DVD FORMAT (NTSC or PAL?) / REGION CODES:

Many of our customers who do NOT live in the U.S., Canada or Japan have asked us over the years, can they get DVD titles in their local broadcasting format called PAL? We are pleased to announce that we just concluded a major deal with an international supplier to get almost all DVD titles in the PAL format. Some titles are already listed on our website in PAL, with many that are not. You can now order almost all DVD titles listed on our website, in the PAL format, even if it is not listed in that format on our website. Simply enter in the comments section when checking out; “PAL PREFERRED”. Blu-Ray titles are not yet all available in the PAL format, but we’re working on it!

First of all, ALL of our DVD-Rs are Region Free, also known as Region O.  This means that they will play in ANY DVD player worldwide, regardless of the Region Code of the machine.

HOWEVER!  This is NOT the same as Broadcast Formats, the most common being NTSC and PAL.  This has nothing to do with DVDs. It is the broadcast format of television stations in various countries.  Many customers like to know what broadcast format are our discs in.  Our U.S. customers will be happy to know that Canada, the U.S. and Japan have the exact same broadcast format, called NTSC.  In Europe the most common broadcast format is called PAL. Again, this has nothing to do with DVD players.  If you bring your U.S. TV to Europe, it will NOT work as the signals are completely different, with different scanning rates and different lines of resolution and other boring stuff.

ALL of our DVD-Rs are in NTSC format unless indicated. We try to mention NTSC or PAL in each title, but sometimes forget.  If you see a title that does NOT specify NTSC or PAL, just ask.  We’ll let you know and update our listing at the same time.

Good news for our many U.S. and Canadian customers!  Many, many Canada / U.S. sold DVD players (especially the cheapest ones) will often play PAL DVDs in addition to NTSC.  These are called Dual NTSC/PAL players.  In fact, many of our U.S. customers have bought PAL DVDs from us, as sometimes these titles are NOT available in the NTSC format.

If you are interested in buying and playing PAL discs, first check your owner’s manual first to see if it can play them.  The funny thing is some manuals will specifically say that it cannot, yet they still do.  The only way to be sure is to play a PAL disc on it.

Another option is to go to Wal-Mart or Best Buy for example, and pickup the cheapest DVD players that they sell.  They are the most likely to play PAL discs.  The technical reason for this is that an extra chip has to be put into DVD players to PREVENT it from playing PAL, as all machines WOULD play PAL discs with no chip.

Also some good news for our many International customers!  Many, many PAL DVD players (especially the cheapest ones) will often play NTSC DVDs in addition to PAL for the same reasons as mentioned above.

Another option for everyone in the world is that you can play PAL and NTSC discs on any computer, as long as they are Region Free.

Single layer discs (most regular titles for $22.00 or less) are DVD-R discs manufactured in Japan where quality control is far more stringent than Taiwan where most of the worlds DVD-R discs are manufactured.

Dual Layer Discs are DVD+R(9) also manufactured in Japan to the highest standards.

Both Single Layer and Dual Layer discs are licensed products in their country of origin and are not counterfeits. We only sell titles that are NOT commercially available in North America. However, titles do get released, withdrawn and re-released all of the time. It is impossible for us to keep track of all of them. Should you come across a title that we sell that is now commercially available in North America, please advise us and we will withdraw it immediately. In return, we will provide a $10 credit towards any size order by you as our thank you for helping us..

You can always contact us if you need more information on this.   We’re here to help!