Laserdics Question Showing My Ignorance

[Gorgoloch]

Hi,

Been looking at some of the LD forums and how to transfer them to DVD. I'm very interested in this and need to acquire the hardware to do it. I have read that PAL LD's give better quality. Being in Boston I live in an NTSC word.

What I was wondering (and I know this may sound really stupid, but I have very little experience with LD's), how can I tell if an LD player will play PAL discs? My assumption is that NTSC players will only play NTSC discs. Is this true? Can I get one that plays both? If so, what should I check for in the specs?

Thanks in advance. I'm a Padawan learner at this stuff and you guys are my Jedi Masters.


Gorgoloch

[dphirschler]

I am still learning too. In fact, I just found out that my DVL-909 LD player is an NTSC-only player. I had initially thought that it might play PAL LDs based on the research I had found on the web. What I didn't know was that my DVL-909 was a US model. I discovered this fact (that there were two versions of the player) when I saw a photo of the back of the PAL version of the unit. It was identical except it had a SCART connector for PAL TVs. The SCART connecter is nothing like any video connector I am used to in the US. It resembles the digital video connectors found on some modern flat plasma displays. Looks like a 2x5 (or so) grid shape. There was also a switch for "PAL/NTSC/AUTO" on the unit which mine lacks.

Based on this info, I would say that if you have any doubts your player will handle PAL LDs, it probably doesn't. Because if it does, it will be crystal clear. Of course, your results may vary.


Darryl

[hififan]

Hello

I have been a laser disc enthusiast for years. I was not aware of any laser disc player sold in the United States by a regular retailer that was both PAL and NTSC.

I can not verify if Pal laser discs are of superior resolution. I can tell you that I have PAL and NTSC dvds and I do not beleive that the PAL discs are superior--yes I have seen the same film in both standards.

Laser disc players appear often on ebay. As with anything, the better the laser disc player, the better your results. While you may not find many Pal units on the U.S. Ebay, log onto Ebay for London and you will find many. Just factor in the increased cost of shipping.

When I transfer laser discs [panasonic lv900 player] to dvd, I use a Fora FA300 time base corrector going into a Pinnacle DC2000 real time broadcast quality MPEG2 capture setting. The results are outstanding.

I have seen others with lesser equipment and the results are not as sharp and clear.

Even used, a laser disc player will require an investment.

What is so unique that you have to have it on laser?

I mean for me the question is specialty items like the Time Tunnel and Night Stalker, etc. Otherwise many of the films can be purchased on DVD.

Depending on the titles that you want, unless you already have a setup that you feel confident with, you may want to pay someone to transfer your discs for you.

John

[RWANDREWS]

I have done a large number of LD to DVD conversions with a NTSC player. There do exist some players that can handle both, but they are hard to find in this country, owing to the fact that TV don't accept PAL input, unless very special, but european sets more commonly accept NTSC.

Forget about looking for a PAL LD player, UNLESS the movie in question is ONLY available in that format. The difference is resolution is slight, not really worth the great effort involved to get things right. (and there will be many things you'll need to do to compensate for PAL) if you're making a NTSC DVD.

I like the CANOPUS ADVC 100 connected to my LD, NEVER had a sync problem, ease of use is great.

HAve fun !