480P EDTV in a PAL country

[pbwgap]

Could some one please answer my following question?

I live in the Middle East where the TV system is PAL. However, all EDTV's available in the market are 480P. When I searched the web also, I did not find any 576P units. Does that mean that if I buy an EDTV and play my PAL DVD's, they will be downscaled to 480P and displayed with loss of quality or detail? Or am I missing something in all this?

I know that HDTV's are the future and the way to go etc. But, I want to buy an EDTV for the time being, due to various reasons, if I know the answer to my above question.

Thanks

[jman98]

Does that mean that if I buy an EDTV and play my PAL DVD's, they will be downscaled to 480P and displayed with loss of quality or detail?

That's what it means, assuming an EDTV is even capable of downscaling PAL DVD to 480p. I wouldn't count on it. Usually in this case you have to have the DVD player convert it on the fly to an NTSC signal. Oppo makes a line of players that is considered to have very good PAL to NTSC conversion. Philips makes some cheap players that can do it, but some complain a lot about the quality. I just list those 2 companies as examples. If you have no choice but to go with an EDTV, I would advise investing in a DVD player that you trust to do the conversion and having it do the conversion for you. You may have no choice as, again, I must stress that while I don't know for sure, I find it unlikely that an NTSC EDTV will be able to convert PAL signals to 480p.

[edDV]

It isn't about PAL to NTSC conversion. It means native display resolution is 720x480 so all incoming formats get scaled to that resolution.

Net result, a native 720x576P PAL movie DVD will lose some vertical resolution all other things being equal. For broadcast 576i PAL or 720x576i DVD, there will be little visible effect due to necessary vertical resolution losses that result from interlace to progressive conversion.

For a 16:9 screen, these losses in the the vertical direction still result in an image that is sharper vertically than horizontally so the losses won't be that noticeable.

Most modern 16:9 LCD or plasma displays have a native display resolution near 1366x768.

[guns1inger]

There are still a lot of cheap LCD widescreen TVs being released (dumped ?) over here that have a true resolution of 852 x 480. Most are sold as HD ready because they will take HD via component, but the best you will get is 480p anyway - hardly HD. These are slowly being replaced by the 1366 x 768 models as 1920 x 1080 fills out the high end. LCD and plasma is one of those areas where you do get what you pay for, and if you buy cheap, you will get poor quality.

[pbwgap]

Many thanks for your replies. I am particularly talking about Panasonic TH-42PA60. On the web I find that it is sold in all other PAL countries like Europe, Middle East, India etc. Why do they sell 480P in those countries? And haven't any one ever produced 576P Plasmas/LCDs for the PAL region? What is the idea?

The units sold here are multi system and they clain support of 576P. So, does that mean that the unit can take 576P but scales it down to 480P?

[guns1inger]

Yep. I suspect that the main target audience in the beginning was the NTSC market, and manufacturing was initially set up for this. after than, is was cheaper in the short term to continue to manufacture and ship out these low res screens than to create a 576p model, when 1366 x 768 was just around the corner. I have noticed that the speed at which these are being pushed out in favour of 1366 x 768 as the base resolution is increasing rapidly, so these will, if they continue to be sold, fall into the sub-AU$500 market.

[edDV]

This 852x480 16:9 plasma TV is targeted to the SD/DVD multisystem market.
http://www.world-import.com/panasonic-plasma-th42pa20.htm

Display manufacturing lines are built to particular screen size. This screen is from an older plant that initially targeted the NTSC Japan and North American market when 480p DVD was the benchmark. Now 720p or 1080p is the benchmark and most displays are 1366x768 with a few reaching 1920x1080.

Today this display is being marketed to multi-system SD/DVD markets in a package that accepts many formats (e.g. PAL, NTSC, analog component and HDMI) and resolutions (480i/p, 576i/p, 720p, 1080i plus RGB up to 1280x1024). It will accept most formats in and convert all to 852x480 progressive for display.

They probably market a similar model that converts everything to 1366x768 progressive. You choose the price you want.

Unless you have access to HD source material, both resolutions will look very similar for SD sources.

Most 42" multi-system plasma models seem to be 852x480 on that page. This LCD Sony is similar in price but 1366x768 for 40".
http://www.world-import.com/klv40S200a.htm

This Pioneer PDP-505CMX is a 50" plasma with 1280x1024 display resolution (wide aspect pixels).
http://www.world-import.com/Pioneer_PDP-504CMX.htm