the region code

Sometimes, your computer will give you quick access to select a new region code for your DVD drive. And if no message pop out, you need to do the modification manually.

On your PC, search for Device Manager and open it, locate DVD/CD-ROM drives, and right-click on the DVD drive that you’re currently using. Choose Properties from the drop-down list.

Then, move to the DVD Region tab and scroll down to find a region code that’s compatible with the inserted disk, click OK to confirm this change.

Step 3 Upload the DVD into Tipard Blu-ray Converter

Launch this DVD ripping tool on your computer and click Ripper. Next, click the big plus icon on the center of the interface to start injecting the disk.

A few moments later, the upload is complete and you will see the main movie of this disk. To rip all the movies, you need to hit the Full Title List button and check all the clips.

Then, decide the destination folder, audio, and subtitles of the output. Hit the Rip All to: option and choose the desired format.

When all the properties are set, click the Rip All button to start.

Step 4 Enjoy the movie

When the ripping is complete, you may find the movie on the folder you select before. Then, pop out the DVD and put it aside.

Watch the movie on your computer or transfer it to your TV. Just enjoy the motion picture without worrying about the PAL DVD.

Conclusion:

To watch a PAL DVD in the USA is accessible. If you want to watch it on a TV, well, it can be pretty costly since you need to buy a compatible television and a player. But it can be pleasing when you choose to rip its content as video files.