I just bought an extra DVD player for one of the bedrooms and found out something rather unique about it... it is a PAL converting, all-region player.

If you want a DVD player that will play ALL DVDs, you can get a Toshiba SD-3900 for $94.99 at Best Buy. Insert your region 0 or region 1 PAL DVD and press play... it will work right off.

Insert a DVD that is anything other than region 0 or 1 and you will get a message saying that you have the wrong region... press MENU then press 1... the disc will play, but the message will stay up... press MARKER then CLEAR and the message will go away and it will play the foreign DVD without a problem.

http://www.toshiba.com/ta...D3900.html

hehehehehe

%95 of the DVD players in Israel are multi-system and multi-region, and some will even let you record from them.

Heavenly said:

They don't do that here... we have region 1 NTSC DVD players... we have to get around it in various ways.

Unless you have a multi-system T.V. It has to be region free and code free. I have a region free dvd player but my tv isn't multisystem. The playback is unwatchable even though it cam read the dvd. I need to make it code free also.

SuperC said:

so when they say "PAL converter"(as some do) it doesnt mean anything unless your set up is like that?

Most DVD players you'll buy nowadays are multi-region... or at least, it is very easy to find multi-region DVD players. Also most TVs here do both PAL and NTSC.

SuperC said:

This one actually converts PAL to NTSC, so it works on your television.

Oh that's pretty cool then, for the price. So you can play PAL encoded DVDs on an NTSC only TV? Of course, you'd be missing the higher quality of region 2 PAL DVDs but hey

ian said:

Yeah, it is really cool... it plays all regions and converts PAL to NTSC... and it is REALLY cheap. You can't lose!

StanleyApplebaum said:

WOWZA!

So you live in an NTSC country and you want to play a PAL DVD, what's one to do? Lets look at the possible solutions and the good and bad of each.

Solution Good Bad
Buy a NTSC / PAL TV - Allows native playback of both NTSC and PAL standards. Native playback of both signals. Expensive - Have to import it (high shipping + taxes). Power converter needed.
Buy a NTSC / PAL converter - Converts PAL to NTSC format, allowing for playback on NTSC TV (or vice versa) High quality conversion if you get a nice model. Expensive - nice models go for $200+ easily.
DVD decoder card - Many have PAL / NTSC conversion capability Inexpensive. Quality isn't as good as the other solutions, often producing MPEG artifacts on playback.


Also keep in mind that your VCR or laserdisc player has to be capable of NTSC AND PAL playback. Many VCRs and laserdisc players here in the US can only read NTSC, so the above solutions won't work. If the player can't play the PAL video you certainly can't expect to get it converter. However, you can generally find VCRs and laserdisc players on Ebay that are able to play both.

DVD is a little different. Most DVD players just outputs the signal in either PAL or NTSC - whatever the disc is. Then it just has to be converted. Of course, many PAL DVDs will be region locked for other countries so you'd need a region free player in order to play it. Many of these PAL horror DVDs end up being Region free (i.e. they aren't coded for any specific region, meaning it can be played anywhere). The whole 'Region free' topic is beyond the scope of this article, but we will be discussing it in more detail in a future article.

It's up to you to decide what solution to go with. Obviously some are better than others, but it boils down to how much money you want to pay. If you're willing to pay a lot, check around and make sure there are enough PAL DVDs out there that you want - that may help justify or not justify the high cost. Good luck!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: If I have a region free player can I play a PAL DVD on my NTSC TV?

A: Still needs to be converted. You just don't have to worry whether or not the disc is coded for a specific region or not.
Q: Which DVD decoders have PAL/NTSC conversion?

A: Sigma Designs' Hollywood Plus, Creative Labs DXR2 (DXR3 has it as well, but that's just an OEM'd Hollywood Plus).

Q: Who the hell wants a decoder card? Then you're stuck playing it on your computer's monitor.

A: Negative. Both the Hollywood Plus and DXR2/3 and S-Video/RCA output.

Q: Then I don't have a remote control, right?

A: Negative. Sigma Designs sells a remote control for use with the Hollywood Plus - a tiny receiver box has to be hooked into a free serial port on your computer. You can also use Visual Domain's software to use the remote control with the DXR2/3.

Q: Then I have to run a video and audio cables from my computer to my TV, right?

A: Yes, that's right.

Q: So I get a decoder card to use with my DVD-ROM and I'm all set?

A: You still have to worry about the whole "region free" issue. Some of the newer DVD-ROMs are region locked, meaning they can't be made to change region codes. If the PAL DVD isn't region locked there's no problem, but if it is you won't be able to play it or convert it. You can download a program in our downloads section that will tell you if your DVD-ROM is region locked. If it isn't, you can get software for the Hollywood Plus or the DXR2/3 that allows you to make it region free. If the program tells you your DVD-ROM isn't region locked you're "all set".

Cool! Heres somethin useful, go 2 the site and it will tell u how 2 convert an avi,mpeg,divx (computer file u play in WMP or a player on ur puter) or even xvid 2 dvd,svcd,or vcd. Note most latest dvd players play vcd,svcds etc.

So u can play any of ur puter files on ur dvd player.

Has any 1 tried this?

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/convert

Sam 8)

MrBliss said:

... ain't that something... suddenly your statue of liberty doesn't seem so wonderous...

sambluedolphin said:

Been there, done that many times. Can convert all kinds of stuff to vcd. Been doing it for over a year.