Done a lot of reading and searching, but I can't seem to get a 100% solid answer to a couple questions I have. Which DVD player will run both PAL and NTSC dvds? I've looked at the Philips DVP 642, which it seems will do it. Can anyone confirm this? The bulk of my DVD collection is NTSC, however, I do have a couple backed up PAL discs which do not play in my DVD player, it simply displays an error msg saying "Not NTSC". I don't suppose theres a way around this? In addition, once I have a DVD player which will support PAL and NTSC, is it true your TV must support both formats as well? Currently I've only played NTSC dvds on my dvd player / tv so I have no way of dispelling this myth. Any answers would be greatly appreciated guys. Cheers
The Cyberhome 300 DVD player is supposed to play both formats. I had bought one of those for my wife to use in the classroom because it was cheap. Had her bring it home to try on my Region 2 PAL DVD of Thunderball (old Bond flick). Would not play it. I bought the Region 2 disk on eBay because the US Region 1 disks are out of print and extremely priced. Never was able to play it on any stand alone player. PAL will not play on US NTSC sets in my experience. When I was stationed in Germany, I had a PAL/NTSC compatable Sony TV. It broke years ago. The two formats play at different FPS. Converting from one format to the other envolves adding or subtracting a few frames to get the frame counts in sync. The picture becomes jerky. This also plays havok with the sound over the length of a movie. The lips move and you get sound later (ie. when converting from PAL to NTSC). The delay increases over time. Part way into a movie you get all PO'd and stop the fool thing. You can watch a PAL movie on your computer if the disk is region free.
There are several variations of firmware in the Cyberhome 300. Some will play both NTSC and Pal right out of the box, some need to be hacked. There are many many dvd players that will do what you want. They are NOT from the major Japanese companies. Look for units 1: made in china 2: have auto-switching between 120V and 220V and work with both 60Hz and 50Hz 3: go to google and look for {dvd region hacks} to see if the model you have chosen is listed. The best site is British. 4: Or search google for your model to find reviews/comments which may tell you if it will work for you. But still check for the availability of hacks. Many of these models will have a built-in NTSC - PAL converter so it will play a PAL disk on a NTSC tv. I have 2 variations of the Cyberhome 300 - both have converters. One came fully functional out of the box, one had to be hacked. Other brands are GVG, Yamakawa, Aiwa (models made for Asia), Sampo, Apex (a few), many more. You can also google
You can also google {region free dvd players} and you will find many sites ready to sell you a region free dual format player. Also note: some models (e.g. GVG and others) let you hack and disable Macrovision. Good luck.
