Compatible televisions for region-free DVD players

[caleb89sw]

Hello. Recently, I've been interested in getting a region-free DVD player. So, I was wondering what kind of televisions are compatible with those kinds of players? Thanks!

[Noahtuck]

Ummm.... any TV it will connect to........

Or are you confusing "format" & "region" ?

[Constant Gardener]

I watch a lot of R2 stuff which is in PAL format. My region-free DVD player converts PAL to NTSC, fine for any North American TV.

[caleb89sw]

Ok, thanks. I'm not very familiar with this kind of thing, so I didn't know if it had to be a specific kind of tv or not. Thanks for clearing that up.

[usually_quiet]

Ok, thanks. I'm not very familiar with this kind of thing, so I didn't know if it had to be a specific kind of tv or not. Thanks for clearing that up.

You need to look at the specs for the region free player to see if it converts from PAl to NTSC. If it does, then any N. American TV will be fine, but there is no guarantee that every region-free player will convert from PAL to NTSC. Some play PAL video as PAL video and NTSC video as NTSC video. Many if not most N. American TVs will not handle PAL video, so for non-converting players you would need a multi-system TV.

[Chopmeister]

Ok, thanks. I'm not very familiar with this kind of thing, so I didn't know if it had to be a specific kind of tv or not. Thanks for clearing that up.

You need to look at the specs for the region free player to see if it converts from PAl to NTSC. If it does, then any N. American TV will be fine, but there is no guarantee that every region-free player will convert from PAL to NTSC. Some play PAL video as PAL video and NTSC video as NTSC video. Many if not most N. American TVs will not handle PAL video, so for non-converting players you would need a multi-system TV.

Is this still the case?. Here we are PAL, and I remember having to hunt for a player that would output a PAL signal from an NTSC disk back in the CRT days. However, pretty much any TV you can buy here, from the low budget models to the high-end signals, can cope with both NTSC and PAL signals now. In fact, I think it would be a mission to find a TV that couldn't.

Base models are comparable internationally (albeit with essential changes for OTA transmission differences). Given this, would have thought US sets could now handle both signal types, as they can on comparable models in other countries - unless manufacturers are deliberately removing compatibility from firmware for the US models for some reason?

[usually_quiet]

Ok, thanks. I'm not very familiar with this kind of thing, so I didn't know if it had to be a specific kind of tv or not. Thanks for clearing that up.

You need to look at the specs for the region free player to see if it converts from PAl to NTSC. If it does, then any N. American TV will be fine, but there is no guarantee that every region-free player will convert from PAL to NTSC. Some play PAL video as PAL video and NTSC video as NTSC video. Many if not most N. American TVs will not handle PAL video, so for non-converting players you would need a multi-system TV.

Is this still the case?. Here we are PAL, and I remember having to hunt for a player that would output a PAL signal from an NTSC disk back in the CRT days. However, pretty much any TV you can buy here, from the low budget models to the high-end signals, can cope with both NTSC and PAL signals now. In fact, I think it would be a mission to find a TV that couldn't.

Base models are comparable internationally (albeit with essential changes for OTA transmission differences). Given this, would have thought US sets could now handle both signal types, as they can on comparable models in other countries - unless manufacturers are deliberately removing compatibility from firmware for the US models for some reason?

Yes it is still the case here in N. America, for whatever reason. I've read that some of the minor brands may have made some models that can display both PAL and NTSC video, but the major brands don't make such TVs for this market. People who want a multi-system TV generally need to shop at a specialty retailer, and most of those multi-system TVs won't have a tuner that works here for over-the-air TV.

[jman98]

One of the made in China brands (it may be Vizio but please do not quote me on this) has HDTVs that they sell in North America that can display NTSC and PAL both, although they do not advertise this, but many if not most of the HDTVs sold in North America have PAL functionality deliberately turned off. One of our veteran members explained that this is done deliberately because most PAL countries have VAT and the manufacturers want to protect their distribution channels in those countries so if they sold HDTVs in North America that could display PAL, consumers would find a way to import those TVs as even with shipping costs they'd still come out ahead over paying VAT+price in their countries.

Chopmeister - I'm American, so I can say this. I've traveled around the world to more than a dozen countries so by American standards that is just about unheard of. I'd say with confidence that I've already been to more countries than 99% of Americans will ever go to in their lives. Americans are in general xenophobic and they look down on people from all other countries except maybe Canada as being little more than Third Worlders. To be blunt, probably 95% or more of Americans have ZERO interest in seeing foreign films so there is absolutely no demand at all in the marketplace for PAL compatible hardware. Philips still makes converting DVD players that can be unlocked easily enough (despite official denials) as do a few others, but this is mostly done as such companies feel that there is a cost benefit to not having to make different hardware for PAL and NTSC parts of the world. It saddens to me to say it, but those of us in the USA who actually like foreign films or want to see DVDs released in PAL countries are squarely in the minority so we have to hunt for converting players we can unlock. I've heard of a few people who have deliberately sought out HDTVs capable of supporting PAL video, but I just have a converting player as it means I can use whatever TV I want.

[[_chef_]]

I'm glad that we here in europe kinda always have and had multistandard capable devices which will give us access to NTSC and of course PAL.