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This section is to help people in North America to play DVDs (such as the original UK release of QAFolk 1 and 2) that have been released outside of N.A. (Note: C1TV released a Region1 US/Can DVD version of QAF1 on Aug 2nd, 2000. Click here for more info on video/audio differences compared to the original UK-DVD, and to buy the series)

The video format of the Queer as Folk (UK) DVDs is 'PAL' (625 lines/frame on the TV set; 50Hz) and it is set for region 2 encoding (vs. North America where it is region 1 and the TV standard is NTSC = 525 lines/frame; 60Hz).

There are 4 options to playing the DVD (options 2, 3 and 4 being recommended):.

Option 1. The first is to order a code-free DVD player (most companies selling these are located in the UK, US, and Australia ie. http://codefreedvd.com or http://www.world-import.com/home.htm). Those in larger cities may be able to find an electronics dealer that will take a standard DVD player and alter it so that it is code-free. However, even though all these players would play the QAF DVD, most would output the video in PAL. So, you'd either need a special Multisync TV/monitor that can sync to PAL and 50Hz (which your standard TV doesn't in North America, unlike in Europe where most TV's nowadays can do both PAL and NTSC), or you'd have to buy a video signal converter that converts the PAL/50Hz signal coming from your region-free DVD player (and into your TV) into an NTSC/60Hz signal.

If your TV can handle 50Hz, you need a simple $100-150US convertor for color signal NTSC - PAL. If not (as is the case for almost all TVs sold in North America), you need a digital convertor, around $200-$500USD which converts color and Hz to NTSC (ie. http://www.world-import.com/vcr/converter-vcr.htm#cdm-630). With a good converter and good quality DVD, the quality loss in the conversion should be minimal. So - buying a region-free DVD player and good converter can still be achieved at less than $1000US.

Option 2 (recommended). The idea of mailordering a code-free DVD PLUS a converter didn't sit too well with my wallet. So I took the 2nd option which was to get a code-free DVD-player for my computer (the DVD-player plus the computer software used to play it must be code-free; PAL/NTSC is not an issue when played on a computer monitor). As well, the anamorphic issue of the Queer as Folk 2 DVD is also not a problem (see Note for Option3 below for more info). At first I wasn't too keen on having to watch it on my computer. But even on only a 15inch monitor with stereo speakers attached and the Dolby-Surround Sound built into the QaF DVD, I was blown away. I got a great Toshiba SD-M1212 here for $129 Canadian (that's less than $90US). The top 4 recommended code-free DVD drives are: Pioneer 103S IDE (slot in), Hitachi GD-2500, Toshiba SDM-1212, and Samsung SDR-606B. Be sure to read http://perso.libertysurf.fr/dvdutils/buyg_dvddrive.htm before getting these to make sure.

If you're considering the computer DVD option, a list of region-free DVDs is available at http://www.visualdomain.net/drives.htm . Most are 6x which is more than enough to play DVD in all its splendour; all the 10x or higher DVD players currently out now (since Jan1/2000) are region-locked by law, but only at the firmware level. Therefore, you can still make them region free quite easily by flashing the firmware with a modified one. Check here for instructions and links. If your computer is <= 300MHz, I'd suggest possibly a DVD/MPG-decoder card (ie. 'Hollywood +'), but if your computer is faster than that, there's little need. Once you have all these, DVD software players abound on the net (I used PowerDVD) and a freely available program called 'DVD Genie' on the internet turns them into region-free players. For more information on region-free computer DVD players and links to the necessary software, check out http://www.7thzone.com .

Option 3 (highly recommended). Following along the lines of option2, This Option involves using a Pentium II 400 or better computer equipped with a TV out video card such as the Matrox G400 or G450 (often preferred because picture quality is second to none and macrovision can be defeated on the G400), ATI Rage or Radeon series (also extremely good), or a 3Dfx Voodoo 3 with TV Out (only good at 640 X 480 resolution). Of course the provisions of Option 2 (see above) must be fulfilled before exercising this option to view on your TV set. (*Updated Mar 2001, courtesy of Ian Wong)

Option 4 (highly recommended, but less widely available: see Notes below). Wouldn't it be perfect if there was a home DVD player that actually converted PAL->NTSC and reads Region2 DVDs all-in-one that didn't cost up to $1000 US? Well, they do exist! The first such beast was the Apex AD-600A DVD player (sold at Circuit City, Damark, and Futureshop) and it worked like a charm! Finally - QAF watchable for a cheap price on a normal NTSC TV - it has a built-in PAL->NTSC decoder chip inside. In early 2000, it was selling for about $179US ($345Can), but only the early version (v1.76) worked.

