VHS region compatibility?

[Jeikobu]

Can I play a PAL VHS tape on a NTSC player? I know about DVD regions, but I'm almost completely unfamiliar with VHS regions. Thanks.

[johns0]

Nope.Different recording system(pal) and different recording speeds.

[anaboland]

A large number of later generation UK/European VHS players will playback both NTSC and PAL formats, by converting the NTSC signals into PAL, but i don't know if there were ever any in the US that worked the other way around.

Prehaps Lordsmurf might know if any were ever produced

[lordsmurf]

No, you cannot play PAL tapes on an NTSC deck.

Some PAL machines can play NTSC, however, yes -- but it's not converting, it plays NTSC as PAL-60, a quasi-signal. It's not NTSC, and trying to capture it is difficult, as PAL-60 quasi is not often supported on capture devices.

There are no regions on VHS tapes. But you will have trouble playing PAL, SECAM or NTSC if the player is not designed for it. The signals are not the same.

[solarfox]

There was someone making a VHS player which had an on-the-fly standards converter inside it... but as I recall, the image quality left a lot to be desired, so I don't think it sold very well, and I haven't seen one in quite some time. (And given the lateness of the hour, I'm completely blanking on who the manufacturer was, although I seem to recall it wasn't one of the big-name electronics brands...)

[johns0]

The vcr was an aiwa,got one myself,they digitally convert pal to ntsc,they made several models.

[AlanHK]

Most of the VHS decks I've seen here, in Hong Kong, are "multi-system". They play PAL as PAL and NTSC as NTSC, since most TVS here can cope with both.

[lordsmurf]

The vcr was an aiwa,got one myself,they digitally convert pal to ntsc,they made several models.

Samsung too -- but these were clearly marked as multi-format players. About 5x-10x the cost, too.

[Jeikobu]

Ah well. Thanks for the insight. ^^

[amckinney]

The vcr was an aiwa,got one myself,they digitally convert pal to ntsc,they made several models.

Samsung too -- but these were clearly marked as multi-format players. About 5x-10x the cost, too.

Yes, quite. The ones with the built-in converters, while offering the plus of having VCR and converter "all in one unit", have the downside of a fairly poor PAL-to-NTSC conversion. All on-screen text, horizontal/vertical lines, for instance will have a sort of "flashing" or shimmering effect.

Plus, the machines are (were) extremely expensive. I had them, though (first, an Aiwa HVMX1 and a Samsung), not only for playback, but also so I could record stuff in PAL for my trading friends overseas.

A far better solution for playback of PAL tapes, though, would be to buy a mulit-standard VCR (i.e. one that does not have the converter built-in) and buy a separate stand-alone converter, such as the ones made by Tenlab or ComWorld. Those converters are a lot better than the built-in ones, plus many offer "de-macro" features and buying a combo of such a converter plus separate VCR (in my experience) worked out to be less expensive than those all-in-ones anyway.

eBay might be a good place for a cheap multi-system VCR. You might still have to shop at an import specialist for the good converters, though. I bought my setup (admittedly, about 5-6 years ago) from World Gift Center. Click on their "multi-system VCR" tab, and you can browse the different models of VHS decks and converters, or look at their "Multi-System VCR and converter sets", where they offer a package deal of VCR + converter. Looks like their sets start about $250 for the pair.

[lordsmurf]

Those standalone converters -- Tenlab and others -- are pretty crappy for conversion, lots of ghosting and drop-frame. No better than the Samsung. It's best to leave PAL as PAL and NTSC as NTSC. You can make a PAL DVD from a PAL VHS tape, and play it on most all NTSC players.

[hech54]

I don't know why so many keep ragging on machines like the Aiwa converting one (HV-MX100). I owned one. Yes it was damn expensive but it had VERY good picture quality and has always been highly rated on sites like Amazon and others. You could take it anywhere in the world and it will run on their power AND tune in their TV channels....on top of outputting very good quality video during conversion.
I'd be using it "over here" right now if my family hadn't worn it out not knowing it was not intended to be used as a daily VCR.....especially when there was an awesome flip-front Sony NTSC VCR sitting directly under the Aiwa.

[amckinney]

Those standalone converters -- Tenlab and others -- are pretty crappy for conversion, lots of ghosting and drop-frame. No better than the Samsung. It's best to leave PAL as PAL and NTSC as NTSC. You can make a PAL DVD from a PAL VHS tape, and play it on most all NTSC players.

I have to respectfully disagree. The Comworld one I have (which was rated on par with much more expensive TenLab ones) gave a much better conversion than the ones that were built-into the all-in-one machines from Aiwa and Samsung. I've owned all three (Aiwa, Samsung and a Comworld converter paired with JVC VCR). Aiwa and Samsung were about the same. The separate converter + VCR was miles better.

Of course, in 1995, I thought the Aiwa was pretty darn good (especially compared to what was on the market earlier in the decade).

Are there better standards converters out there? No doubt. Snell and Wilcox, for example, but most are beyond the reach of the average consumer. Yes, you could burn a PAL tape to a PAL disc (if you have a DVD recorder that can record in PAL), but at least in my experience, the built-in converters on DVD players have their own imperfections. For example, on material that was shot on PAL videotape, the "live, studio" look is somewhat reduced and almost looks like it was something shot on film.

None of these methods are perfect. For the average person who just wants to watch PAL tapes, though, one of those VCR + converter setups will do quite nicely (heck, some people would be satisfied with the quality of the Aiwa and Samsung decks, too).

