Hi guys, I have heard an opinion that has surprised me. The guy who has said it is an expert in video editing, DVD ripping, etc., and this is why I take his opinion seriously. I would like to hear from you guys to prove or correct his point. His point is: [bold]Every DVD player is able to play VCDs recorded in both NTSC and PAL video standards.[/bold] He means the following. Imagine you have bought a DVD player designed for your region (say, North America, or Europe), and you have connected its video output to a TV set designed for your region too (so this TV set plays NTSC only, if the region is North America, or PAL only, if the region is Europe). Then, he says, you put a VCD recorded with a video standard different from your region's standard into that player (it means PAL VCD in North America, or NTSC VCD in Europe). What this guy states, the VCD will play correctly on your TV set, because [bold]every[/bold] DVD player is able to do it for you this way. I can hardly believe, and I am asking response from everyone who has failed at least once trying to play PAL VCD with use of an NTSC DVD player correctly connected to an NTSC TV set, or the same with NTSC VCD, PAL DVD player and PAL TV set. Please share your opinion here. I think this guy is wrong, but I need to hear from people who have actually tried and failed. Thank you.
It's true that a lot of DVD players will do this, but not all of them. Also, not all NTSC TVs will play PAL correctly. A lot of them will give you a black and white picture. Both of mine are like that.
Hi Guys, In E.M.E.A. (Europe, Middle East, Asia) markets, most, if not all DVD players sold nowadays are Multi-Voltage (115 volts to 240 volts), Multi-Standard (PAL and NTSC, with auto conversion), Multi-Region (a simple code switches region or even disables it completely) and Multi-Format (VCD, SVCD, Audio, Photo-CD etc. etc.) This means with a PAL TV and a PAL (nominally) DVD Player, putting ANY NTSC disk in (VCD, SVCD or DVD) will result in a good picture (the player electronics take care of the timing & colour conversion automatically). It also means if someone in an NTSC area uses one of these players, it will work for them too.. Just one of the benefits of a global marketplace. Byeeee...
The way that the statement made is wrong is that the individual uses the word "Any" when referring to DVD players. What he should use are words such as "A Lot" or "Some" or "A Good Number" or something like that. It is true that there are many multi-region, multi-standard DVD players out there but it is also true that there are many DVD players that play only PAL or only NTSC on their respective region tv sets. After having moved between the UK and US often, I should know. Even watching DVD's on my laptop, I have had to install region-killer softwares to be able to watch mutli-region DVD's. The statement "A lot of DVD players plays both PAL and NTSC VCD's" is the correct statement in this case.
I agree that the statement should be a lot, but it's not a region issue (at least for VCD). Region codes are just copy protection for DVDs, and while you can tell whether a disc is PAL or NTSC based on Region Code, they're not the same thing. For example, Japan and the US both use NTSC, but they're not in the same region. The big issue is viewing any PAL content, regardless of region, on most NTSC TVs. Even if you have a player that is region free and is PAL compatible, most NTSC TVs won't display a PAL signal properly, but I'm pretty sure that most PAL TVs are fine with NTSC signals.
Thank you gursha, There is no region code (and no region limitation) in VCD. That guy meant different thing. I agree with you rather than with that guy, but I would appreciate if you tell about exact models of DVD players that are known to you to be not playing either PAL or NTSC correctly, rather than about your laptop or region codes, because the latter will not persuade that guy. Once again, we mean the following: 1) PAL VCD in NTSC player connected to NTSC TV and 2) NTSC VCD in PAL player connected to PAL TV. The point is to name at least one model of player that did not manage to play fine in any of these two situations, provided that the user was able to ensure that the settings were not wrong. Hope to hear from you gursha, and thanks again.
Hi people, Notice it's been a while since the last post on this topic but i read today in the Sharp dv-nc70 dvd/vcr combo manual that it will play ntsc vcd's but not convert them to pal (australian model). So i assume it would be the other way around for you guys in the US. This had me pulling out hair for a while as i have had no luck with creating vcd's from mpegs', the vcds would play but the picture was in black and white, off centre (1/3 of the screen on the right was blank) and they would garble when you did a fast forward and not recover when u resumed normal playback speed. So regarding the origional thread "His point is: Every DVD player is able to play VCDs recorded in both NTSC and PAL video standards." Does not hold true in this case unless my problem lies elsewhere. I have to figure out how to convert the mpegs' to pal i'm assuming . Ne1 here able to advise of a program that would be able to do this for me? Cheers rare1
Hi [bold]rare1[/bold], The program that would solve your problem in the easiest way is Nero 6 Ultra. It has a few minor bugs that appear when you try custom settings (I mean it does not always follow what you enter as your choice of a custom bitrate), but while you choose from a list of pre-set modes, that is reach enough, you have no trouble. There are other programs, some of them are more advanced, but using them is much more troublesome. You prefer those programs if you enjoy sophisticated solutions as a technical enthusiast. You prefer Nero 6 Ultra if you just want to obtain a result that will satisfy you, and you do not want to make this occupation a business of your whole life.
