Sounds like there is a setting wrong on either your DVD player or monitor. Hopefully . . .
Here is some standard info for playback problems:
PAL & SECAM.
Our DVDs are encoded for NTSC playback but will be viewable almost anywhere on any DVD player. Most PAL or SECAM DVD players will output a hybrid signal so that they can be viewed on a PAL TV set or monitor with no adjustment or setting changes. This video signal will not be recordable by a PAL video recorder as it is not true PAL but a hybrid signal. However, if your player and/or professional multi-standards monitor has the option for NTSC playback, choose this option.
REGIONAL ENCODING
Some manufacturers of low-end budget-priced DVD players ignore the internationally-accepted DVD standards in order to build a budget product. These budget set-top players will refuse to play our DVDs past the first menu or give a degraded signal. **See below.** There is no work-around except the use of a DVD player that is compliant to the DVD standard. Try the DVD on a different set-top player - maybe at your local TV store or a friendly neighbour?
** The Luminous Landscape Video Journal DVDs are set to play in *all* regions (1-8). Some software and set-top players encounter problems with this absence of specific Regional Encoding. The regular 'Hollywood' DVDs that you own or rent are set to play in only one of eight 'regions':
1: U.S., Canada, U.S. Territories
2: Japan, Europe, South Africa, and Middle East (including Egypt)
3: Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong)
4: Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean
5: Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia
6: China
7: Reserved
8: Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, etc.)]
Occasionally, we find that some players do not like the fact that the Luminous Landscape Video Journal has all eight regions selected to play. (With a software player, you can try to re-set the Region in your player software - but *beware*, since most software players allow you to do this a very limited number of times!)
The only real work-around is to try a different player.
