I have a DVD from Spain that I'm dying to see because, well, I'm ON it! My friend sent it to me in April but it arrived the day after my friend from Madrid who had his laptop with him left. I was quite upset.

So I'm going to be going back to Spain in 2 weeks, specifically Lloret de Mar and I HAVE to see this DVD that everyone has been telling me about for a month now. My friend that I'm going to be staying with doesn't have a player so I'm thinking going to a cyber to watch it would probably be the best thing. Does anyone know of any cibers in lloret and if they have DVD ROMs in their computers? Or even Girona... I think I'll be too exhausted to hang around Bcn after my flight and I don't really want to travel that out of the way just to watch my 1 minute of fame.

Melinda

I've heard, and yet to prove it to myself, that MOST DVD-ROM drives on computers in the world, including the USA, do NOT have region-specific code-reading.... or something like that. Have you tried watching this SPANISH DVD on a DVD-ROM drive on a computer or on a computer of a friend there in New York? You MAY just be able to watch it BEFORE leaving for Spain.

I would doubt most/any cibercafes would have DVD-ROM drives in their PCs (almost) anywhere in the world.

Saludos, MadridMan

UPDATE (2-years later): I just tested this on my laptop at home, viewing both a Spanish-bought DVD and a USA-bought DVD on the same laptop and both played the same, no change in settings, no prompts for setup, no problem! It's my understanding that DVD-ROM drives on laptops are "Region Free" when it comes to Region-specific DVD movie disks.

Saludos, MadridMan

MM and others:

If you buy a DVD in Europe and it is designed to be seen in Europe, you will NOT be able to see it in a North American DVD Player.

If you buy a DVD in Europe that is "REGION FREE" (like all the Porn videos) you will NOT be able to see it either. WHY? Beacause the DVD is recorded using the "PAL" system. In North America and some other countries, they have the "NTSC" system. So you see, even "Region Free" does not mean you can see it.

Some DVD's can play BOTH "PAL" and "NTSC" and have a built in converter so that your TV can play/show the image.

Some DVD's can play BOTH "PAL" and "NTSC" BUT do not have a built in converter so you still CANNOT see it on the North American TV.

Confused?? The answer is a rather simple one. Some good souvenir stores sell BOTH the PAL version and the NTSC version of souvenir DVD's. Buy the one that suits your needs.

The other "silver bullet" solution is to play all your souvenir/Porn/soap operas bought in Europe on your DVD drive in your computer!.

The computer being Digital plays both formats. Voila!

ELECTRACITY wrote: I don't think that's entirely true. It IS true in the case of most all laptop/notebook computers but I believe most manufacturers of Desktop/PCs require you to CHOOSE which format (PAL or NTSC) to which you'd like to make your default settings. Thereafter, you'll only be able to see one format or another (PAL or NTSC). Anyone else had this experience with PCs?

I setup a computer in Madrid which had a DVD player, a DELL, bought in Spain, and it was like that. I brought a DVD from home (USA) and played it. No problem. Then I tried a Spanish DVD and the computer asked me if I wanted to change my settings to the newly introduced PAL format of that Spanish DVD and that I'd be allowed 3 more changes of format before it would "lock on" to the last, chosen format. I understand there are some illegal (or legal??) "crack codes" to force your DVD player (PC or TV-TOP players) to become "region free" but I haven't looked into it.

Good luck! Saludos, MadridMan

MadridMan, you are right. PCs, including laptops, are designed to read both formats, but you have a limited number of times that you can watch a specific format before you computer "locks into" that format. So, in the beginning you can switch back and forth, but only like 3 or 4 times before the computer locks into the last viewed region.

There are programs widely available on the internet (I don't know the legality of them) that can essentially "block" this action from happening, but you have to remember to activate this program before watching the DVD or you are back to the same problem.

If you have a DVD player (not your PC) connected to your TV it is possible to search for codes on the internet to make it region free. I don't know how to do this, but I know that it can be done. It was done for me and I now I happily play DVDs from around the world on my DVD player and haven't had any problems.

Interesting....I have not experienced the "locked on" one format or another scenareo.
Another thing I heard (from several sources) is that the CHEAPEST DVD players, you know the ones that sell for ~$50, will play BOTH PAL and NTSC. I have not confirmed this however. Perhaps someone can let us know if this is true. If so, another question arises, can your tv show the PAL image?

Wow! are we any closer to a solution? Make sure you buy NTSC discs if available in stores. I will continue to play the PAL DVD on my computer. I will let you know if I get a flag that prevents me from doing this.

Cheers!!

I had a $39 one that played both systems...so, at least for mine, it is true. My husband just bought a portable that will play some Spanish DVDs but not others (all store purchased).

My father bought a Coby DVD player this week at a Coconuts store. It plays NTSC and PAL, and we tested it with some PAL DVDs here in the US - works great. With a sale and a rebate, it cost him $20.

Not all of this is true. If you buy a dvd in Spain, you CAN watch it in the US with the correct dvd player. For example, I wanted to watch the DVD that came with the latest Estopa CD from Spain. It won't work in my home dvd player nor one at school but it WILL work on a portable dvd player. It depends on the player and wether it is region-specific.

I have a similar question.

I'm visiting Spain next week and one of my friends had mentioned that the last season of "Sex in the City" is not available yet in Spain. I'd love to surprise her with it.

