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  1. Member
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    I've done a lot of research and found conflicting info on some DVD player/TV issues and I am having an ongoing debate with a friend. I am in Canada. I have a 6 year old Hitachi TV, which is NTSC I guess.I have a Philips 642 player I hacked 6 months ago to play PAL and Region 1 DVD's which works fine. My friend thinks if you feed a PAL signal into an NTSC TV it may break the TV (if you insert a PAL DVD). I say the PAL DVD will just not work.She also thinks a N.American TV has to be able to play NTSC and PAL DVD's. I say its the DVD player which determines if PAL or NTSC DVD's will play or not and the TV has nothing to do with it. It can be any make NTSC TV. Am I right?
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  2. The DVP 642 converts PAL to NTSC while playing. The TV recieves a standard NTSC signal regardess of the disc type. Actually, you can force the DVP 642 to output a PAL signal or to automatically switch the output to whatever the DVD is. But NTSC Tvs generally will not display PAL signals. Feeding one a PAL signal probably won't break it though.
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  3. Based on what I've read on VideoHelp, I think it primarily depends on the capabilities of the DVD player. An NTSC only TV can not properly receive and display a PAL signal, but a DVD player can possibly accept both NTSC or PAL DVDs and output the result as an NTSC signal to the TV, or output both as a PAL signal to a TV, or follow the format of the Source, but the TV must be capable of receiving either signal (I think this is more common in PAL land).
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    Originally Posted by jagabo
    The DVP 642 converts PAL to NTSC while playing. The TV recieves a standard NTSC signal regardess of the disc type.

    That answers one thing I asked which was that its the DVD player which converts the signal to PAL to play on the TV. The TV does not convert the signal from NTSC to PAL.

    > Actually, you can force the DVP 642 to output a PAL signal or to automatically switch the output to whatever the DVD is. But NTSC Tvs generally will not display PAL signals. Feeding one a PAL signal probably won't break it though.
    But using a hack which I did, NTSC TV's can display PAL DVD's so I am sure why you say above that NTSC TV's will not display PAL signals. Or am I mistaken? I use an NTSC TV which is 6 years old and my Philips 642 has been hacked with a code which I got on this site, and I can play Region 1 or 2 DVD's. I know DVD players which can't be hacked or haven't been hacked will not play PAL DVD's on my TV. But my understanding from my searches say it doesn't matter what make of TV you have, Hitachi, RCA, etc. if the DVD player can be hacked or has a video converter inside, then it should play PAL DVD's.
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    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    Based on what I've read on VideoHelp, I think it primarily depends on the capabilities of the DVD player. An NTSC only TV can not properly receive and display a PAL signal, but a DVD player can possibly accept both NTSC or PAL DVDs and output the result as an NTSC signal to the TV, or output both as a PAL signal to a TV, or follow the format of the Source, but the TV must be capable of receiving either signal (I think this is more common in PAL land).
    My understanding is if the DVD player is hacked by using a code, the signal inside the DVD player (whether its a chip or whatever, I don't know) but whatever, its the DVD player which transmits the signal to the TV, and an NTSC TV accepts it, or mine does and I don't have a new TV. I remembered that I tried a PAL DVD in my Toshiba DVD player (6 years old) and it didn't do anything. It said error or something. So that should prove its the DVd player which can transmit PAL signals to the TV but only because I coded the player with a hack to make it play PAL and NTSC.
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  6. Originally Posted by Katiemay
    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    Based on what I've read on VideoHelp, I think it primarily depends on the capabilities of the DVD player. An NTSC only TV can not properly receive and display a PAL signal, but a DVD player can possibly accept both NTSC or PAL DVDs and output the result as an NTSC signal to the TV, or output both as a PAL signal to a TV, or follow the format of the Source, but the TV must be capable of receiving either signal (I think this is more common in PAL land).
    My understanding is if the DVD player is hacked by using a code, the signal inside the DVD player (whether its a chip or whatever, I don't know) but whatever, its the DVD player which transmits the signal to the TV, and an NTSC TV accepts it, or mine does and I don't have a new TV. I remembered that I tried a PAL DVD in my Toshiba DVD player (6 years old) and it didn't do anything. It said error or something. So that should prove its the DVd player which can transmit PAL signals to the TV but only because I coded the player with a hack to make it play PAL and NTSC.
    I'm having trouble following your logic so let me see if I have this straight.
    Before the hack it wouldn't play PAL DVDs.
    After the hack it will play PAL DVDs.

