Playing PAL is the US....

[pinetop]

I'm in the US.
I'd like to buy some PAL recordings of boxing matches(Bruno) off of ebay. These are DVDs, will I be able to play them ?

Can I re-burn them with nero or shrink and get them to play in the states ?

[canadateck]

You Can Play them if you have a DVD Player that will Convert PAL to NTSC.
Using shrink Or Nero will not convert the Video to NTSC,The only thing it can do is Make the DVD region Free,But this doesnt have anything to do with PAL or NTSC.

What DVD Player do you have(Model)?.

[redwudz]

You could play them on your computer with no problems, but you would need a settop player with PAL capabilities if that's what you have in mind.

Or you can convert them to NTSC. Not the easiest conversion, though.

Nero or Shrink won't help. Here's some guides: https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?howtoselect=4;41#4;41

[Laddydaddy]

You can play your dvds if your DVD player will convert them to NTSC, AND those discs are region 1 or you have a multi regional player. If not, you will have to encode them to the NTSC format.

[pinetop]

You Can Play them if you have a DVD Player that will Convert PAL to NTSC.
Using shrink Or Nero will not convert the Video to NTSC,The only thing it can do is Make the DVD region Free,But this doesnt have anything to do with PAL or NTSC.

What DVD Player do you have(Model)?.

I have a Sony DVD Recorder RDR-GX7, LG 418, and a JVC 523. I believe the LG is the only one that I have been able to play PAL on.

[canadateck]

I have a Sony DVD Recorder RDR-GX7, LG 418, and a JVC 523. I believe the LG is the only one that I have been able to play PAL on.

Well if it Plays PAL,Then you have no Worrys.

Good Luck....

[lordsmurf]

Re-encoding NTSC<->PAL almost always ends up in quality loss. Just use a player that can do both. It's not really converting, but rather outputting a quasi signal that your tv is okay with.

[pinetop]

Is there a program that will identify if a DVD is PAL ?

[ZippyP.]

Is there a program that will identify if a DVD is PAL ?

Gspot, if it's 25 fps = PAL

[meridklt]

When playing the Pal in the USA on a DVD Player that will Convert PAL to NTSC, is there a loss of picture quality or does it play exactly as we would see it in the UK?

[guns1inger]

If it tries to display as native NTSC then there will be quality loss simply because it compromises resolution and colour fidelity. If you have multi-format equipment then you can view PAL as PAL and NTSC as NTSC (as I do) with no quality loss at all.

[meridklt]

If you have multi-format equipment then you can view PAL as PAL and NTSC as NTSC (as I do) with no quality loss at all.

Could you please expalin what multi-format equipment means, like does that mean it has to play through another piece of hardware as well as the DVD player.?

[guns1inger]

It means a DVD player than can output PAL from a PAL source and NTSC from an NTSC source, instead of trying to do strange conversions, such as PAL60 from an NTSC source. It also means have a television that can accept native PAL or NTSC signals.

Some PAL DVD players say they can output NTSC, but in fact they output a stretched PAL resolution image at 60 fields per second. This is known as PAL60 or Psuedo-PAL. It isn't really PAL or NTSC. There are players that do similar tricks to playback PAL on NTSC systems. The only sure way to have the quality of eithersystem seen at it's best is to have a DVD player than can output true PAL and NTSC, and a television that can display true PAL and NTSC. That is multi-format.

[handyguy]

Philips DVP642 can be made region free.....& plays divx.

I got it at Circuit City last week. When it was $48, now its up to $69, price seems to change every few days.

Key Features:

* Plays All Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Region discs
* Progressive Scan
* Plays PAL discs on any NTSC TV
* Plays REA/RCE Discs
* Plays DVD, Video CD, SVCD, DVD+RW, CD, CDR, JPEG Photo CDs, MPEG-4 and DivX® 3.11/4.x/5.x

[guns1inger]

Region Free is NOT the same as multi-format, and has little to do with PAL or NTSC issues.

* Plays PAL discs on any NTSC TV

How ? Are they played back as PAL, or a psuedo-NTSC format ?

[manono]

Hi-

It converts them to 60 Hz (60i, 30fps), of course, and NTSC resolution. There aren't too many displays in the US that can play at 50Hz. As far as I know, only some high end projectors can do it. So even having a player that can play PAL natively (and this $42 Philips isn't one), also requires a a PAL capable display for best picture quality. As you stated before. No, as far as that goes, Europe, and I guess also Australia, are way ahead of the US in true multi-region capability.

My player can output 50Hz true PAL, but my DLP HDTV won't accept it. So I play my PAL DVDs like almost everyone else in the US.

[pinetop]

Will the manual tell you if the player will play PAL ?

Sounds like a dumb question, but I don't see anywhere in my LG player's manual that states it will play PAL. Is it just base on what internal chipset the player has ?

[MysticE]

Nero or Shrink won't help.

NeroVision Express3 will easily convert PAL to NTSC and the results are decent. Simply use the Import Disc function, add some chapter stops and sit back. You will lose menus and subtitles though.