VCDQuality Forums (http://www.vcdhq.com/forum/index.php)
- Jargon, Encoding/Conversion and Burning (http://www.vcdhq.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=9)
-- Playing PAL discs in US/Canada (http://www.vcdhq.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=62641)

Playing PAL discs in US/Canada

I've heard that many cheap new players (Cyberhome, Apex, Mintek) sold in the US will do on-the-fly PAL -> NTSC conversion. I'm curious as to exactly how this conversion is done. (I'm in PAL-land so I have no idea.)

Does the player output an NTSC-50 signal, and your TVs switch to a 625/50 display mode?

Or is the resolution reduced (by vertical scaling or by cropping off the top and bottom?) and the TV remains in 525/60 mode? And if it does, what about the framerate? Is 25fps reduced to 23.976 by means of 3:2 pulldown and slowing down the audio by 4%, or is the speed kept the same and the framerate made up to 29.97fps by inserting additional frames (giving jerky playback)?

Well, some people have complained of black and white/rolling pictures so I guess the DVD player kicks out a pure PAL signal and leaves the TV to deal with it... Much like NTSC playback over here in good ol' Blighty

__________________
Statistically... 9 out of 10 people actually enjoy gang rape.

hope i'm not getting over my head here , but i think the only problem with the pal - ntsc is not playing the disks most players will play both, i think the problem is the players and tvs made for the us will not work in the uk and the other way around the players and tv's from the uk won't work in the us. as i understand it current in the uk is 220 volts and 50 HZ.or 50 rpm.per second of the big generators . and in the us it is 120 volts and 60 HZ or 60 reves per second of the generators. making the electronics inside not be " tuned" to work, the whole pal thing was a german invention adapted by most of europe with britain accepting it at a later date don't know where the us 60HZ 120 volts thing started but it has always been that way here in the us. some other countrys use it like japan an saudia arabia.read this whole thing with a google search along time ago for "pal vs ntsc" i may not remember it right , but i think that was the way it went. anyhow i'm in the us and 99% of my stuff i get from the uk. it all works for me, standalone ,etc.

__________________
The Brits can dish it out but they sure as hell can't take it.
something they just can't do, sort of like brushing their teeth.
The few crooked ones they have that is.
good by you pricks.

Pretty much any TV bought in Europe in the last 5-10 years can cope with a NTSC signal though, I'm suprised US ones aren't the same - maybe you have a shit TV?

P.S. NTSC has a faster refresh at 60hz but the vertical resolution of PAL is higher.

__________________
Statistically... 9 out of 10 people actually enjoy gang rape.