However, if I buy it in the US will she be able to watch it on her DVD player in Spain?

I'm leaving in 2 days and hoping someone can help me so I don't show up empty handed.

Does anyone have experience bringing DVD's from the US to play on a DVD player in Spain?

It's the same as taking Spanish DVDs to the USA - they won't work in a "normal" DVD player unless they have one of those rare "REGION FREE" DVD players. They're more expensive so few people own them. There's a chance your friend in Spain will be able to play them on his/her laptop computer's DVD-ROM but even that's not a sure thing unless the laptop was bought in the USA. Sorry!

Saludos, MadridMan

Thank you for the response. VCR shouldn't be an issue (I hope) so I think I'll just surprise my friend by taping the DVD to VCR and mailing it to her (after I return).

Now I just need to think of something else to bring her!

She shouldn't have a problem playing it on her computer. Unlike in the US, they tend to be zone-free.

STOP! Your friend DEFNINITELY won't be able to view a VHS tape recorded/copied in the USA and played on a Spanish VHS machine - they're different systems too.

Regarding PCs, if your friend's PC was bought in Spain/Europe I can almost assure you (s)he won't be able to play the USA-bought DVD on his/her machine. Laptops are another possibility but I've recently noticed more and more and "region specific" and not all necessarily "region free".

My significant other got a new DELL PC last year and I was here setting it up. I tried out the DVD-ROM drive and at first test with a Spain-bought DVD it said I had FIVE uses (using a DVD) before I had to CHOOSE my desired REGION. That is to say, once I SET the REGION to be SPAIN/Europe it would then no longer play my USA-bought DVDs.

Saludos, MadridMan

My Dell desktop (bought in Spain about six months ago) has a zone free (or zone 0) DVD player...

Sheeesh, maripostia! How'd YOU get so lucky? And you don't remember being asked to choose a REGION at the time you set it up?

I'm not sure, I didn't do any special requests (since I already have the software that circumvents the code thing for my US Dell laptop). That's just what came with it.

Region free and DIVX DVD players are legal in Spain--I don't think they are in the US--you can buy one pretty much anywhere (FNAC for example) and they aren't too much more expensive. Definitely worth having if you want to be able to play US movies or downloaded shows/movies from the internet on your TV.

MadridMan: Can you select 'region 0' in the DVD drive you are talking about? Are you sure that the message about the five times was sent by the DVD unit itself, or just by the software you use to play the discs? Because the region settings can be done at firmware level (i.e., physically in the DVD unit), or at software level. Some software like PowerDVD check the region code that is set in the firmware, but some others don't.

If the message comes from the software, the solution is simple: use another one. Usually, the open source/freeware ones are the least picky regarding those things and thay play as good as the others, ar least. Examples of these are VLC , and BSPlayer (this version doesn't contain the boooring ad-dispatcher program the latest versions do).

If it is the firmware (maybe I should have posted this link from the beginning) the Internet has always the solution for your technological problems: read this beautiful manual

And, finally, in case you have a DVD player connected to a TV (I mean, not a PC unit, but an "under-the-TV-set" thingy), its region code can be set to 0 in many cases with a little trick (usually, a combination of keys in the remote control). Just take a look at this web page

mariposita, Region Free DVD players are legal in the USA too. I owned one when I lived there. It was the only way (I knew) to play my Spanish DVDs.

Torrales, you are THE MASTER!! But first, details... I have a USA-bought Sony laptop computer. It has pre-installed InterVideo WinDVD software. I (usually) use this program to play my USA-bought DVDs. Just now, I tested a Spain-bought DVD "BARRIO" on my USA-bought laptop and, as it loaded into "InterVideo WindDVD", I get the error, "Error: Playback of content from this region is not permitted".

When I setup the Spain-bought DELL desktop PC, it was the SOFTWARE which told me I had to choose a region. Just now I tried playing a USA-bought DVD (Steve Martin in "The Jerk" - a classic) and as it loaded the SOFTWARE gave me the error (but in Spanish) "The DVD player cannot play the DVD formatted on the media. Please choose a DVD which region coincides with that of the player." Below that I was given the option to CHANGE REGION. I clicked that and THAT'S where I see the screen with the number of times left which I can change the region (2 more times) before THAT chosen region is set into stone for all eternity - OR IS IT?????!??!! (insert dramatic music here) Thanks to Torrales!! hehehee...

I'll have to look into that some more. THANKS TORRALES!!! (update: that TV-set-DVD-player link above actually worked for mine! WOW!)

Saludos, MadridMan

CathyM wrote: CathyM: You're in Spain RIGHT NOW! Hope all is going well. Just wanted to mention - although now it's too late - that last night I saw the SIXTH season of "Sex in the City" onsale at a VIPS for 45 Euros. Is the SIXTH season the final season? I have no idea - never watched it - but it was the highest numbered season they carried in the selection, having all the other previous seasons too.

So what did you finally do? Can't wait to hear.

Saludos, MadridMan

I am glad my little knowledge was useful for you, MadridMan.

And, yes, the final season of "Sex and the city" ("Sexo en Nueva York", in Spanish) is the sixth.

Today (and last night) I've been enjoying my USA-bought DVDs on this Spain-bought DVD machine!! That's SO great! Thanks again, Torrales!!!!! Now, when/if I feel brave enough to try the same with my computer(s) I'll let you know how that went.

Saludos, MadridMan