NTSC/PAL differences in DVD players?

[jyeung]

What will happen if I buy a DVD player from a PAL system country and use it in the US with a NTSC TV?

[agent_mulder81]

It wouldn't work, since the TV u'll be plugging it into in the states wouldn't be able to handle the different signal.... also it's likely that the electricity wouldn't be the same.

[bugster]

It wouldn't work, since the TV u'll be plugging it into in the states wouldn't be able to handle the different signal.... also it's likely that the electricity wouldn't be the same.

I agree that power supply might be an issue but assuming that problem can be solved wether it would work or not depends on may issues.

First off, most DVD players sold in PAL countries will play NTSC disks fine. When they play NTSC disks they output either NTSC signals or Pal-60. On some models this can even be selected via the setup menu. If it outputs NTSC, fine. If it outputs Pal-60 you may have problem. In this case you would need a multi-system tv capable of handling both PAL and NTSC. From what i hear, these are not too common in the US. Even where they do exist the fact is not always advertised by the manufacturer so check.

If you want to play PAL disks (region 2 - europe) then you will definatley need a PAL capable TV.

Having said all that there are a few players around that will convert between PAL and NTSC at the flick of a switch (or change of a setup option). Do some research and you might get lucky.

[tearex]

If you want to play PAL disks (region 2 - europe) then you will definatley need a PAL capable TV.

^

European players pretty much always have RGB capable SCART output. If your TV set has a RGB capable SCART input it is very likely that it will work just fine if you connect the two through SCART out and SCART in with a fully wired SCART cable. Same goes if your TV has another RGB type input and you can find a cable from the SCART output to the TV's RGB input. On TV sets without RGB inputs (RGB is NOT the same as composite, S-Video, or Component Video), if the player can play the PAL disk as NTSC-50 you will probably succeed but very few European players can do that.

[SingSing]

PAL players need to hook up to PAL enable TVs. There are rarely any PAL or multi-system TV sold in US.

It cost less to buy a multi-region NTSC DVD player to play both PAL and NTSC movie. I saw a post in this forum that a RCA model that will play all formats with correct aspect ratio.

There are Chinese, Japanese, and European made NTSC players that can play PAL and NTSC disc, but some of them may give you squish pictures when you are playing 16:9 format PAL DVD.