    This does not mean the output was changed. As Jagabo explained the output can be NTSC or PAL, but in order for a TV to display it, it must also accept either NTSC or PAL. My understanding is that this is fairly common in PAL land, but it is NOT common in NTSC land. In this case I think your hacked DVD player is outputting NTSC regardless of whether the DVD is NTSC or PAL.
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  7. The DVP 642 converts PAL video to NTSC when you use the patch. The TV is receiving an NTSC signal from the player, not PAL. NTSC TVs do not display PAL signals.
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    Some hacked dvd players have converters which convert Pal to Ntsc or Ntsc to Pal.This units could output to either Pal or Ntsc television sets.Some are switchable by remote or do it on their own.All lcd set are Ntsc and Pal compatible.Its a little secret not shown on manual specs.I own an Olevia set, no mention of Pal capability on manual, but it is.
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  9. The DVP 642 has three settings:

    1) Always output NTSC.
    2) Always output PAL.
    3) Output NTSC or PAL depending on the source.
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    Originally Posted by MEL15
    Some hacked dvd players have converters which convert Pal to Ntsc or Ntsc to Pal.This units could output to either Pal or Ntsc television sets.Some are switchable by remote or do it on their own.All lcd set are Ntsc and Pal compatible.Its a little secret not shown on manual specs.I own an Olevia set, no mention of Pal capability on manual, but it is.
    Very few players need to be 'hacked' to play PAL/NTSC. This is a physical ability, and usually not blocked by the software. They may not advertise the fact that it can be done, simply because most users wouldn't know NTSC or PAL from a hole int he ground, and will just screw it all up by playing. Hacking is for region codes, which are a separate issue. Hacking a region 1 player will allow you to play discs from regions that support PAL (both Region 2 and region 4 have PAL and NTSC territories in them), but in way guarantees that your player or TV will support their playback.
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    Originally Posted by jagabo
    The DVP 642 converts PAL video to NTSC when you use the patch.
    Actually, it does not convert the signal, but rather it simply outputs a signal that your television will understand. There are still minor artifacts, and the quality of output depends ENTIRELY on the player. Some do better than others. The output method can vary, in relation to blending/blurring/dropping of interlace fields, as well as cropping/resizing of the pixels. The best PAL playback I've ever seen comes from JVC and LiteOn DVD recorders.

    PAL/NTSC is also different from regions.
    Most all Chinese-made DVD players can play PAL and NTSC both, but some are region-locked (and some have hacks, some do not).
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  12. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Katiemay
    I say its the DVD player which determines if PAL or NTSC DVD's will play or not and the TV has nothing to do with it. It can be any make NTSC TV. Am I right?
    Correct.
    The DVD player is converting the PAL DVD signal to NTSC inside the machine so your NTSC television can display it.
    Just don't forget that there are TWO issues involved when playing overseas DVD's
    1) Region Codes
    2) Video Format (NTSC and PAL)
    They are not the same. Most DVD Player "hacks" involve region codes.
    Simply hacking the region code of a DVD player does not solve the NTSC/PAL problem.
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    The MPEG decoder AND the unit's firmware has to already support playing of PAL. It's not something hidden to "hack" (unlock) either. Most "hacks" are not actually hacks, they're simply an unlock of existing options hidden by the manufacturer for whatever reason. A hacker did not actually rewrite code to make the machine work differently.
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  14. Originally Posted by Katiemay
    I have a Philips 642 player I hacked 6 months ago to play PAL and Region 1 DVD's which works fine.
    How did you hack it? I have several of them, and I need to be able to play some PAL videos. (They may play them now. I haven't tried to play any yet.)
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  15. It's in the hack section. Just a few button presses on the remote.

    https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/philips-dvp-642/4117
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  16. It seems that no hack is necessary for the unit to convert PAL to NTSC. I'll test in shortly. Does the DVD have to be an authored DVD, or can I load a PAL MPG file and play it?
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  17. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by neumannu47
    It seems that no hack is necessary for the unit to convert PAL to NTSC.
    I don't recall anyone mentioning a hack for format conversion. The OP clearly stated that the hack was a region hack.
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  18. If I remember correctly (I don't have one anymore) the PAL/NTSC conversion is an option in the standard menus. Be sure it's set to output NTSC. Here it is:

    http://home.wi.rr.com/ntngod/dvp642_vs_dvp5140/#menu_screens
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    Playing a PAL DVD on an NTSC will not break the TV. The signal will look black and white and constantly roll, but the TV will be OK.

