Total Noob Question - NTSC / PAL

[fredfillis]

I'm currently living in the US and hope to move to Australia sometime in 2008.

I'm thinking about buying a flat screen now. With Digital TV just around the corner, will the implementation of DTV remove the old barriers that exist between NTSC and PAL TV's or is that just wishful thinking?

I've read a bunch of stuff on other sites about digital TV but none seem to address my question since they all appear to be geographically focussed.

[hech54]

Let's put this into some perspective. From anywhere you may live in America....it is at least a 16 hour flight to Oz.

[TJohns]

...will the implementation of DTV remove the old barriers...

Far from it! American digital (ATSC) isn't compatible with Australian & European digital (DBV-T)

Ahhh, standards. Isn't it good to have so many to choose from??

[JohnnyMalaria]

Wishful thinking, I'm afraid.

Although DTV conforms the frame sizes for NTSC and PAL (e.g., 1440 x 1080), the frame rates are different - essentially the same as today's except for "film" rates. i.e., former PAL regions will be 25fps (50 fields/s) and former NTSC will be 29.97fps (59.94 fields/s).

However, for use with existing PAL material, a flat screen purchased in the US *may* work though it is more common for PAL TVs to support NTSC.

Such a lost opportunity but there are probably commercial considerations on the part of manufacturers and content producers (i.e., market differentiation to drive sales). And stubbornness between nations.

[jimmalenko]

Let's put this into some perspective. From anywhere you may live in America....it is at least a 16 hour flight to Oz.

My Melbourne to LA flight was 13 hours

[fredfillis]

As I suspected

Thanks for the help. And yes, about 13.5 hours from Melb to LA, closer to 15 the other way. Strange that the uphill trip is shorter

I'm in DC so add another 4.5 hours plus layovers etc. So, worst case for me it can be 30 hours, best case about 22 hours.

[guns1inger]

Buy when you get here.

[fredfillis]

Sounds good to me!

I think my diet for the first few days home will be Four N Twenties and a slab or two of VB!

[hech54]

Let's put this into some perspective. From anywhere you may live in America....it is at least a 16 hour flight to Oz.

My Melbourne to LA flight was 13 hours

Tailwinds....

[lordsmurf]

The tuner will be the only real barrier.

[FulciLives]

I don't want to hijack this thread but I was recently thinking about what the differences are (if any) between a Blu-Ray disc made and released in America vs one from say Japan or the UK etc.

Same thing with the HD-DVD format.

We know a PAL DVD and NTSC DVD have different resolutions and different frame rates. Is there such a thing with Blu-Ray and/or HD-DVD or is region code the only concern?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[jman98]

There are no differences in HD-DVD discs wherever they are produced. Well, I can say that for movies. TV shows may or may not be different. HD-DVD movies are all encoded to 24 fps and 1920x1080p video in all countries. HD-DVD also has no region codes.

BluRay has region codes - 4 of them, but I don't remember what is what except I think that Japan and the USA are now in the same region. I suppose that BluRay discs are also encoded to 24fps and 1920x1080p video, but since I don't have a BluRay player, I can't say for certain.

[FulciLives]

There are no differences in HD-DVD discs wherever they are produced. Well, I can say that for movies. TV shows may or may not be different. HD-DVD movies are all encoded to 24 fps and 1920x1080p video in all countries. HD-DVD also has no region codes.

BluRay has region codes - 4 of them, but I don't remember what is what except I think that Japan and the USA are now in the same region. I suppose that BluRay discs are also encoded to 24fps and 1920x1080p video, but since I don't have a BluRay player, I can't say for certain.

Well that's pretty kewl ... I did find a site that lists what movies are what region and if they are region encoded or not ... this for Blu-Ray discs ... but it was unclear if they were encoded differently. If they aren't then ... bye bye NTSC vs PAL which is NICE.

Also it's awesome Japan and USA are the same region but the UK is a different region so I hope that doesn't screw things up to much for me ... I have plently of import DVD Video discs from all over but mostly from the UK and Japan and right now I see hardly any Blu-Ray imports worth buying but I'm sure that will change as time goes on ...

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[fredfillis]

Plan B.

Buy a flat screen in the US with ATSC and DVI / HDMI inputs. In Australia, I buy a DVB-T tuner card with DVI / HDMI out and dedicate a PC as a tuner / DVR.

How's that?

[SatStorm]

I wouldn't buy something in the USA for use it in Australia.

On BD/HDDVD, PAL vs NTSC don't exist anymore: All movies are 24p at 1080p.

On the HDTV broadcasts, there is a framerate difference (not a framesize one). In Europe, the HDTV channels are 1080i @25/50hz. In USA the channels are 1080i @29.97/59.94fps (I'm not sure 100% for this).

[guns1inger]

Over here, HD broadcasts are anything from 1080i through to as low as 576p (!)