And, yes, it is best to leave PAL as PAL and use multisystem equipment along with a multisystem TV (I have a CRT one downstairs), but the average person is going to have either a difficult time finding a multisystem TV, or find the prices/trouble too much to deal with (I, personally, am planning to make my next TV purchase a multisystem LCD, I just know it's going to take a lot of research, etc. on my part -- I won't just be able to go to Best Buy and grab any TV off the shelf).

By the way, is there an appropriate "for sale" sub-forum on here somewhere where I can post? I've got a bunch of PAL precorded tapes I'd like to get rid of.

[MOVIEGEEK]

You can make a PAL DVD from a PAL VHS tape, and play it on most all NTSC players.

I think you mean the other way around, few NTSC players support PAL.

[amckinney]

You can make a PAL DVD from a PAL VHS tape, and play it on most all NTSC players.

I think you mean the other way around, few NTSC players support PAL.

I'm thinking that Lordsmurf meant by doing this you could use the built-in standards converter that many DVD players have.

As I mentioned above, though, those converters have their own sets of 'problems' (such as making shot-on-tape stuff look more 'filmic' rather than the way it's supposed to look, which can be a big blow to Doctor Who fans who buy the R2 discs, as the VidFire process can get cancelled-out by watching the R2 discs in this fashion. The stand-alone converters, while having other imperfections, at least manage to preserve that "video" look.

[victoriabears]

transfer pal vhs to pal dvd then use a dvd player to convert, many choices

tranfer ntsc vhs to ntsc dvd then use almost any pal dvd player to convert, this issues has been discussed many times but I am happy to give the simple specific solutions,

[rossrob]

I appreciate that there are different DVD regions and the way it seems to get around this is to use a multi region DVD player. However are there different VHS regions? I am based in the UK and my daughter wants to buy VHS films from Japan and America.

[Noahtuck]

However are there different VHS regions?

So you posted in a year old thread asking the same question as the OP and if you actually bothered to Read the post's you would already know the answer

[jman98]

rossrob - What Noahtuck said. And just how is your daughter going to buy VHS films when nobody in the USA or Japan makes VHS tapes any more? There are no guarantees with used tapes and they may not be in the best shape. Bottom line - there's no such thing as regions on video tapes, but since the tapes will be NTSC they may or may not play depending on your VCR's ability or inability to do something with NTSC VHS video that your TV can handle.

[victoriabears]

nearly all uk vcr's can play ntsc on a uk tv, but as has been said used vhs tapes are a lottery, as can be dvd's for that matter, vhs tapes can be badly stored/treated or owrn out, dvd's physically damage a lot easier than people think.

what stuff is on these vhs tapes?

Get the dvd's if you can as you would also have a problem transferring them to dvd if you ever wanted to due to needing either a ntsc vcr to send a true ntsc signal to a capture card , or a dvd recorder that will capture the signal (called pal60) out put from the uk vcr.

[lordsmurf]

You can make a PAL DVD from a PAL VHS tape, and play it on most all NTSC players.

I think you mean the other way around, few NTSC players support PAL.

No, I don't.
Most all DVD players are made from worldwide Chinese kits now. Most players play both PAL and NTSC formats (regions excluded) for this reason. Same machines all over the world, save connectors and power plugs.

[edDV]

The cheapest Chinese players include both NTSC and PAL playback in the settings. I'm not sure of region limits. When they play PAL, they output as PAL so you need a multi-standard TV.

In the USA most brand name TV sets won't play PAL (blocked). My Vizio HDTV sets do pay an SD PAL input (composite, S-Video or analog component). My Samsung won't.

[victoriabears]

I love this subject Sorry LS but my experience is that most North American dvd players will not play pal on a ntsc TV, one weird thing I have discovered is that the latest range of JVC (ahem LG?) seem to and I have the

http://www.ecost.com/Detail.aspx?edp=38246882&navid=155441519

is that they play pal dvd (region free ones) on a NTSC TV and not only that but will record onto a tape as NTSC !

what use that is for the average consumer I dunno.

I have had a Samsung worldwide vcr, a tenlab converter, and now have a Panasonic ag-w1 worldwide vcr which I got for Can$100 including shipping. I believe the Samsung was based on the Panny and all I can tell you is that I watch pal tapes on my ntsc only sony lcd 46" TV using the Panny and they look very acceptable. The Tenlab was poor as was the Samsung, but I never had them when I bought the Sony TV, my findings are that the modern up converting dvd player and the new TV's have so many filters/adjustments/enhancements in them that they do very much improve an average transfer.

Since the Advent of DVD I have only converted using TMPG express (about 5 times!!)for those of my friends who will not spend $50 on a multi dvd player, WHY are North Americans so damn cheap.

I play pal dvd's on my Philips DVD player and my Pioneer dvd player again to the sony TV and they look great.

If you have a pal vhs, get it transferred to a pal dvd and if its a ntsc vhs to a ntsc dvd and spend $50 on a multi dvd player.

If anyone has a pal vhs or ntsc vhs they are having problems with, pm me, I will either find the *ucking material on dvd for them or convert on a single case by case basis for free.

I would now like to fine every new question about this bloody issue $100 a give the money to charity.

[edDV]

Can I play a PAL VHS tape on a NTSC player? I know about DVD regions, but I'm almost completely unfamiliar with VHS regions. Thanks.

There are no regions for VHS. There is PAL (PAL-M, PAL-N, etc.) or NTSC-M.

Most US VHS players are limited to NTSC-M playback and NTSC-M output.

Multi-Standard players do exist.

Euro VHS players typically play PAL as PAL and NTSC as PAL60. This requires a PAL TV.

Latin American players may play NTSC as PAL-M (Brazil) or PAL-N (Argentina).

DVD players have a different set of standards issues as well as region blocking on many models.