DUP 5990/37 - Pal & NTSC all the time?

[mraroid]

Folks....

I was looking at the Philips DUP 5990/37. I live in the US, but I have PAL as well as NTSC DVDs to play. I understand that I can install a crack to make this DVD player region free (thank god!). But here is my question: Can I play both NTSC and PAL DVDs? I don't want to drop in a NTSC DVD on day one, and then be locked out of playing all my PAL DVDs. I have a Sony CRT HD TV (yes, Sony made a few CRT HD TVs and I love them). I will be using the HDMI connector if that maters. I need to play all my DVDs both PAL and NTSC....

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

jack

[jman98]

If you can unlock the player, it will stay unlocked and it will play NTSC and PAL DVDs forever. But your real question is can you unlock it or not? Philips has been known to make hardware changes during production and some unlock codes don't work due to this. If you buy one, you need to be able to take it back if you can't unlock it. These days in the USA and Canada, the only DVD players that you are absolutely assured of being able to unlock are Oppo players. A few years Philips just about didn't make anything that couldn't be unlocked but these days we get posts from distraught purchasers who are desperate for new unlock codes because the ones known for their Philips player no longer work. Caveat emptor.

By the way, you can't lock a player by playing a DVD on it. The player is either locked or unlocked independent of what you play on it, so your fear is unfounded if you are able to unlock the player.

[mraroid]

jman98.....

Thank you for your post. I knew that one could find a hack to make many DVD players code free. But I did not know if that also would let me play PAL as well as NTSC DVDs. I am happy to hear you say that when a DVD player is unlocked, it also means that it also unlocks the PAL/NTSC as well. I guess if I would have thought about it harder I would have figured it out.

On this web suite, I have seen good reports for this model. It appears that of Nov of this year, folks are ae finding a hack that works:

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic358689.html#1904082

So I think I am going to try it unless I can come up with another reason not to. But I am open to more suggestions....

Thanks for your good feedback

mraroid

[jman98]

Unlocking a DVD player has nothing to do with playing NTSC and PAL discs. The player should already be able to do that anyway. Most DVD players are actually capable of playing both NTSC and PAL but region codes may prevent playback of DVDs outside of your region until the player is unlocked. As far as I know all Philips DVD players are capable of playing both PAL and NTSC DVDs.
If you could get hold of a region free PAL DVD, it probably would play fine on this player.

[jagabo]

The 5990 will convert PAL to NTSC so you can watch on a normal NTSC TV. The region free hack (via a few button presses on the remote control) posted in the hacks section here worked on my 5990 which was purchased in the USA from Walmart a few months ago.

https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/philips-dvp-5990/9370

[pisko]

Unlocking a DVD player has nothing to do with playing NTSC and PAL discs. The player should already be able to do that anyway. Most DVD players are actually capable of playing both NTSC and PAL but region codes may prevent playback of DVDs outside of your region until the player is unlocked. As far as I know all Philips DVD players are capable of playing both PAL and NTSC DVDs.
If you could get hold of a region free PAL DVD, it probably would play fine on this player.

i've to agree here with jman.

as far as i know, the problem is the DVD, not the dvd player.

[hech54]

The player should already be able to do that anyway. Most DVD players are actually capable of playing both NTSC and PAL but region codes may prevent playback of DVDs outside of your region until the player is unlocked.

Terribly, terribly terribly deceiving statement AGAIN.
All of that doesn't mean SQUAT if your television only
accepts an NTSC signal.

i've to agree here with jman.
as far as i know, the problem is the DVD, not the dvd player.

In Europe yes....European television are designed to accept both PAL and NTSC.

[jagabo]

In the USA many DVD players will not play PAL discs. Some will play PAL discs but output PAL video which will not display on most TVs sold in the USA. Some will play PAL discs and output an NTSC signal but the image will be messed up.

[jman98]

You gotta love hech54. If given a choice between being an ass and not being an ass, he always picks the former if I'm involved.

Anyway, I was simplifying to avoid overburdening the original poster. Yes, if your TV only accepts NTSC input and your DVD player cannot convert PAL to NTSC, then you will have playback issues with PAL DVDs regardless of the whole region coding thing, no doubt. But since I actually have bought more than one Philips DVD player, I know how they work and Philips players can set their video output to NTSC only, so the original poster won't have this issue.

[jagabo]

By the way, on my 5990 there is a "TV Type" option on the video setup menu. I can't select it because I'm using HDMI, not the analog outputs. I think that is where you would select NTSC, PAL, or Auto (switches depending on DVD) output.

[mraroid]

Thanks everyone for the details. I have ordered this player (Amazon seemed to have the best price and free shipping). I had hoped that I could play my PAL DVDs via the HDMI connector. But if that can not happen, I am OK with that. Just as long as I can view them in somewhat good quality.

