US VCR unable to play Japanese commercial tape??

[hamletiii]

Hi, everyone, I just got an original Japanese commercial tape, but unable to playback on the VCRs. So far I've tried two machines, one Philips DVP3340V, one Sylvania 2004ish model. The problem is that when I hit play, the TV only shows one second of black and white severely distorted image, then goes blue screen with ocasionly some thin black strips. The tape is brand new, released in 2001. So is this sort of an incompatibibity in the US machine, or they put some macrovision on the tape so that the US market cannot play Japanese made tapes??

[Dennis1968]

make sure the tape is NTSC.

[FulciLives]

VHS in the USA is NTSC.

VHS in Japan is NTSC.

You can play a Japanese VHS in a USA model VHS VCR.

Are you sure it is Japanese? I've never heard of a Japanese VHS that is anything BUT the NTSC format.

However I have seen both NTSC and PAL format for Hong Kong etc.

PAL VHS will not play in a standard USA model VHS VCR.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman