DVD players that play PAL & NTSC - do you need a PAL television?

[ibzomie]

The DVD players available in the USA that play PAL & NTSC - do they convert the PAL video to NTSC for American TVs, or must one have a PAL TV set to use with the player?

[Moontrash]

they convert the video for you...no PAL tv required

[jman98]

The vast majority that support both PAL and NTSC can output both formats too, but I have heard of a very small number of players that cannot convert and can only display PAL input as PAL output and NTSC input as NTSC output.

[turk690]

A combination of what plays what on what is a minefield. If a DVD player plays PAL DVDs, you'd have to consider whether it outputs it as genuine PAL (PAL 50i), or as genuine NTSC (NTSC 59.94i, never seen this), or as some sort of non-spec hybrid, like NTSC 50i, and whether or not there are settings in the player menu that allow you to deliberately choose this or not. In places outside of North America where I have been to, DVD players play PAL and NTSC DVDs and output genuine PAL and NTSC and the corresponding TVs there also accept anything you throw at them without missing a beat. All that is a given.
In North America, though, at most, DVD players will output NTSC 50i if fed a PAL DVD (all-region, of course, or a home-made PAL DVD). You would then need a TV that accepts and displays 50i correctly. But a lot of TVs here have been horribly crippled such that they flat out refuse to display anything that smacks of 25 or 50. These TVs have no documentation on the matter, but some have been known to do accept 25 and 50 and display them properly, as most Sony LCD TVs do. On the other hand Samsung TVs for sale and use in North America resolutely refuse to play anything that isn't 59.94i, 29.97, 30, 60, or 23.976. If PAL compatibility is important to you, you have to find this for yourself. This is why I have an old cheap PAL DV camcorder that I tote along when called to TV-buying duty here in Canada. In an instant, I know what TV does or doesn't.

[victoriabears]

The Pioneer range , eg: 420 V do the best job I have seen, and will play region free pal dvd's on a NTSC TV, if you want to learn how to apply the hack, then here it is.

http://www.pioneerfaq.info/english/dv420.php?player=DV-420V&question=Firmwares

or buy one already done:-

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Pioneer-DV-420-DVD-Player-CODE-FREE-MULTIZONE-149-/23045900934...item35a86d6940



http://www.220-electronics.com/dvd/pioneer400.htm

or the good old philips

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Philips-DVP5990-Upconverting-HDMI-DVD-Player-Refu...tml?rcmndsrc=2

which is dead easy to make region free using the remote


https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/philips-dvp5990/9370

[John James]

I have a Pana DVD combo recorder as this can upscale a signal to the TV on resolution of 1080p and no need on color system. Well, it is also multi-zoned and in America is there a machine to upscale like that?

[jman98]

I have a Pana DVD combo recorder as this can upscale a signal to the TV on resolution of 1080p and no need on color system. Well, it is also multi-zoned and in America is there a machine to upscale like that?

See the post by victoriabears for some American models that are region free. I'm not sure that any DVD recorders can be made region free as we have very very few of those left. In general North Americans have no interest in archiving TV shows and prefer DVR devices like Tivo. Oppo and Momitsu make BluRay players that others have hardware hacked to be region free for DVD and BluRay playback. Both upscale.

Upscaling is overrated as a DVD player option. The cheaper models may actually be inferior to what a good HDTV can do on its own.

[John James]

See the post by victoriabears for some American models that are region free. I'm not sure that any DVD recorders can be made region free as we have very very few of those left. Upscaling is overrated as a DVD player option. The cheaper models may actually be inferior to what a good HDTV can do on its own.

I am not replying in this thread on anything else, just on ways on playing a PAL recorded DVD on an NTSC TV without having to worry about it and upscaling is a way to do it.

To do that, if someone can view it that way as there is no need to worry on PAL or NTSC as color system doesn't apply. Well, this is if the player or recorder is multi-zoned, PAL disc to read and on having the capability of a HDMI upscaled signal for the TV.

Personally, there is no need for me to worry on PAL, on NTSC or on regions either.

BTW, I know you do have the option to convert anything out to be NTSC on the TV.

[turk690]

See the post by victoriabears for some American models that are region free. I'm not sure that any DVD recorders can be made region free as we have very very few of those left. Upscaling is overrated as a DVD player option. The cheaper models may actually be inferior to what a good HDTV can do on its own.

I am not replying in this thread on anything else, just on ways on playing a PAL recorded DVD on an NTSC TV without having to worry about it and upscaling is a way to do it.

To do that, if someone can view it that way as there is no need to worry on PAL or NTSC as color system doesn't apply. Well, this is if the player or recorder is multi-zoned, PAL disc to read and on having the capability of a HDMI upscaled signal for the TV.

Personally, there is no need for me to worry on PAL, on NTSC or on regions either.

BTW, I know you do have the option to convert anything out to be NTSC on the TV.

With rare exceptions, typical DVD players that upscale to 1080i/p via HDMI (and, after the fact, blu-ray players as well) bought in the high street in North America flat out refuse to play any DVD or BD that is 25p or 50i. No analogue video will appear on the composite or component outs, and no upscaled signal will appear out of the HDMI if a 25p/50i disc is inserted. I have lived in other parts of the world where players do all systems and framerates and TVs accept them all without a hitch. I grew on the assumption all these were a given, but now I'm in North America, I see firsthand how it is frustratingly NOT. There will always be that one DVD or BD player here that will accept 25p/50i discs and the corresponding TVs to display them properly with, but they are NEVER documented, and it is up to the buyer to find out.

[John James]

With rare exceptions, typical DVD players that upscale to 1080i/p via HDMI (and, after the fact, blu-ray players as well) bought in the high street in North America flat out refuse to play any DVD or BD that is 25p or 50i. No analogue video will appear on the composite or component outs, and no upscaled signal will appear out of the HDMI if a 25p/50i disc is inserted. I have lived in other parts of the world where players do all systems and framerates and TVs accept them all without a hitch. I grew on the assumption all these were a given, but now I'm in North America, I see firsthand how it is frustratingly NOT. There will always be that one DVD or BD player here that will accept 25p/50i discs and the corresponding TVs to display them properly with, but they are NEVER documented, and it is up to the buyer to find out.

Well, I have heard of these two brands can play foreign DVDs and to upscale as they're "Oppo and Momitsu" as only these two in your country. I am sure you're right, a PAL compatible player is very hard to get in the US and in Canada.

Well, I do have an American Blu-ray machine that only accept NTSC DVDs and to refuse to read anything of PAL. It won't even upscale on that one as it seems to to be stuck on a resolution of 480p only.

In Australia, we have TVs that are multi-system, to accept a signal of either PAL or NTSC and for me to play any DVD, any Blu-ray disc from any country without a problem.

I know in North America it is hard to get anything to play PAL DVDs and a Blu-ray machine is one way as this is to import region free Blu-ray discs from the UK as there is a way to do it.

BTW, I believe there are more region free stuff on Region 'B' to that of Region 'A' in your country.

This is why I have an old cheap PAL DV camcorder that I tote along when called to TV-buying duty here in Canada. In an instant, I know what TV does or doesn't.

I have been in the US a number of times and at one time have managed in New York to buy a multi-system VHS player and to connect on an NTSC TV to play PAL video tapes and it worked.

Well, this was 20 years ago, long before the first DVD player release way back 1997. FYI, the VHS player was some kind of digital color converter from PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL on worldwide auto power.