Unfortunately, Apex Digital Inc. officially recalled whatever remaining inventory they had and disabled the menu access on May 16th, 2000. Current reports since early June/2000 are that all new models shipping from Futureshop and Circuit City indeed no longer contain the secret loop menu in any easily accessible way. However, there ARE still ways to get around it, if you are skilled at EPROM replacements (not me)... check the Apex-600A cult forum here for details. Lucky persons may still find the few still hanging around on shelves with the loopmenu. EBay officially banned the Apex-600A from its site on June 21st, 2000.

Two new home DVD-players have since surfaced that appear similar to the Apex-600A (unfortunately, I have never tried either of these players myself, so I cannot 100% vouch for their abilities - please refer to the company and fansites for each player). In fact, the first player, the Infinity DV-2020/2060 has the SAME loopmenu reachable by the same keys as the Apex (see above). It is being sold at INC Technologies, a U.S. web-based site. Current price for the DV-2060 is $269US, a bit higher than the Apex was. You can buy/check out the player on their webpage here, and read a review of the player here.

The other player is the Raite 715AV. One decent site describing this machine is here, and a more up-to-date forum for the player is available here. Unfortunately, they may be hard to find, even online, and the player may also have similar issues with the Apex-600A.

*Update Feb2001*:
Another player that some individuals have used successfully with the British QAFolk DVDs is the Systems Advanced Microproducts DVD/MP3 player currently going for $220US - click here to visit the company's website - courtesy of Nelson Parker.

*Note#1 for Option4: A hitch has come up for those using the Apex-600A DVD player to play the QAF2 DVD. The QAF2 DVD, unlike the QAF1 DVD, is in anamorphic format. Unless you have a widescreen TV the picture will be squished/stretched slightly "tall" on a regular TV because the Apex does not downconvert Region 2 anamorphic DVDs like it does American NTSC Region 1 DVDs for some reason. What does this mean for most people? QAF2 is still very watchable on the Apex. However, you may notice that everything is stretched just a bit vertically - ie. faces are a bit 'longer' (the first thing that clued me in) but it's not actually that bad - in fact, I was halfway through watching the DVD before I really got the nagging feeling something was different about the video. Currently with the Apex player, the only way to see the QAF2 DVD completely accurately therefore is if you have a widescreen 16:9 TV set. 16:9 TV sets allow you to stretch the picture out using the "FULL" mode or similar. The other option to see the QAF2 DVD correctly proportioned is to simply play it on a computer DVD player (see DVD help for more info). I know... that kinda sucks for those of us with normal non-widescreen TVs, but the DVD is still VERY watchable except for the slight vertical stretch, and definitely still worth the buy. I wish they'd have released a non-anamorphic version...



