.......and speaking of Ray Mears in another thread. I've really wanted to get his video series on dvd. Problem is it's in PAL format...it won't work here in the U.S.

So if anyone has any ideas or has seen them formated differently, let me know.

Have you watched movies on your computer before? If not, try it in your DVD drive and run it something OTHER than MS MediaPlayer. It MIGHT work, no promises- I've never tried PAL format, but if your DVD drive is still trying to figure out what zone it lives in it might work. You'll probably have to get codecs for it, but that isn't a big deal.

Odds improve if it is an older model drive in a Linux machine; go down if you are running a Mac or Vista.

There are a few May Mears shows on youtube.
He is a link to one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaRvPpN78oI

Get mplayer (www.mplayerhq.hu), it plays everything provided the dvd drive doesn't get in the way. Or get a cheap region free dvd player, though it may not output ntsc from pal discs.

This may not be legal. Download at your own risk.

Ray Mears

The DVD will work on a PC, the PAL format isn't the problem its the region code.
To change the region on you computers DVD Drive (you can change it only a limited number of times);
If you're running XP just go to 'My Computer', right click the DVD Drive (D:) for example and select properties, select the hardware tab and then select the DVD drive from the list then select properties again. Select the DVD region Tab and then select the United Kingdom from the list then press OK. This will now select the DVD drive to Region 2 (UK) rather than Region 1 (US).
Something like PowerDVD will then be able to play the disk.
You can then re-encode the PAL video standard to NTSC video standard but will lose some video quality. If your television is an HD flat panel, connect your PC up to the TV using a DVI to HDMI cable for the best video picture quality. (You may need the latest Graphics Display Card Drivers though).

Or you could always purchase a multiregion DVD player with an HDMI output.

Where can I buy the DVDs?

It wathing DVDs from other regions is something that you will do more than once, it is much better to just buy a 2nd DVD drive. You can change the 2nd one to region 2, and leave it stuck there. If you shop around, you can find them for about $30 shipped (try www.newegg.com first). Or, you might luck out and find an old DVD reader for $3 at a garage sale.

You might also consider throwing the 2nd DVD drive in a USB enclosure. It will cost you an extra $25 or so, but you do not have to open up your computer.

"...Where can I buy the DVDs?..."

According to Mr. Google, here ...