Regional Dvds

I went into the HMV website and realised what a good deal some of the
boxed sets are, especially the Babylon 5 series (my son's favorite).
I'm going to England in six days and thought about picking some up if
they're available at the stores.

Only thing is they may not work in my Dvd player. We bought a new Dvd
player at Christmas. Does anyone know if you can tell from looking at
the dvd player if it's region-free?

Karen

In a message dated 4/8/05 6:26:53 PM, [hidden email] writes:


> Only thing is they may not work in my Dvd player. We bought a new Dvd
> player at Christmas. Does anyone know if you can tell from looking at
> the dvd player if it's region-free
>

Check your manual Karen. It should tell you what your player will accept. I
think most new players play region-free discs :0) Amy


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

raribear wrote:

I went into the HMV website and realised what a good deal some of the
boxed sets are, especially the Babylon 5 series (my son's favorite).
I'm going to England in six days and thought about picking some up if
they're available at the stores.

Only thing is they may not work in my Dvd player. We bought a new Dvd
player at Christmas. Does anyone know if you can tell from looking at
the dvd player if it's region-free?

Karen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In addition to your DVD player needing to be region-free, it would have to be able to convert the video from the PAL format used in England to the NTSC format used here in the U.S.
My memory not being what it once was, I don't recall where you are from.

Jeff


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> Check your manual Karen. It should tell you what your player will accept.
> I think most new players play region-free discs :0) Amy

Yes, but that's not the issue, is it? It sounds like
she's trying to play a disc from a different region
than she's in.

In the USA, you have to go out of your way to buy
a player that will do that. Especially if you need
to convert the signal from PAL to NTSC.

Marc

Amy wrote:

In a message dated 4/8/05 6:26:53 PM, [hidden email] writes:


>> Only thing is they may not work in my Dvd player. We bought a new Dvd
>> player at Christmas. Does anyone know if you can tell from looking at
>> the dvd player if it's region-free
>>

>Check your manual Karen. It should tell you what your player will
>accept. I
>think most new players play region-free discs :0) Amy

Let me know the exact brand and model number of your DVD player, and I will check if it converts PAL to NTSC. Unfortunately, I can't check if it is region-free.

Jeff




You can pick your nose, and you can pick your friends. But you can't wipe your friends on the couch...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> In addition to your DVD player needing to be region-free, it would
have to be able to convert the video from the PAL format used in
England to the NTSC format used here in the U.S.
> My memory not being what it once was, I don't recall where you are
from.
>
> Jeff
I didn't realise that it would have to convert from PAL to NTSC. I
thought that region-free was the same thing so thanks for pointing
that out.

I couldn't find the manual (big surprise there) and I couldn't pull
it out because it's wired into the stereo cabinet but my husband says
that there's not a chance it could convert because we only paid about
a hundred bucks for it.

Oh well it was a good thought while it lasted. I could have saved
about $30 a set for the Babylon sets.

Karen

raribear wrote:

I didn't realise that it would have to convert from PAL to NTSC. I
thought that region-free was the same thing so thanks for pointing
that out.

I couldn't find the manual (big surprise there) and I couldn't pull
it out because it's wired into the stereo cabinet but my husband says
that there's not a chance it could convert because we only paid about
a hundred bucks for it.

Oh well it was a good thought while it lasted. I could have saved
about $30 a set for the Babylon sets.

Karen
====================================================================

Your husband being the expert on DVD players? : ) There are probably at least 40 current model DVD players that convert PAL to NTSC. And half of them have an MSRP below $100US.

Jeff


You can pick your nose, and you can pick your friends. But you can't wipe your friends on the couch...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> ====================================================================
>
> Your husband being the expert on DVD players? : ) There are probably
at least 40 current model DVD players that convert PAL to NTSC. And
half of them have an MSRP below $100US.
>
> Jeff
>
Ooh, I adore you. I'll check tomorrow see if I can pull out the Dvd
player and see the model number. Depends on how long the cables run
back there. It's a panasonic and I live in Canada.

Karen

Jeff wrote:

Your husband being the expert on DVD players? : ) There are probably at least 40 current model DVD players that convert PAL to NTSC. And half of them have an MSRP below $100US.

