Are most DVD Players in the US PAL Compatible?

[AmeliaK]

The reason for the above question is I know most if not all current DVD Players in Australia support playback of NTSC. I have just completed a collection of home movies on DVD (they are PAL), so I wanted to know if I send it to family in the US will they be able to watch it?

Thanks
Amelia

[hech54]

The best thing to do is to get the make and model number of the DVD player in the U.S. then check here:
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers
...to see if it will play PAL
or here:
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks
....to see if it can be "hacked" via the remote control to MAKE it play PAL stuff.
If that is not possible....they can always huddle around the computer monitor and watch it.....computers don't give a damn about PAL or NTSC....for the most part.

[AmeliaK]

Thanks for the info. The reason I asked is I know they wouldn't have any idea what Pal is for that matter what DVD Player they have. My family in the US are not very technically minded.

Cheers
Amelia

[freestyler]

They should be able to watch them on their PC, but I know that's not really a workable solution for most families (screen is too small, no dvd drive on pc anyway, etc). Bottom line, the atmosphere is not really there... same goes for the difference between watching movies on a pc as opposed to a home theater

Many off-brand and lesser known manufacturers models (such as Apex, Cyberhome, Norcent) are known to play both PAL and NTSC discs from what I've seen.

-Free

[hech54]

Thanks for the info. The reason I asked is I know they wouldn't have any idea what Pal is for that matter what DVD Player they have. My family in the US are not very technically minded.

Cheers
Amelia

My family is(and or was) the same way. I've been sending PAL Video CD's to them and my (formerly MY) JVC DVD player plays them just fine....but here's the catch....it is listed on this site as to NOT be able to play PAL stuff...weird. But I knew from past experiences that it did indeed play PAL VCD's and region free PAL DVD's.
The JVC is also attached to a "newer" Sony TV....so apparently IT can cope with PAL also.

[bugster]

The reason for the above question is I know most if not all current DVD Players in Australia support playback of NTSC. I have just completed a collection of home movies on DVD (they are PAL), so I wanted to know if I send it to family in the US will they be able to watch it?

Thanks
Amelia

I am not an American, so this is largley supposition and hearsay, But I would expect most US DVD players to quite happily play play PAL DVD's. What you then need to ask/find out, is will the TV accept a PAL input signal. That tends to be more of a problem in the US. I don't know about Aus, but here in europe the vast majority of TV's sold are multi-standard and so play PAL and NTSc material quite happily. Unfortunatley from what I have learnt the same is not true in the US and not may TV's there will handle PAL. A Few DVD player will do a proper PAL to NTSC conversion internally, but these I think are quite rare.

[ofbarea]

Most Apex (is not all) DVD players will be able to play PAL DVDs on NTSC TVs.

The only catch is that the player must be multi-region to play PAL Zone 2 or Zone 4 stuff.

[jbenj01]

I'm sorry but a very direct answer to your query is, NO..

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but "most" U.S. DVD players are NOT able to play PAL DVD's.. they need a built-in PAL-to-NTSC converter

[Sam Ontario]

The reason for the above question is I know most if not all current DVD Players in Australia support playback of NTSC. I have just completed a collection of home movies on DVD (they are PAL), so I wanted to know if I send it to family in the US will they be able to watch it?

Thanks
Amelia

There were a lot of other responded to your query. I might as well add that theoretically none of the DVD players in America should play PAL DVD movies. But recently, unknown brand names such as Apex, Norcent, Cyberhome, Electrohome, Citizen etc. produce DVD players to enable you to play all other region coded movies by setting these DVD player to non-region by accessing their secret on-screen menu.

Correct me if I am wrong, now these unknown brand DVD players manufactured after 2nd half 2003 the secret menu can no longer be accessible.

[lets]

Last models JVC, Philips, Magnavox (sold in USA) have built-in converter PAL-NTSC. The picture after conversion is very good.

[bugster]

I'm sorry but a very direct answer to your query is, NO..

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but "most" U.S. DVD players are NOT able to play PAL DVD's.. they need a built-in PAL-to-NTSC converter

Note quite true. Most US DVD players will have no problems playing a PAL DVD (region coding apart). Its US TV's that can't handle the resulting PAL signal that is the main problem.

There were a lot of other responded to your query. I might as well add that theoretically none of the DVD players in America should play PAL DVD movies. But recently, unknown brand names such as Apex, Norcent, Cyberhome, Electrohome, Citizen etc. produce DVD players to enable you to play all other region coded movies by setting these DVD player to non-region by accessing their secret on-screen menu.

I think you are confusing region coding (not an issue with DVDr) with Television signal standards. Completley different things.
BTW, many of the big brand name DVD players can also be 'region unlocked' with remote control hacks or firmware upgrades. Its not just the cheaper no-name chinese models that have this.

[jbenj01]

thanks bugster..

are there any TV's that can play PAL in the U.S.? Or is it always the DVD player that needs the hardware, i.e. mulit-system converter?

[bugster]

thanks bugster..

are there any TV's that can play PAL in the U.S.? Or is it always the DVD player that needs the hardware, i.e. mulit-system converter?

