Buying a DVD player, But i want it to play PAL also

[Variable]

I have a bunch of bestbuy gift cards. Now i know its probably not the best place to go for this but i was wondering if best buy eve sells Pal/ NTSC dvd players.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat03013&type=category

it doesnt seem to say whther they do or not, so i take it that they dont. but i wanted your guys' word to know for sure.

thanks

[Conquest10]

look at the dvd players link on the left. dvd players are most likely not going be labeled as an NTSC/PAL player as most people don't know what that means. I have also not owned a dvd player that could not play both NTSC and PAL dvds.

[zzyzzx]

Best buy might have such a thing, but I doubt it would say on their webpage. I would think that you would have to go to the manufacturer's website and look at the manuals. I plan on keeping my Raite just for the purposes of playing PAL DVD's, SVCD's, VCD's, etc since a lot of the newer ones don't do everything. Sucks that I have to have multiple DVD players though.

[hech54]

Take a PAL - Region Free disc with you to Best Buy. I'm sure you won't be the first person to ask such a question.
Look for a Cyberhome and check for a button on the remote that says N/P on it....even if it is NOT a Cyberhome...look at the remote too.

[SLK001]

Most DVD players can play either format (I don't know of any that can't do both). Your problem will be that your TV is NTSC only. You will need to get a multiformat TV. Lots of luck getting on in the US.

[victoriabears]

Sadly it is not true that most dvd players sold in USA/Canada will play PAL,,on a ntsc tv which is what you want.

Look at best buy.com if you want a player the philips will play pal, but may not have a muti region hack, I always thought Lite-on/LG were pal.ntsc output switchable?

If you are going for quality get one of these and spend your best buy vouchers on something else.

http://www.amazon.com/OPPO-DV-970HD-Up-Converting-Universal-Player/dp/B000GT5FK0

[jman98]

I think that every DVD player that Philips makes (and Best Buy does sell Philips) is capable of converting between PAL and NTSC. I've bought 2 different models and both of them can do it. Decide what model you want first, look it up here on the DVD Player list to be sure it supports this and only then go to Best Buy. Nobody there will know what the heck you are talking about if you ask them about this or they will just tell you what they think you want to hear to make the sale. Any Philips player that has a "hack" to make it a multiregion player will be capable of displaying both PAL and NTSC video. The DVD Player list here will tell you if such a hack exists for a player.
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

[zzyzzx]

Take a PAL - Region Free disc with you to Best Buy. I'm sure you won't be the first person to ask such a question.

The Best Buy person won't know what you are talking about when you say that you have a PAL disc.

[zzyzzx]

Most DVD players can play either format (I don't know of any that can't do both). Your problem will be that your TV is NTSC only. You will need to get a multiformat TV. Lots of luck getting on in the US.

My Raite can play both NTSC and PAL and converts the PAL ones to NTSC for my TV. Many of the off brands like Apex will do the same (or so I understand).

[jman98]

My Raite can play both NTSC and PAL and converts the PAL ones to NTSC for my TV. Many of the off brands like Apex will do the same (or so I understand).

Apex is no longer being sold in stores. Long story short - the Chinese locked up the owner for "failure to pay taxes", which probably means he didn't grease the right palms. He's not getting out of jail for years it seems. Apex still has a website and the last time I checked a few months ago they still had one model listed that you could buy directly from them, but Apex hasn't been a realistic choice for anyone for 2+ years now. Apex did convert between PAL and NTSC though.

[zzyzzx]

That might explain why I haven't seen Apex in the stores either. Raite went under several years ago. There are still several other no name brands out there that do everything. I really meant like Apex. I know of one at a friends house that does everything, and I think it's this one:

http://www.amazon.com/CURTIS-INTERNATIONAL-DVD1045-SINGLE-PLAYER/dp/B000KI0KOS



Product Description
CURTIS" SINGLE DVD PLAYER 2 channel output Compatible with DVD/VCD/ CD-DA/CD-R/CD-RW/MP3/HDCD/ JPEG/KODAK PICTURE CD Progressive scan Component video output(YUV) Coaxial cable and S-video output Full functional remote control Different level lock fragment selection Display aspect ratio conversion (4:3/16:9) More than 500 lines definition Boxed Similar to Ace no. 6125777 but basic unit.

The description doesn't say it but it definatly converts PAL to NTSC for a NTSC TV. The only thing I tried to play in it that didn't work was a XVCD.

[hummer]

hi i can tell you one thing Phillips dvds play pal dvds because i have tones of European dvds from england , spain and Portugal and all play in my Phillips bought at futureshop/bestbuy

Cheers

[MOVIEGEEK]

Cyberhome and Apex are kaput,buy a Philips or better yet an Oppo.

[Werder]

I had the same problem... playing PAL movies on my NTSC system.

Two hurdles: first the DVD or Player has to be region free and second the player has to convert PAL to NTSC.

For many cheap players you can find a way to make the player region free - see the DVD hack section on this forum. I tried it with several players and it works; however of the (cheap) players I tried I wasn't satified with the quality of the conversion.

Second method is to make the DVD region free - rip the DVD and write it to a DVD blank as region free. Most brand name players will now play the PAL DVDs just fine and do it good job converting PAL to NTSC - I tried it succesfully on JVC and Panasonic players/recorders, the only brand refused to play these region free disks are my 3 Sony DVD players.

Today my active players are Zensonic Z500 and Panasonic ES25 - both create satisfying picture quality using region free PAL DVDs.

If you don't want to go through the hassle of converting your DVDs to region free, then I would suggestion to buy a brand name "region free" player - there are many offers on the internet.

I haven't tried myself the Oppo or any other "region free" brand players, but I wouldn't spend another $10 on a cheap player and hack it myself to make it region free... as I said before I never was satisfied with the conversion quality.