DVD-R region specific?

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

No “region code” will be recorded.

Is the Ukraine video standard PAL or SECAM?

[Winelight Digital]

I’m actually not sure what format they are in. I guess I should email her. Is it important for the DVD?

THanks

[Todd Terry]

[Winelight Digital] “…not sure what format they are in… Is it important for the DVD?”

Yes, very.

Unfortunately the Ukraine is a bit of a mystery when it comes to television standards… some resources list the Ukraine as being a PAL country, while others say it uses the Russian version of SECAM. At any rate it is not going to be NTSC, which is what your video presently is.

It’s fairly important that you author the DVD in the format that is readable in the destination country. HOWEVER… depending upon their particular DVD player, they might be able to play the disc even if it is not authored in the right format… for example, we have found that some consumer DVD players will actually play PAL discs fine, even though they are NTSC players (and not advertised as “multi-format” or anything like that).

So, you might get lucky. First though, I would try to confirm from your friend exactly what format is needed. And if you have tons of footage and this project isn’t super time-critical, I’d probably make a short test disc and mail it to her to see if she can play it. You don’t want to spend hours and hours of work creating a shiny drink coaster for her, and then have to do it all again. If the project is really short and easy, you might just author it a couple of different ways and send her multiple discs in various formats.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[13]

You said it is a skit so I am assuming that it is short. If it is short it may be easier to just post the video online.

Plus you don’t have to pay shipping.

[Winelight Digital]

Actually it is about 30 minutes long, and she wants the quality of a DVD author.

[Reg Gothard]

I send DVDs to the UK quite frequently from Canada (i.e. NTSC to PAL), and the recipients can play them fine. I burn them as Region 0 (i.e. all regions) which is what DVD burners are set as by default.
My understanding is that “most” PAL DVD players in Europe can read NTSC DVDs. So I’m guessing that PAL DVD players in Ukraine will also play NTSC DVDs.

I have no experience with SECAM, so can’t comment on that part of the issue.

If your Ukranian friend has access to editing facilities, you could send the skit as AVIs or MOVs so she can edit them into something she can watch. (You’d need to break the project into two portions to get it on single layer, single sided DVD.)