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I'm interested in buying a DVD of a British documentary. However, it's only available in PAL format.
I have an iMac running OS-X 10.5.8. I bought my iMac in the States.
Is PAL compatible with my iMac?
Are PAL DVDs compatible with iMacs?
Answers
4
I've found this thread on the Apple forums.
The gist appears to be that it will play, but you'll have to change the region of the DVD drive (unless it's a region free DVD) and you've only got 5 changes before the drive locks to the last region selected.
ChrisF
Posted 2010-02-17T16:43:14.133
Reputation: 39 650
1+1 PAL is a television standard, a computer doesn't care about it. DVD region codes are a DRM technique and totally unrelated. – None – 2010-02-17T17:21:53.743
PAL will work fine, but PAL DVDs will almost certainly be Region 2. If you're in "Region 2" (Europe/UK) you'll be okay. – njd – 2010-02-17T17:50:24.410
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Can't really tell, but I can say that I never had any problems playing the couple of NTSC DVD's I have on any hardware, including a 1999 laptop, a 2009 laptop and 2 DVD players, all of which were targeted at the German market (PAL).
Region codes could be a problem, though, unless the DVD is region-code free or you have appropriate... tools. ;-)
DevSolar
Posted 2010-02-17T16:43:14.133
Reputation: 3 860
Sadly, it's not region-code free. It should be though because it's an awesome David Attenburough documentary series. :-) – None – 2010-02-17T19:06:09.160
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I am thinking you can probably use HandBrake to make a copy of the contents of the PAL DVD and watch it from hard disk.
Otherwise ChrisF's answer is correct.
Andrew J. Brehm
Posted 2010-02-17T16:43:14.133
Reputation: 4 411
btw, if you or someone you know has access to adobe premiere, you can convert it. I'll bet there are programs that will do that as well. – Moshe – 2010-04-02T01:09:34.580