I wonder if I could stream a PAL DVD from the S connector in this DVD player into my DV camcorder, and stream, via firewire into my Mac and into iMovie. Then burn a NTSC DVD. Then I could drop the NTSC DVD into this player and have it up convert to 1080.... Hummm. Well, just a thought...

I suppose that if I can get the unit to move to code free (via entering the data with the remote), I might just sit out software updates until I find that others can still view region free.

Sorry to appear so dumb. I have not dealt with PAL playback here in the US so I am not up to speed.

Thanks everyone for the help.

mraroid

[jagabo]

I wonder if I could stream a PAL DVD from the S connector in this DVD player into my DV camcorder, and stream, via firewire into my Mac and into iMovie. Then burn a NTSC DVD. Then I could drop the NTSC DVD into this player and have it up convert to 1080

Why would you want to do that? The player can play and upscale the PAL DVD directly.

[mraroid]

I wonder if I could stream a PAL DVD from the S connector in this DVD player into my DV camcorder, and stream, via firewire into my Mac and into iMovie. Then burn a NTSC DVD. Then I could drop the NTSC DVD into this player and have it up convert to 1080

Why would you want to do that? The player can play and upscale the PAL DVD directly.

Because some report that playing a PAL DVD in this player will not play out the HDMI output and thus not up convert. If the player *will* send PAL data out the HDMI cable and up convert, I would be a happy camper.

On another unrelated note....

I have a rather large collection of laser discs. I am trying to find some way to up convert them to 1080. I have not found a solution yet.

mradroid

[jagabo]

some report that playing a PAL DVD in this player will not play out the HDMI output and thus not up convert.

It works for me. PAL DVD -> HDMI 1080p -> HDTV.

I have a rather large collection of laser discs. I am trying to find some way to up convert them to 1080. I have not found a solution yet.

Your HDTV will probably do as good a job as anything else. LD -> composite -> HDTV. The signal stored on the laserdisc is composite. So you are not losing anything by using a composite cable. All HDTVs upscale SD video to their native resolution for display. The real question is whether the TV or some other process will do a better job.

[mraroid]

It works for me. PAL DVD -> HDMI 1080p -> HDTV.

Great! Good to know!

Your HDTV will probably do as good a job as anything else. LD -> composite -> HDTV. The signal stored on the laserdisc is composite. So you are not losing anything by using a composite cable. All HDTVs upscale SD video to their native resolution for display. The real question is whether the TV or some other process will do a better job.

Oh, OK. Got it. I am viewing my LDs on my HDTV now via a composit connector. I was thinking of looking for a used LD player with S-Video out to see if that would be any better.

I am a little confused. You are not saying that HD TVs will up convert true composite (from a LD) to 1080 are you?

Many thanks

mraroid

[jagabo]

You are not saying that HD TVs will up convert true composite (from a LD) to 1080 are you?

Yes, they will. A 1920x1080 LCD or plasma display can only display at 1920x1080. Any lower resolution source has to be upscaled to match the display.

A 1080p HDTV will take the incoming composite/s-video signal, digitize it to ~720x480, upscale to ~1440x1080, add pillarbox bars to make 1920x1080, then display the 1920x1080 frame. Otherwise you would see a little 720x480 image (640x480, correcting for the 4:3 aspect ratio) in the center of the screen.

[mraroid]

You are not saying that HD TVs will up convert true composite (from a LD) to 1080 are you?

Yes, they will. A 1920x1080 LCD or plasma display can only display at 1920x1080. Any lower resolution source has to be upscaled to match the display.

A 1080p HDTV will take the incoming composite/s-video signal, digitize it to ~720x480, upscale to ~1440x1080, add pillarbox bars to make 1920x1080, then display the 1920x1080 frame. Otherwise you would see a little 720x480 image (640x480, correcting for the 4:3 aspect ratio) in the center of the screen.

COOL!!!! I will look in my manual, but I do have a CRT based Sony HDTV. It will do 1080, but I can't remember if it is 1080i or 1080p. I will look it up in my mnaual.

mraroid

[jagabo]

Since you were talking about 1080p I assumed you were talking about LCD or plasma. I don't think there are any 1080p CRT based HDTVs.

CRTs are a little different. They don't have a "native resolution" like LCD and plasma. I believe most of them upscale standard definition by doubling the scan rate. Effectively converting 720x480i to 1440x960i.

[duckysan1]

From expereice I've found most LG players play NTSC/PAL. In R2 areas, NTSC discs are output as NTSC because most EU displays are built to handle NTSC as well as native PAL.
Here in North America it's a little different. Most displays will not handle a PAL signal.
The LG 'Home Theatre' I have will convert PAL to NTSC and output via HDMI at my selected 1080p resolution.
However, be aware that to convert NTSC's 30fps to PAL's 25fps means picture quality will not be as good as playing on a native PAL display.
However, for me an accepable solution to play R2 PAL