There must be some, but you will have to check your TV's specs. A few DVD players do PAL to NTSC conversion, but again I don't think it's many. Its a feature to look out for when buying (DVD player or TV) but is probably not widely advertised, something you have to read the small print for in mosts cases I would guess!

[AmeliaK]

Region coding I'm not worried about as I authored my DVD as a Multi region DVD, the main concern has been PAL. I just got an email back from my cousin and her answer to my question was "I have a DVD player, but what is a PAL DVD?", which is pretty much what I expected.

I have three DVD Players myself 2 Conia's and 1 Philips Q50 and all seem to happily play NTSC and PAL. I guess I was hoping that most DVD Players in the US would do the same.

I didn't think TVs would be the problem. I guess my only option then is to make a whole new DVD in NTSC format

Thanks Guys I really do appreciate your thoughts on this.

Best Regards
Amelia

[lordsmurf]

Most will play region-free PAL.
Lots of them can be hacked region-free.

Few are NTSC only. At least nowadays.

[AmeliaK]

LordSmurf

So are you saying most new DVD players in the US now support play back of PAL, are you confident that this is correct?

My cousin just provided a little more detail, her DVD Player is a Sony CD/DVD/SACD 5-Disc player. I went to the US Sony site and had a look at all their 5-Disc DVD player and no mention of PAL. I even searched their site for the key word PAL and no luck.

I know all my DVD Players support PAL and NTSC output and playback of PAL and NTSC, so I was hoping if my DVD Players can play both formats then the US ones would be the same.

Cheers
Amelia

[solarfox]

You will rarely, if ever, find any mention of this capability (or lack thereof) anywhere on the box, in the manual, or on the US-oriented website of any model of DVD player intended for the US market, for the simple reason that only one person in a hundred (at most!) would have any clue what it means, and even fewer would have reason to care. It is a sad, but true, fact of life that most consumers here in the states don't really give a fig about "foreign films", and figure if it's not released here in the U.S. it can't be any good anyway.

That being said -- some DVD players sold here in the US will play back PAL discs... some will even do PAL->NTSC conversions internally... and some TV sets can accept both PAL and NTSC signals.

But don't count on it. And definitely don't expect the manufacturer or the store ads to call attention to it -- alas, it's just not a selling point here.

Your best bet, if you want to be sure that your relatives can play back your discs when you send them, is to encode them in NTSC.

[jbenj01]

AmeliaK,

Search for "Multi-system playback" capability.. It usually says something like 'plays PAL, NTSC, SECAM...". Ask your cousin to check her DVD player's manual specs to see if it is 'multi-system'.

Trust me, I live in the U.S. and I have NEVER seen a TV that can playback PAL video (25fps), whether VHS or DVD, unless it's played in a mulit-system capabel VCR or DVD player. These players have a built-in converter that enables PAL/SECAM, etc.. to be played on U.S. NTSC TV's..

I just bought a new DVD player for this very reason.. As for region-free hacks, it does not enable you to watch PAL on an NTSC TV.. Hope this helps.

[Roundabout]

While I can't speak for all the cheapo models of DVD players sold here in the U.S., I do know for sure that the Daewoo DVD-S150 that I bought at Sam's Club for $47 is capable of playing back PAL or NTSC discs on a NTSC T.V. (and vice versa, presumably).
I have quite a few discs that are PAL, I don't have to select anything at all, just put in the disc and it displays properly on my NTSC-only T.V.
It will also play NTSC on PAL-only T.V.'s, so I guess it does have internal PAL>NTSC and NTSC>PAL conversion. But it's also multi-region (hacked) and works on any voltage from 100v-240v., and I assume they sell the same model everywhere in the world.
If your relatives can't play back your discs, they can find one of these Daewoo's online at Ebay and other places for around the same price. Then you don't have to worry what kind of disc it is, this unit will also play back raw MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 as well as MP3's with a folder structure. Basically plays anything you throw at it, except DivX discs.
There aren't nearly as many multi-system T.V.'s sold here in the U.S. as there are multi-system DVD players. Interestingly, it seems the cheaper the unit, the more compatible it is with more formats. Most of the more expensive Sony DVD players are not PAL compatible (here in the U.S.).
For $46 that I paid for the Daewoo, I'm very happy with it. If it breaks, it doesn't cost much to replace. I bought an extra to send to my relatives overseas, so I won't have to worry about compatibility.

[SeeingMole]

The MOST simple solution would probably be sending them the PAL disc. If it won't play, then you re-author it to NTSC and send that one.

At least you won't need to waste time re-author if it turns out that they can actually play it. It'll also be the only way to find out.

[lordsmurf]

LordSmurf
So are you saying most new DVD players in the US now support play back of PAL, are you confident that this is correct?
Amelia

Most newet MPEG chips support both formats. It's the region info that'll get you. The general rule is if it doesn't specifically exclude PAL, it probably will play it, at least region-free versions.

But Sony probably does not. That is one that won't. Along with Toshiba and Samsung.

[AmeliaK]

Thanks Guys, it looks like I may be in with a chance that at least one member of the family may be able to play the DVD. I am going to send it and see what happens.

Cheers
Amelia