Dumb question .. NTSC & PAL

[WorknMan]

As I understand it, PAL and NTSC are not compatable with each other. But, assuming you had a region free DVD player, what happens if you try to watch a PAL movie on an NTSC player and television? Could you fry your equipement that way ?

[ArcadeNut]

As I understand it, PAL and NTSC are not compatable with each other. But, assuming you had a region free DVD player, what happens if you try to watch a PAL movie on an NTSC player and television? Could you fry your equipement that way ?

Doubtful. The most that would probably happen is that your picture would rolll. NTSC = 60Hz, PAL = 50Hz. NTSC=512 Scan Lines, PAL=625 ( off the top of my head, might be a little different).

[Shane R. Monroe]

B&W picture, rolling. Seriously doubt you'll hurt anything.

Most region free DVD players tend to have PAL fixing. My favorite, the Philips 642 does the job VERY well. Regionless capability and PAL fixing.

[Flare]

All of this goes away with HDTV right? We'll all be using the same standard, no?

[Alyinsanfran]

Yep, Shane's right. B+W. Though I never saw rolling myself.

I got a very very cheap Cyberhome DVD recorder - US$110. Code hack for region-free.

It crapped out after a few months, but it still does a very good job of converting PAL input to NTSC, so it's worth it for that alone. A proper converter is way more expensive. It's not top-quality picture, but very adequate.

I run a spare PowerBook through it as a media player (region-free, natch).

You could get a multi-region TV. Tube models are getting harder to find. But a lot of LCD TV's now are multi-region, so you could look into that too.

[Darksol]

All of this goes away with HDTV right? We'll all be using the same standard, no?

Bahahahahahahaha, yeah right.

Check out these sites for more info on the different digital TV standards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance...tems_Committee

[Demolition Man]

B&W picture, rolling. Seriously doubt you'll hurt anything.

Most region free DVD players tend to have PAL fixing. My favorite, the Philips 642 does the job VERY well. Regionless capability and PAL fixing.

I just picked up the Philips DVP5960 for $70 which is the next version of the 642. Divx/xvid support is slightly improved along with upconverting to 1080i via HDMI (which works well with my HDMI to DVI cable). The only flaws is that it seems to revert the audio back to PCM everytime I turn it on plus it won't play DTS. Hopefully Philips will fix this via a firmware upgrade in the near future.

EDIT: Both problems are now fixed with the new firmware upgrade.

[Shane R. Monroe]

That sounds damn nice .. Maybe I'll get one. Maybe something is wrong with your unit?

[Darksol]

I don't think so. I think I have read about other people having the same issue as Demoman.

[Demolition Man]

Updated my minireview to reflect on the firmware update to the Philips HDMI player.