Dvd recorders (JVC) and NTSC/Pal issues.conversions

[victoriabears]

I have a pal and a ntsc jvc m100s and it suddenyl struck me,both of these will play either ntsc or pal and output in their native format.

So I played a ntsc dvd on the uk jvc and it output pal (I would have thought pal60 but no) and recorded a test on a pal dvd recorder and it seems perfect, tmpg enc said it was 720x576, so is this a simple way to convert from one to the other.

Obviously this is using a dvd that is not copy protected.

[FulciLives]

I am slightly confused. Are you saying that you have two JVC M100S DVD recorders but that one only does PAL and the other only does NTSC? ... or are you saying that you have a single JVC M100S and that it is capable of playing/recording NTSC and/or PAL?

Anyways ... one "simple" method of conversion ... some DVD players can play NTSC and output PAL or vice versa (can play PAL and output NTSC).

So let us say you want to play back a PAL DVD and make a NTSC recording.

You play back the PAL DVD on a DVD player that will output the PAL DVD as NTSC and then you make a NTSC DVD recording using a NTSC DVD recorder.

Let us say you want to play back a NTSC DVD and make a PAL recording.

You play back the NTSC DVD on a DVD player that will output the NTSC DVD as PAL and then you make a PAL DVD recording using a PAL DVD recorder.

That's just one way of thinking about it.

For those of us living in the USA and Canada though the trick is finding a dual format DVD recorder. For instance it is easy enough to find a DVD player that does PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL. The tricky part is finding a DVD recorder that recordes in PAL and not just NTSC. It seems most DVD recorders sold in the USA and Canada will only record in NTSC and of course need a NTSC input (hence the need for a DVD player that outputs a PAL DVD as NTSC).

So going from a PAL DVD to a NTSC DVD is easy ... it is harder to go from NTSC DVD to PAL DVD unless you can find a DVD recorder that records in PAL but as I said it can be hard to find such a DVD recorder. They do exist though.

Of course I am talking about analog equipment and means here. I'm talking about stand alone DVD players and stand alone DVD recorders.

With a bit of effert you can do this on a computer. Just RIP the original DVD and if it is PAL you can convert to NTSC and if it is NTSC you can convert to PAL. The only "problem" with this method is that it can be tricky to get it "just right" as many different video tools (software programs) need to be used etc. so it is a daunting task for most people. The other negative is that in many cases NTSC to PAL on a computer is harder than PAL to NTSC on a computer so again NTSC to PAL is the harder of the two conversions.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Philips makes two fairly inexpensive DVD players that can play back a PAL DVD and output NTSC and I am pretty sure both models can also play back a NTSC DVD and output PAL. You can also output NTSC as NTSC or PAL as PAL. The two models are the DVP-5140 and the DVP-5960 and both are very much the same but but the DVP-5960 is the more expensive model in that it adds the ability to up-convert to HDTV resolutions using a HDMI output. In this instance that would be useless to you unless you have a HDTV but for DVD recording purposes it does not help.

I mention these two models because they are inexpensive for your needs and both can be made region free (so you can play any PAL DVD or any NTSC DVD regardless of region code). The only "bad" thing about these two models is that they don't have S-Video outputs so you would have to use the composite outputs for recording to a DVD recorder. S-Video would give slightly better quality. Also you will have copyright protection issues if the DVD you are playing back has copy protection ... although there are ways around that.

[victoriabears]

Yes- without wishing to sound or be snarky, I am aware of everything you say, I bought a JVC UK dvd recorder back from the uk on a visit so it will record in pal only, thats what I used for the test, as a side note it works fine on 110 volts!

I used a JVC uk combo to play the ntsc dvd back and it output pal (Usually though its pal 60 isn;t it?) and recorded it on my uk jvc and it just seemed so simpleand the point of my post was that I was suprised it works.

Yes it can be done one a computer but Sooooo slow, where as this idea is real time, oh btw , Lite on and their clones record in pal as do most philips dvd recorder.

The bottom line of course is that if you want to play back either system in a "foreign" country ,yes,just get a converting dvd player/recorder.

For a quick job for a friend I even used my RJ tech dvd recorder to convert from pal vhs to ntsc vhs, as follows:-

pal vcr>rj tech(also branded as curtis and has LSI chipset(old model though)) dvd recorder set to output ntsc and took that output to a ntsc vcr,Now the picture wasn;t wonderful but watchable and the original vhs wasn;t any hell either.

Interesting topic?, or not ,,zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[FulciLives]

I just became unemployed this week (oh joy) which kinda pisses me off because I was on the verge of buying a Cyberhome DVD recorder as they record in PAL and from what I have heard they can also do covnersion "live" meaning you can input a PAL signal and have it output NTSC without recording.

The point being I was going to use it that way so I could record to my Pioneer DVD recorder in NTSC. In short I would be using the Cyberhome DVD recorder as a PAL to NTSC converter.

I have some PAL VHS videos and a multi-system VHS VCR that can play the PAL VHS videos but it can only output what you play ... the VCR can't play a PAL VHS and output NTSC.

If my Pioneer DVD recorder could record PAL (which it cannot) I would just go from PAL VHS to PAL DVD and then either just play the PAL DVD on a converting DVD player (one that does PAL DVD to NTSC output) or RIP the PAL DVD to the computer and do the NTSC conversion there.

Unforunately I won't be getting that Cyberhome DVD recorder anytime soon but hey I've had these PAL VHS videos for ages so they ain't going anywhere LOL

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[victoriabears]

I often offer this service, if you wish ,send them to me and I'll do them for you,or what are they, I have a lot of contacts and may be you won;t have to convert them after all !