Jeff

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. I MAY also be able to provide you a simple hack (using the remote) to make the player region-free.

Jeff




You can pick your nose, and you can pick your friends. But you can't wipe your friends on the couch...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> From what I know, there's no such thing as an NTSC-or-PAL DVD?!

Bzzzt! You fail DVD 101. :-(

There are PAL DVDs, and there are NTSC DVDs. They are an extra
complication above and beyond region coding. I own DVD's from
the USA, UK, Italy, France, Japan (all UFO, of course), and you
need to have the right player to play them. As has been pointed
out, some players have built-in converters, and some don't.
I have one of each, plus an external PAL-NTSC converter box.

> Several years ago, there was an uproar over a Chinese DVD-player maker,
> APEX, that decided to make a "Multizone" player that was "burned-in" with
> ALL the Region Codes, though, could only be set for _one_ Region Code at a
> time

Bzzzt! I have that Apex, and you can set it up to play any region
all the time.

> Hope this is helpful... if I got anything wrong, please post...

I'm sorry, but there is so much wrong with that post, that I think
everyone should just disregard it... (and I should have moderated
it away).

As they say... check the archives... we discussed this topic to
death... 5 years ago! ;-)

Marc

Sorry, for trying... odd to be "disregard[ed]" and potentially "moderated
[away]"... I'll just be a reader from now on... 8-/

Michael Blake

-----Original Message-----
From: Marc Martin [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2005 1:33 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [SHADO] Re: Regional Dvds

> From what I know, there's no such thing as an NTSC-or-PAL DVD?!

Bzzzt! You fail DVD 101. :-(

There are PAL DVDs, and there are NTSC DVDs. They are an extra
complication above and beyond region coding. I own DVD's from
the USA, UK, Italy, France, Japan (all UFO, of course), and you
need to have the right player to play them. As has been pointed
out, some players have built-in converters, and some don't.
I have one of each, plus an external PAL-NTSC converter box.

> Several years ago, there was an uproar over a Chinese DVD-player maker,
> APEX, that decided to make a "Multizone" player that was "burned-in" with
> ALL the Region Codes, though, could only be set for _one_ Region Code at a
> time

Bzzzt! I have that Apex, and you can set it up to play any region
all the time.

> Hope this is helpful... if I got anything wrong, please post...

I'm sorry, but there is so much wrong with that post, that I think
everyone should just disregard it... (and I should have moderated
it away).

As they say... check the archives... we discussed this topic to
death... 5 years ago! ;-)

Marc



Yahoo! Groups Links

--- In [hidden email], Jeffrey Nelson <1shado1@s...> wrote:
>
> raribear wrote:
>
> I went into the HMV website and realised what a good deal some of the
> boxed sets are, especially the Babylon 5 series (my son's favorite).
> I'm going to England in six days and thought about picking some up if
> they're available at the stores.

It worth bearing in mind a lot of the offers [read sale] on the HMV
website are not available in-store. I believe hidden away in the T&C
it states this.

In-store promotions do seem to be regionalised and not all store carry
all sale items

Just food for thought.


The Lunadude

> Sorry, for trying... odd to be "disregard[ed]" and potentially "moderated
> [away]"... I'll just be a reader from now on... 8-/

Sorry, but this particular topic is very confusing to folks even when being
explained by someone who knows everything there is to know about it.

And in the past, it has generated lengthy, boring, off-topic discussions
(usually with half the people getting it wrong), when it would probably
be more appropriate to direct them to a FAQ on the subject:

http://www.regionfreedvdplayers.com/codefreedvd/bigfaq.html
http://www.multilingualbooks.com/dvdformatfaq.html
http://www.world-import.com/info.htm

Therefore, your list moderator is probably a bit more touchy on this
subject than a normal person should be. :-/

Marc

On Sat, 9 Apr 2005 01:00:14 -0500
"Michael Blake" <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> NTSC and PAL refer to an analog broadcast signal format (like radios' AM or
> FM) and is INDEPENDENT of the DVD issue.

That's not correct. PAL DVDs have a slightly different aspect ratio, and are
intended to be played back at a different frame rate than NTSC DVDs.