NTSC vs. PAL

[Ciccio]

Sorry I know this must be asked often, but all the answers in the threads have me confused. What happens when I play an NTSC DVD in a region free player connected to a PAL television? I have an extensive DVD collection I wish to bring along to Europe. The DVD PAL's i buy in Europe play just fine in my hacked region free player in America on an NTSC television. Shouldn't the reverse happen with my American DVD's in Europe?
Please help...I'm so confused...

[lordsmurf]

Regions have nothing to do with video format.
Video formats = NTSC, PAL

All PAL players can play NTSC.
Most NTSC players can play PAL (especially cheap ones made in China)

Next comes regions, which is a non-issue. If your player cannot be hacked or set to play another region (or all regions), then simply copy the disc. Most all DVD ripping software removes the region data. The copy is now a backup AND the version that can be safely watched in the player. Put the original on the shelf for safekeeping.

Remember that "foreign" markets (non-USA) are much smaller, and as such, the DVD production is smaller. They go out of print quicker. If you see something you want, buy it now, as it could be sold out and impossible to find even 6 months later. It's totally different from Best Buy or Amazon.com, where many DVDs seem to stay in stock forever.

If your current DVD player does not play PAL, please don't be stupid and try to convert the video. Go to Walmart and buy one of those $20-30 DVD players, and add it to your tv. It plays PAL with zero effort or lost quality.

[JohnnyMalaria]

If you are moving to Europe (rather than visiting), I would take your existing DVD player with you. Many have autosensing power supplies or a switch. (If not, you can get inexpensive transformers).

Many TVs in Europe can accept NTSC input. If you will be in the market for one, shop around and get one that does.

[Ciccio]

I had a cheap Cyberhome DVD player (advice from this great forum) that was dual voltage and easily hacked. Played great, but died after a year of normal use. May get some more to take along as, yes, we are moving for an indefinite period. May just buy new there. I just never used a PAL tv and hoped that would not cause a compatability problem.
Thanks for the responses.

[ntscuser]

If it's any consolation I live in the UK and my entire video collection is NTSC. When buying a DVD player over here don't assume it can be hacked. Ask the retailer at the time of purchase whether it can play Region-1 titles or not. If they don't know the answer, go to another dealer. Almost all new TV sets here will accept an NTSC signal of some kind. The most common arrangement is RGB component color via a fully-wired 21-pin Scart lead. Some of the better PAL TV sets include a full decoder for NTSC color as well. This increases compatibility with various video playback devices.

[Ciccio]

Thanks for the advice. I always shop for DVD players I like, make a list, then come back to this site to verify hacks and such. Then I make a purchase. It's worked out great and I've never been disappointed.
I'm feeling comfortable that we'll still be able to enjoy the 200+ DVD titles currently in our collection. Time to start adding before the big move. Walmart had recent titles available for $2.96 USD each. Hard to beat.

[edDV]

Your greatest learning curve will be dealing with that crazy S-Cart connector which was an invention of the French to make component interconnection easy for technophobe intellectuals. It may be easy for those intellectual blokes but the rest of us struggle to understand the wisdom of it all.

Otherwise NTSC to PAL display is easy, PAL to NTSC is much less easy.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Your greatest learning curve will be dealing with that crazy S-Cart connector which was an invention of the French to make component interconnection easy for technophobe intellectuals. It may be easy for those intellectual blokes but the rest of us struggle to understand the wisdom of it all.

Otherwise NTSC to PAL display is easy, PAL to NTSC is much less easy.

SCART is just a big fat bi-directional parallel cable with less pins, that's all!

[hech54]

NTSC in PAL-Land = No Problem
Scart to Scart connectors = No Problem
Scart to "something else" cables = sometimes a problem(with directionality issues)

Your only problem is going to be region coding issues...but you already know how to deal with that so you really won't have that problem either.