    The DVP-642 MUST be set to NTSC output for NTSC TVs. The settings are NTSC (means output ONLY NTSC for ALL video), PAL (means ONLY output PAL for ALL videos) and I believe "MULTI" (means output exactly the same as the source - this is the default value on the 642 and must be changed to NTSC for North American TV users).

    Based on my experience, the 642 appears to crop pixels to get the image to NTSC standards. I have no idea if it blends, blurs or drops fields but it definitely seems to crop pixels. It's OK for letterboxed PAL video, but it sucks for fullscreen PAL video.
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  20. Not only does the DVP642 play PAL with no hacks, so do my other two DVD players, one Toshiba, one Lite-On. I guess things improved while I wasn't looking. That's good.
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    Thanks for all your replies. I wil get to some of them.

    [quote="gadgetguy"
    I'm having trouble following your logic so let me see if I have this straight.
    Before the hack it wouldn't play PAL DVDs.
    After the hack it will play PAL DVDs.
    This does not mean the output was changed. As Jagabo explained the output can be NTSC or PAL, but in order for a TV to display it, it must also accept either NTSC or PAL. My understanding is that this is fairly common in PAL land, but it is NOT common in NTSC land. In this case I think your hacked DVD player is outputting NTSC regardless of whether the DVD is NTSC or PAL.[/quote]

    I am a bit confused here. Do you mean the TV must also accept either NTSC or PAL? Isn't it the
    DVD player which gives the signal to the TV to display PAL or NTSC DVD's and that the make of TV doesn't matter as long as its a N.American TV in my case? You say above that after I hacked my DVD player you think its outputting NTSC regardless of whether the DVD is NTSC or PAL. How does that work? I checked the menu on my DVD player and you can choose NTSC, PAL or MULTI. I chose PAL when I first got it and the picture kept rolling. I got it back to NTSC and thats where it is now and I can play NTSC and Pal, but can't play PAL DVD's without hack.
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    Originally Posted by jagabo
    The DVP 642 converts PAL video to NTSC when you use the patch. The TV is receiving an NTSC signal from the player, not PAL. NTSC TVs do not display PAL signals.
    I checked DVD player menu and its set for NTSC in "Video". The choice is PAL,MULTI or NTSC. I tried it without hack when I first got the player, but TV picture kept rolling. I changed it to NTSC and it was OK. If the TV is receiving an NTSC signal from the player, then the player must also be capable of also ending a PAL signal whether TV is NTSC or not or I couldn't watch PAL dvd's. Forgot to mention that my DVP 642 is 642/37 so has a firmware update.
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    Originally Posted by MEL15
    Some hacked dvd players have converters which convert Pal to Ntsc or Ntsc to Pal.This units could output to either Pal or Ntsc television sets.Some are switchable by remote or do it on their own.All lcd set are Ntsc and Pal compatible.Its a little secret not shown on manual specs.I own an Olevia set, no mention of Pal capability on manual, but it is.
    Do you mean a "hardware" converter that some DVD players have whicih are sometimes sold online? I don't have that. Mine had to be code hacked before it would play PAL DVD's. When you say "lcd sets are ntsc and pal compatible" I don't have an lcd TV. I just have analog. Do they also have NTSC and PAL capability? It doesn't say anything about NTSC in my TV manual. Is a 6 or 7 year old Hitachi. It also doesn't mentiion you can play PAL in my DVD player manual, even though there is a choice in the menu for NTSC or PAL.
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    Originally Posted by jagabo
    The DVP 642 has three settings:

    1) Always output NTSC.
    2) Always output PAL.
    3) Output NTSC or PAL depending on the source.
    Where are these settings? on a chip inside the DVD player?
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    Originally Posted by lordsmurf
    Originally Posted by jagabo
    The DVP 642 converts PAL video to NTSC when you use the patch.
    Actually, it does not convert the signal, but rather it simply outputs a signal that your television will understand. There are still minor artifacts, and the quality of output depends ENTIRELY on the player. Some do better than others. The output method can vary, in relation to blending/blurring/dropping of interlace fields, as well as cropping/resizing of the pixels. The best PAL playback I've ever seen comes from JVC and LiteOn DVD recorders.

    My Philips DVP 642/37 plays back PAL DVD's excellently - same with NTSC DVD's.