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	This section is to help people in North America to play DVDs (such as the original UK release of QAFolk 1 and 2) that have been released outside of N.A. (Note: C1TV released a Region1 US/Can DVD version of QAF1 on Aug 2nd, 2000. Click here for more info on video/audio differences compared to the original UK-DVD, and to buy the series) The video format of the Queer as Folk (UK) DVDs is 'PAL' (625 lines/frame on the TV set; 50Hz) and it is set for region 2 encoding (vs. North America where it is region 1 and the TV standard is NTSC = 525 lines/frame; 60Hz). There are 4 options to playing the DVD (options 2, 3 and 4 being recommended):. Option 1. The first is to order a code-free DVD player (most companies selling these are located in the UK, US, and Australia ie. http://codefreedvd.com or http://www.world-import.com/home.htm). Those in larger cities may be able to find an electronics dealer that will take a standard DVD player and alter it so that it is code-free. However, even though all these players would play the QAF DVD, most would output the video in PAL. So, you'd either need a special Multisync TV/monitor that can sync to PAL and 50Hz (which your standard TV doesn't in North America, unlike in Europe where most TV's nowadays can do both PAL and NTSC), or you'd have to buy a video signal converter that converts the PAL/50Hz signal coming from your region-free DVD player (and into your TV) into an NTSC/60Hz signal. If your TV can handle 50Hz, you need a simple $100-150US convertor for color signal NTSC - PAL. If not (as is the case for almost all TVs sold in North America), you need a digital convertor, around $200-$500USD which converts color and Hz to NTSC (ie. http://www.world-import.com/vcr/converter-vcr.htm#cdm-630). With a good converter and good quality DVD, the quality loss in the conversion should be minimal. So - buying a region-free DVD player and good converter can still be achieved at less than $1000US. Option 2 (recommended). The idea of mailordering a code-free DVD PLUS a converter didn't sit too well with my wallet. So I took the 2nd option which was to get a code-free DVD-player for my computer (the DVD-player plus the computer software used to play it must be code-free; PAL/NTSC is not an issue when played on a computer monitor). As well, the anamorphic issue of the Queer as Folk 2 DVD is also not a problem (see Note for Option3 below for more info). At first I wasn't too keen on having to watch it on my computer. But even on only a 15inch monitor with stereo speakers attached and the Dolby-Surround Sound built into the QaF DVD, I was blown away. I got a great Toshiba SD-M1212 here for $129 Canadian (that's less than $90US). The top 4 recommended code-free DVD drives are: Pioneer 103S IDE (slot in), Hitachi GD-2500, Toshiba SDM-1212, and Samsung SDR-606B. Be sure to read http://perso.libertysurf.fr/dvdutils/buyg_dvddrive.htm before getting these to make sure. If you're considering the computer DVD option, a list of region-free DVDs is available at http://www.visualdomain.net/drives.htm . Most are 6x which is more than enough to play DVD in all its splendour; all the 10x or higher DVD players currently out now (since Jan1/2000) are region-locked by law, but only at the firmware level. Therefore, you can still make them region free quite easily by flashing the firmware with a modified one. Check here for instructions and links. If your computer is <= 300MHz, I'd suggest possibly a DVD/MPG-decoder card (ie. 'Hollywood +'), but if your computer is faster than that, there's little need. Once you have all these, DVD software players abound on the net (I used PowerDVD) and a freely available program called 'DVD Genie' on the internet turns them into region-free players. For more information on region-free computer DVD players and links to the necessary software, check out http://www.7thzone.com . Option 3 (highly recommended). Following along the lines of option2, This Option involves using a Pentium II 400 or better computer equipped with a TV out video card such as the Matrox G400 or G450 (often preferred because picture quality is second to none and macrovision can be defeated on the G400), ATI Rage or Radeon series (also extremely good), or a 3Dfx Voodoo 3 with TV Out (only good at 640 X 480 resolution). Of course the provisions of Option 2 (see above) must be fulfilled before exercising this option to view on your TV set. (Updated Mar 2001, courtesy of Ian Wong) Option 4 (highly recommended, but less widely available: see Notes below).* Wouldn't it be perfect if there was a home DVD player that actually converted PAL->NTSC and reads Region2 DVDs all-in-one that didn't cost up to $1000 US? Well, they do exist! The first such beast was the Apex AD-600A DVD player (sold at Circuit City, Damark, and Futureshop) and it worked like a charm! Finally - QAF watchable for a cheap price on a normal NTSC TV - it has a built-in PAL->NTSC decoder chip inside. In early 2000, it was selling for about $179US ($345Can), but only the early version (v1.76) worked. Unfortunately, Apex Digital Inc. officially recalled whatever remaining inventory they had and disabled the menu access on May 16th, 2000. Current reports since early June/2000 are that all new models shipping from Futureshop and Circuit City indeed no longer contain the secret loop menu in any easily accessible way. However, there ARE still ways to get around it, if you are skilled at EPROM replacements (not me)... check the Apex-600A cult forum here for details. Lucky persons may still find the few still hanging around on shelves with the loopmenu. EBay officially banned the Apex-600A from its site on June 21st, 2000. Two new home DVD-players have since surfaced that appear similar to the Apex-600A (unfortunately, I have never tried either of these players myself, so I cannot 100% vouch for their abilities - please refer to the company and fansites for each player). In fact, the first player, the Infinity DV-2020/2060 has the SAME loopmenu reachable by the same keys as the Apex (see above). It is being sold at INC Technologies, a U.S. web-based site. Current price for the DV-2060 is $269US, a bit higher than the Apex was. You can buy/check out the player on their webpage here, and read a review of the player here. The other player is the Raite 715AV. One decent site describing this machine is here, and a more up-to-date forum for the player is available here. Unfortunately, they may be hard to find, even online, and the player may also have similar issues with the Apex-600A. Update Feb2001: Another player that some individuals have used successfully with the British QAFolk DVDs is the Systems Advanced Microproducts DVD/MP3 player currently going for $220US - click here to visit the company's website - courtesy of Nelson Parker. Note#1 for Option4: A hitch has come up for those using the Apex-600A DVD player to play the QAF2 DVD. The QAF2 DVD, unlike the QAF1 DVD, is in anamorphic* format. Unless you have a widescreen TV the picture will be squished/stretched slightly "tall" on a regular TV because the Apex does not downconvert Region 2 anamorphic DVDs like it does American NTSC Region 1 DVDs for some reason. What does this mean for most people? QAF2 is still very watchable on the Apex. However, you may notice that everything is stretched just a bit vertically - ie. faces are a bit 'longer' (the first thing that clued me in) but it's not actually that bad - in fact, I was halfway through watching the DVD before I really got the nagging feeling something was different about the video. Currently with the Apex player, the only way to see the QAF2 DVD completely accurately therefore is if you have a widescreen 16:9 TV set. 16:9 TV sets allow you to stretch the picture out using the "FULL" mode or similar. The other option to see the QAF2 DVD correctly proportioned is to simply play it on a computer DVD player (see DVD help for more info). I know... that kinda sucks for those of us with normal non-widescreen TVs, but the DVD is still VERY watchable except for the slight vertical stretch, and definitely still worth the buy. I wish they'd have released a non-anamorphic version...