NTSC VHS conversion to PAL DVD where can I buy a combo player

[Wizard81]

Hi guys I was wondering if someone could help me with this problem.
A few years back I bought two video tapes in the US. However back home I found out that NTSC format won't work because over here we have the PAL format.

So I was looking around and I would like to buy a DVD / VHS combo which should play my ntsc tape on my PAL television and at the same time I would like to be able to convert the tape to dvd. (So the player should have record option).

Unfortunately for me I am a total noob when it comes to NTSC format.
So if someone knows where I could find a player that plays: NTSC , PAL, VHS and DVDs.
Ore mabey could supply me with the info I need in order to convert my tape I would appreciate the help.

Reason for all the trouble is because of legel issues the video has never been released onto dvd ore PAL format.
So NTSC is my only option to have the video but yeah I would still like to watch it sometime and not just let it go to waist in my closet.
Thanks any tips.

[jman98]

You mean "waste" not "waist".

I'm really surprised by your problems. A good number of VCRs and TVs sold in Europe can support NTSC playback via one method or another. DVD recorders are vanishing in North America so some European will have to comment on some kind of VCR/DVD recorder combo you could buy. You may have issues though for many reasons. If the tape has Macrovision on it, you may find that no DVD recorder will record it. Assuming you can record it, you may find that the tape can't be converted to PAL in the combo player and/or that the recorder can only record PAL inputs. Honestly, it might be easier AND cheaper to just find a good video shop and pay them to do the work for you.

[2Bdecided]

Easy enough to watch it - plenty of PAL VCRs will play an NTSC tape in pseudo PAL (PAL60 - 525-line 60Hz 4.43MHz PAL chroma) which plenty of PAL TVs will display.

But capturing it will be a real pain, because most capture devices want real PAL (625-line 50Hz 4.43 PAL chroma) or real NTSC (525-line 60Hz 3.58MHz NTSC chroma). There's a thread about the few machines that can do this somewhere.

But I agree with jman98 - for two tapes, pay someone else to do the job. Plenty of pro conversion houses can do this in their sleep.

FWIW I'd have it put onto an "NTSC" DVD. Most European DVD players will convert PAL<>NTSC, and all modern European TVs will display an "NTSC" DVD without conversion through HDMI or RGB SCART. Whereas having it put onto a PAL DVD will force a format conversion that will reduce the quality.

Cheers,
David.

[DB83]

You need to search out a combi that supports 'PAL60' recording. They do (or should I say DID) exist. Methinks Phillips made them so being in the Netherlands you may have a better chance of sourcing one than most of us will.

[hech54]

Watching an NTSC tape in Europe is pretty easy with a standard European VCR....recording the signal is virtually impossible.

[Wizard81]

Well I think I could live with just watching the orginal tape (its not like I want copies of it).
Back in the day I bought like three VCR all saying the supported NTSC playback however the signal plays to fast.
So a standard European VCR does not play NTSC.
Of course it could be a issue with my television and some people said to me that I should buy a small converter to put between the VCR and my TV.

But thats just the problem I don't mind spending money, but I want to be sure that I don't start buying stuff and end up with crap.
I like the option to bring my vhs to a pro conversion house however again not sure which ones are good.
Googled a few a while back but some people have really bad feedback on some of them.

So I am going to look for a PAL60 Combo when I find a few i am going to post the links here.
And I hope some of u could give me some advice about the device because alot electronics have tons of specs yet I have no clue what I should look at.

[orsetto]

How old is your television? That would seem to be the key question. My friends in Finland and Europe tell me any television they've bought since 1999 supports pseudo-PAL60 playback from newer VCRs. If yours is a CRT television dating back past 2000, you might need a converter box between VCR and TV. These converters can be expensive, and the quality varies considerably. You may want to just file the tapes away and postpone viewing them until you need to buy a new modern television that would be more compatible.

Any "combo" you buy today, certainly from Philips, will do pseudo-PAL60 playback of NTSC: you don't really have to "look for" any particular specs (just the PAL60 feature). As others have said, making a DVD copy is another issue. No combo decks will convert NTSC VHS to PAL DVD, but if you can find a multi-region deck (or hack), you can probably make an NTSC DVD from the NTSC VHS. DVDs are easier to work with, since the players offer flexible digital outputs unavailable to VCRs.

[DB83]

Your comment 'So a standard European VCR does not play NTSC' makes no sense whatsover. I have had many VCRs over the years and ALL of them, yes ALL of them, have played NTSC tapes.

Some really old tvs could have some vertical hold issues with NTSC playback on PAL equipment but that should be the only issue. But read on.

May I ask what is special abou these VHS. Most VHS have been made available as PAL and most are also available on DVD so it would be much cheaper to source out either PAL versions or DVDs than get some hardware. It has already been stated that with only two tapes the hardware route is not cost-efficient.

But there could be other issues with the tapes which only come apparent when trying to transter them to other media. They could be copy-protected - all Disney tapes are - and no copy house will touch these. No VHS/DVD combo, even one that records PAL60, will handle these. So that means even more expensive hardware.

[2Bdecided]

Well I think I could live with just watching the orginal tape (its not like I want copies of it).
Back in the day I bought like three VCR all saying the supported NTSC playback however the signal plays to fast.

The things that can go wrong are:
1) TV won't display colour
2) TV won't display 60Hz, so the picture rolls
3) TV won't display 525-lines, so the picture is small

None of these makes it "play too fast".

So either your VCR can't play NTSC, or your tape isn't actually NTSC, or (most likely) your tape is EP and your VCR won't do EP (or LP and it won't do LP). It's very strange for a commercial tape to be anything but SP though.

Cheers,
David.

[Wizard81]

The back of the videos that I bought in Amerika say Recorded in the LP mode.
As for my tv its not a old one, its a Samsung LCD 5 Series made in 2010.

Reason why the videos are special to me is because some of them include very old video segments some exclusive to Amerika.
And sins the are not released onto dvd its the only option to watch them again.
Ore I could buy a ticket to the US and a watch it there. (Not a option at the moment.)

The only real thing I need to have is just a VCR that plays LP NTSC videos.
It would of course be fun If I could just watch any NTSC tape.
But yeah again total noob when It comes to the formats to be honest its first time I noticed that the back says LP.

[orsetto]

LP? Yuck! That's probably your answer.

LP has been a dead NTSC standard for over twenty years: the fact that a few cheapskate idiot "bargain studios" continued to sell commercial tapes in LP is disgusting. Even in America, finding a VCR that plays LP tapes reasonably well is difficult. Trying to play them in a PAL country can be worse. The "speed up" you reported may have been because your VCR didn't know what to do with NTSC LP, so it played it at the faster SP speed (resulting in bad picture and fast audio). I've seen this happen with a friend's PAL Sony vcr a couple times.

So you have a dilemma, which will cost money to solve unless you have a friend who is VERY technical-minded to help you. If you know what to look for, you might be able to find a PAL combo VCR that is "friendly" to NTSC LP tapes. Unfortunately this is not the kind of info that shows up in mfr specs: you would have to either test the machines with your tapes, or get a recommendation from someone who knows for sure. Perhaps you could find a service that has an imported NTSC-only combo? This would let them make a direct NTSC dvd from NTSC vhs easily and cheaply.

If this proves too difficult or expensive, the simplest alternative would be to mail the tapes to a friend in USA/Canada and ask them to transfer the tapes to NTSC dvd for you. If they don't have the hardware to do it themselves, they can bring it to a shop (it shouldn't be very expensive.)