    PAL/NTSC is also different from regions.
    Most all Chinese-made DVD players can play PAL and NTSC both, but some are region-locked (and some have hacks, some do not).
    I am in Toronto and I can't think of any DVD players I've seen here which were not made in China. My Philips 642 was made in China. It was region locked though it can be set for PAL or NTSC in the menu, but Pal DVD's won't work that way. I needed a hack for PAL.
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    Originally Posted by hech54
    Originally Posted by Katiemay
    I say its the DVD player which determines if PAL or NTSC DVD's will play or not and the TV has nothing to do with it. It can be any make NTSC TV. Am I right?
    Correct.
    The DVD player is converting the PAL DVD signal to NTSC inside the machine so your NTSC television can display it.
    Just don't forget that there are TWO issues involved when playing overseas DVD's
    1) Region Codes
    2) Video Format (NTSC and PAL)
    They are not the same. Most DVD Player "hacks" involve region codes.
    Simply hacking the region code of a DVD player does not solve the NTSC/PAL problem.
    Thats a little more clear, so some of my speculation is right, but not all is clear. Sp its not the PAl signal that goes directly to the TV?. It has to be converted first inside the DVD player to NTSC first, then PAL signal can go to the TV? is this correct? Its easy to confuse region codes with video format, because they seem the same. If hacking the region code of the DVd player doesn't solve the NTSC/PAL problem, what does?
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    Originally Posted by jagabo
    If I remember correctly (I don't have one anymore) the PAL/NTSC conversion is an option in the standard menus. Be sure it's set to output NTSC. Here it is:

    http://home.wi.rr.com/ntngod/dvp642_vs_dvp5140/#menu_screens
    My DVP 642/37 is a later US/Canada model (I think they are the same).The menu in mine has a choice of NTSC or PAL or Multi. To play NTSC or PAL DVD's you need it set for NTSC. But it won't play PAL DVD's without a hack code which I got from hacks forum on Videohelp.
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  28. Originally Posted by Katiemay
    My DVP 642/37 is a later US/Canada model (I think they are the same).The menu in mine has a choice of NTSC or PAL or Multi. To play NTSC or PAL DVD's you need it set for NTSC. But it won't play PAL DVD's without a hack code which I got from hacks forum on Videohelp.
    The hack for the 642 is to overide the region code. It's not directly related to PAL vs NTSC.
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    Originally Posted by jman98
    Playing a PAL DVD on an NTSC will not break the TV. The signal will look black and white and constantly roll, but the TV will be OK.

    Thats what happened to me. I just remembered.

    >The DVP-642 MUST be set to NTSC output for NTSC TVs. The settings are NTSC (means output ONLY NTSC for ALL video), PAL (means ONLY output PAL for ALL videos) and I believe "MULTI" (means output exactly the same as the source - this is the default value on the 642 and must be changed to NTSC for North American TV users).

    So the Pal signal has to be converted by the player to NTSC in order to play Region 1 or Region 2 DVD's on an NTSC TV?When I got my DVD player it was set at NTSC. In the manual specs it says NTSC/PAL and Multistandard. I thought it was Multi Region, but doesn't seem so.

    >Based on my experience, the 642 appears to crop pixels to get the image to NTSC standards. I have no idea if it blends, blurs or drops fields but it definitely seems to crop pixels. It's OK for letterboxed PAL video, but it sucks for fullscreen PAL video.
    I have 12 pal dvd's.Two were recorded in letterbox and 10 in full screen. All play fine with good quality pictures and no distortion. In my player setup menu you can choose 4:3 PS, 4:3 LB and 16:9. I mostly leave it set at 4:3 LB, and even if I play full screen PAL DVD's they still play full screen. The DVD's recorded in LB can't be changed to full screen, so I jut leave it at 4:3 LB most of the time. There is also 16:9 for widescreen TV.
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    Originally Posted by neumannu47
    Not only does the DVP642 play PAL with no hacks, so do my other two DVD players, one Toshiba, one Lite-On. I guess things improved while I wasn't looking. That's good.
    How did you get your 642 to play PAL? My DVP 642/37 woundn't play PAL before I input the hack. I tried and it caused the TV picture to keep rolling tilll I changed it back to NTSC. Do you have model DVP642 or DVP 642/37? or later ? Did you choose PAL or NTSC setting in Video section in General menu?I have a Toshiba DVD player 6 yrs old. probably no hack for it.
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