Before I toss out my newly-purchased Pioneer Multi-Region 393-S player...

[Guy Grand]

Hi all,

I just purchased a multi-region Pioneer 393-S DVD player. I hooked it up to a Vizio 42-inch plasma HDTV. Lo and behold, as advertised, it played not only the NTSC Region 1 discs that I've purchased here in the U.S., but I was also able to watch two movie DVDs I bought from England that are PAL Region 2. The Pioneer DVD player automatically converted the PAL image just fine so that it was compatible for NTSC viewing. All was good. Except that this past weekend I turned in that Vizio plasma and bought a Panasonic 42-inch HDTV plasma. After I hooked up the Pioneer 393-S multi-region player exactly the same way to the new Panasonic as I had with the Vizio, I sat down to watch another PAL DVD. This time, the image came up on the Panasonic in black and white and fast-scrolling. Totally unviewable. Does anyone else have a Pioneer 393-S and had this problem? How do I get the Pioneer to convert the PAL to NTSC image for this new HDTV like it did for the old one? Is ther a default I need to reset?

[guns1inger]

Pioneer used to use a small switch on the back of the unit to set the format. The options were PAL, NTSC and Auto. They may have moved to putting options in the menu, in which case put in a Region 1 disc to stabilise the output, and have a browse through the menu.

[The_Doman]

You can read in your manual how to switch your player between PAL and NTSC output.

Pioneer FAQ

Is there some way to switch from NTSC to PAL or PAL to NTSC?
Turn off your player. Using the front panel controls, hold down >>| then press STANDBY/ON to switch the TV system. The TV system changes as follows:
• AUTO --> NTSC
• NTSC --> PAL
• PAL --> AUTO

[BJ_M]

Panasonic 42-inch HDTV plasmas will only play NTSC in 480i mode .. btw ...

they will not play PAL (except upconverting PAL dvd players)