Mister D: Okay guys one of you are coming over if I can’t see my DVD. I’m blonde and cofused….not attractive qualities when mixed together….sorry ladies and germs for the tech talk, but it may come in handy when Diva Las Vegas comes out. Roger and out…that’s about as techno as I get! 🙂
Hello there Divine Mr. D.,
Well, I guess I’m a bit egocentric because I tend to think that everyone out there has what I have. Yes, Steve is right. I used to sell high definition televisions and was a DVD buyer for domestic and import titles about 10 years ago. So, it seems like I’ve always had a multi-region codefree player that does everything.
However, there are quite a few players out there that will convert PAL to NTSC without difficulty. The DVD player I own is the OPPO DV-981HD and I love it! It can play all regions, upconvert to to 1080p (progressive) and will play PAL (@50hz) as well as NTSC (@60hz). I called a few manufacturers and electronics companies to get the scoop on this issue, and I’m finding that the following manufacturers sell players (perhaps not all, but some) that will play NTSC as well as PAL: Apex, Coby (you can buy the Coby player for as low as $25), Cyberhome, Cambridge, Denon, Liteon, LG, Pioneer, Oppo, Panasonic, Toshiba, Yamaha, and Marantz. I was told that all Blu-Ray players will play NTSC and PAL, which adds Sony and Samsung to the high-end fold. Stores that sell NTSC/PAL DVD players include Wal-Mart and Target.
Odds are good that if you have an older DVD player or one that was purchased for an older analog television (non-digital or hi-def) you will probably not have the PAL compatability. However, if you have a hi-def or digital television, odds are good if you purchased your DVD player at the same time it might accept PAL. The two manufacturers that are the worst for not converting NTSC to PAL (and they’re pretty big!) are Sony and JVC, although I know of a portable Sony that does both. A quick way to find out if your current player will accept PAL is to cycle through the video output modes (or check your manual), and see if you have modes for either 576p (576 lines of resolution, p is for progressive) or 50Hz. If you do, your player will accept PAL–or your manual might just say whether it accepts NTSC only and/or PAL. The NTSC standard is 480 lines of resolution @ 60Hz, and most players upconvert from there to either 720 or 1080 lines of resolution.
–Ron
Hi Don,
I was reading your post about the DVD of Diva Las Vegas. I actually bought it a few years ago and used a hack for my DVD player. Here is a pretty good site for that: http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks. I just set my player to Region 0 and it played just fine. Hope this information helps. As always, thanks for such a great site.
Joseph