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.