Region lock and video system confusion

[vanderbog]

Hi guys,
I have a little confusion here and please don't laugh
-I just bought some dvd's from Walmart and it says "region free, can be played anywhere in the world" on them.
My questions are:
-what system are these dvd's ? NTSC, PAL, SECAM, etc, what ?
-if the region lock is removed from a dvd, can this be played all over the world regardless the system (NTSC,PAL, etc) ?
-when you unlock a dvd with the remote, or change the region you're in, can this dvd play any region dvd ? What about the output ? I mean, let's say you have an unlocked dvd in Europe; it plays PAL dvd's perfectly; if you play a dvd with the region lock removed...does it play ? I mean the tv is PAL and only gets PAL signal.
See my confusion ?
If you can clear this out for me...would be really great.
Thanks guys.

[mats.hogberg]

Hi guys,
I have a little confusion here and please don't laugh
-I just bought some dvd's from Walmart and it says "region free, can be played anywhere in the world" on them.
My questions are:
-what system are these dvd's ? NTSC, PAL, SECAM, etc, what ?

Can't be decucted from the facts given.

-if the region lock is removed from a dvd, can this be played all over the world regardless the system (NTSC,PAL, etc) ?

No

-when you unlock a dvd with the remote, or change the region you're in, can this dvd play any region dvd ?

Yes, if the "hack" works as intended.

What about the output ? I mean, let's say you have an unlocked dvd in Europe; it plays PAL dvd's perfectly; if you play a dvd with the region lock removed...does it play ? I mean the tv is PAL and only gets PAL signal.

You are confused! Region lock is one thing, TV system another. They have nothing at all to do with eachother.
PAL/NTSC issues: Some players just play PAL discs. Some players just play NTSC discs. Some play both kinds. Of the latter type, some can be set to output a signal (PAL or NTSC) regardless of DVD type; No matter if you put a NTSC or PAL DVD in the player, it will always generate a NTSC signal to the TV. Other just "pass thru" the TV signal in the same format as the disc; put a NTSC disc in the player, and the TV will get a NTSC signal, put a PAL disc in, and the TV will get a PAL signal. Pray that your telly supports both formats.
Regions:
Any disc can be locked to one to many regions, or no region at all (all regions).
A player can be locked to play discs of only a specific region, or to ignore the region code of the disc (region free).

/Mats

[AwesomeDude]

The system that the DVD uses is not dependent on the region e.g it would be in theory possible to purchase a region 0 (region free) DVD in the U.S in PAL format even though the native format there is NTSC. There should be some indication of what format the video is on the box.

In reply to your second query, if the region protection is removed from a DVD it can be played anywhere in the world but if the format of the T.V you play the DVD on does not match that of the DVD itself (PAL, NTSC etc), the video will look terrible and will be jerky because of the frame rate difference (PAL = 25 fps, NTSC =24 or 29 fps).

[vanderbog]

Thanks a lot guys, it's clear now.
The thing is this:
-I bought a DVD player in Canada after reading about it in a forum here. I tested here with a NTSC DVD and worked perfect. I sended overseas in a PAL country and told them how to change the region with a "secret" menu. They did it and it can play PAL DVD's excelent.
All I wanted to know basicaly is if the player can play an NTSC DVD and output PAL on their tv, but I guess I have to test this.
If anybody knows, the player is a "CyberHome" I guess model 300.
Or if anyone knows what player model is able to play NTSC and output PAL, would be great.
Anyway, thaks a lot guys.

[bugster]

I sended overseas in a PAL country and told them how to change the region with a "secret" menu. They did it and it can play PAL DVD's excelent.

Less likley to be a problem than you think. Most PAL countries TV's will quite happily accept NTSC signals via component, RGB, s-video etc. Much more so than you will find NTSC TV's in the US accepting PAL input anyway.

[AwesomeDude]

That's hilarious.....

[bugster]

That's hilarious.....

what exactly

[AwesomeDude]

That cool computer 'in-joke' about binary......