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Thread: Confused about NTSC vs PAL vs DVB

  1. #1
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    Default Confused about NTSC vs PAL vs DVB

    I've seen a couple of threads on this, but 1) they are a few years old, and 2) I'm slow.

    I am coming from the US, so DVDs are NTSC (and I guess VHS is as well, right? I have a few old tapes left).

    I don't see the point in bringing my old analog TV sets as they would not work anyway (I think). So I'll probably give those to my brother.

    I have a 48" LCD that is quite nice, and it has 1 HDMI input. Assuming the power input is compatible, should I expect it to work for broadcast TV? What about Freeview? SkyTV? OTOH, it is 3 years old and technology has improved, so unless it is the only way to watch my DVDs, I don't suppose I'd want it anyway, right?

    Of course my DVD player is for Region 1. I understand there are hacks to make it region independent, but I should not assume it would work with PAL, right? What about with the change to DVB? Does that imply that DVDs in the future might be compatible?

    I know DVD players are cheap though, and I need to get a Blu-Ray anyway, so if I get a new DVD player in NZ (that is meant for Region 4 PAL compatible disks), would it work for Region 1 NTSC compatible DVDs (that are not Blu-Ray)? I have about 200 DVDs (including all my Star Trek TNG, Enterprise, 24, Office, and Flight of the Conchords, so I have to have something to play them on). I won't be stuck watching them on my computer, will I?

    I know these questions are probably dumb. But so am I. I probably am mis-using some terminology, but I hope my point is clear.

    Should I bring my LCD? Will my DVDs work on an NZ player? What if I get a Blu-Ray player in NZ? What are implications of changing from PAL to DVB?

    Thanks for any advice. I hope the questions are generic enough to be applicable to others.

  2. #2
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    Default

    PAL is analog television encoding while DVB is digital video broadcasting, and there are a number of DVB's for satellite, cable and terrestial TV -- you can even do DVB over your broadband internet, in theory. In addition DVB works more like a container so there are number of different formats audio, video, EPG and other data is transmitted.

    If and how your equipment will work depends a lot what they are exactly; brands, models, etc. HDMI is always a good sign.

    If I were you, I would just bring them on and if they work, fine, if not, buy new ones as needed. The TV has HDMI so you can attach any new NZ Freeview, NZ SkyTV, non-US DVD or non-US Blu-ray player to it -- as long as they have HDMI as well. HDMI doesn't have region encodings.

    If you bring the whole set, at least you know you can watch your existing media. Remember to check the power supplies for the right voltage.

  3. #3
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    Australia
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    Most, if not all, Blu-Ray players are multi-region for normal DVD but are region locked for Blu-Ray discs.

    Check to make sure your LCD TV is multi region or not if it is then you should be okay with the poawer as most are using switch mode power supplies. You may need to get a new power cord when you get to NZ or use an adapter.

    Once you experience PAL you will never want to go back to NTSC ( Never The Same Color twice. ) However Digital broadcasting will make both formats obsolete soon and many broadcasting stations will soon switch from analog broadcasting to pure DVB.

  4. #4
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    Hi Sue, if your 42"LCD does not have 110-220 50-60Hz on it somewhere on the back or in the manual (should be a sticker, or on the power brick..if your lcd uses a brick). It is most likely 110-120V only and will need a power transformer to step the NZ 220-240v down to 110-120v.

  5. #5
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    York to Torbay, North Shore
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    We got a DVD player from Harvey Norman for $39 and you type a code into the handset to make it multi-region. Our UK TV would not work with digital signal here. As someone else said - same container (so I could see the menu's etc) but no picture or sound. Had to buy an NZ freeview box. If I'd known what I know now, I would have sold my TV in the UK and bought one here. That's just me though.

  6. #6
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    We have our US TV and PS3 and DVD player on a step down transformer.

    We also have a Kiwi TV and DVD player which is regionless.

    Our US TV has the PS3 (which has a blu ray player in it) and also a Kiwi DVD player that can be set to NTSC.

    The US DVDs will play on our US DVD player, our regionless DVD player and our PS3.

    Our PS3 blu ray player will play all US blu rays and multi region NZ blu rays. Contrary to popular belief, blu rays have regions on them as well. The ones here designated "ABC" will play on our PS3 but "B" (the NZ region) will not work.

    NZ DVDs will play on our regionless DVD player (on the kiwi TV) and also on the NZ purchased DVD player that is hooked up to our US TV (but you have to reset it to NTSC every time you use it! A pain!)

    Conclusion:

    NZ stores sell regionless DVD players (for NZ TVs) so you can just bring your DVD collection and not your TV. That is easy.

    You can also purchase DVD players to hook up to your NTSC TV to play NZ DVDs. There may be regionless versions of this but we just have one to play the NZ DVDs on the US TV.

    Buy your step down transformer in the US--they don't have many here to choose from, they are small in wattage and they are $$$$.

  7. #7
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    Thanks everyone. All very helpful. I assume any TV I would expect to use is digital and not analog, else I would have a PAL issue, would I not?

    In terms of my old VHS tapes (a few movies and some videos of the kids when they were little), I guess they would need to be copied to DVD (which I probably should do anyway).

    Finally, I have been putting off buying a Blu-ray until I got there, but it is sounding like I should get it in the US (as I assume it would be cheaper), so long as I know it is regionless (or I can find a hack to make it so).

  8. #8
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    Generally avoid Sony's as they are tricky to hack. Everything else shouldn't be a problem.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by GrumpyGoat View Post
    ...
    NZ stores sell regionless DVD players (for NZ TVs) so you can just bring your DVD collection and not your TV. That is easy.
    ...
    Not sure I agree with your conclusions, I've purchased several DVD players in NZ and they were all set to region 4 (NZ).

    Yes, NZ stores do sell muilti-region DVD players but it would be wrong to say that all are. Most DVD players can be changed to multi-region and the store that you buy from almost always has the requied codes to do this, but even this isn't in all cases.

    Another point to note is that whilst it is likely that a region 4 (or any other) region DVD will play on a multi-region player, this is not always the case and some DVDs will only play on a matching region player (of course there is no stopping you just changing the DVD player setting if you have the right codes).

    Ian

  10. #10
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    yep ian has a point. some discs are region locked

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