TimR

Well, since I managed to come out of my American cave to post on this site where I am in the minority - and you are handing out words of gnomic wisdom from the safety of your provinical cocoon, it seems the solipsism is on the other foot - if you will accept a mix of metaphors.

torinfan

There should be just one format, everywhere, since we're all on the same planet. ;)

He brings joy to me.

sippog

Sorry,mate. you lost me.

Most standard European players play NTSC. Most standard American players don't play PAL.

And your point was?

rjd0309

Yes, it's a sad fact that most DVD players sold in America generally do not have built-in PAL-to-NTSC converters. I had to order mine from a specialty website.

I echo the sentiment that the world ought to have just a single video standard, much as CD-Audio is a single worldwide audio standard.

One would hope that the *next* dvd standard -- after Blu-ray -- might be crafted for international commonality. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

Sgt Sunshine

I agree with you 100% there torinfan.............
I'm still not sure whether to "hack" my present Philips DVD player, to region "0" .Will it then play both a UK region 2 DVD AND a Region1 USA disk??
There are a few films to complete my collection that are only available on Region 1
Sometimes it gets a bit confusing to us old fogies.......
Sgt S

Wolfgang

MY DVD player is set to 0 and plays everything fine. There is no such thing as region 0 really - it just 'unlocks' your region setting and sets it to whatever your DVD is.

Sgt Sunshine

Thanks for the info Wolfie...............your a star............
See you on the coach later
Cheers
Sgt S

johng

It should be noted for anyone buying a multiregion DVD player that they will NOT necessarily play discs from any region despite what you may be told.

Many region 1 discs will play OK when a player is set to "0" however many region 1 discs require the player to be set specifically to Region 1 before the disc will play.

Presumably this is because certain discs are encoded to prevent them playing on "Region 0" so as to get round the multi region facility which defeats the purpose of region coding in the first place.

I have said before on this forum and I will repeat for the benefit of any newcomers.

If you are purchasing a mutiregion player then ensure that it is of the type where you feed in a special 4 digit code number, which brings up a hidden menu when you can then change the region Code setting to anything you want and as often as you want. Most Philips players fall into this category.

The ones to avoid if you intend to play a lot of region 1 discs are Panasonic, JVC and Sony most of which can only be hacked into with a special remote control which sets them to "0" and once you have done so there is no practical way of resetting them to their default setting or specifically to region 1

Wolfgang

Not many DVDs have regional code enhancement, but if you come across one that does have it you can apparently set your player to region 1 by just playing another region 1 disk. From Wikipedia:

CaptainWaggett

I've always bought dvd players and vcrs from Richer Sounds where the staff are very helpful and do know what's what about things like multiregionalism. If all you want is a player, you should be able to get one for less than £30 - just check with the staff that it can do what you want.

Other specialist stores are available

Steve Crook

My Pioneer DV-525 is "chipped" (or "hacked") so that it automatically ignores any region coding. I don't have to put in any special codes or go through any special menus. It just plays them all.

In fact that actually a bit of a disadvantage sometimes. When I get a new DVD and I'm telling other people about it, I can't tell them if it really is region coded. You can't always go by the region coding logo on the box.

I've had it for quite a few years now and I've never had any trouble with it.

Steve

Dame Starry

Free DVD Unlocking Codes

Sgt Sunshine

Many thanks for that link Dame Starry..............
Its becoming a little clearer now, thanks to you all.............
Great to see you back here................
Cheers
Sgt S

Sgt Sunshine

Hmmmmmmm
I thought this was too straightforward............
Following Dame Starry'd link above........visited Find-dvd.co.uk......whereupon searching for Region 1 DVD it mentions need for Region free player, BUT ALSO SAYS YOU MUST HAVE NTSC? COMPATABLE TELEVISION..........
So do I need separate TV as well ??
Sgt S

Steve Crook

Every TV set bought in the UK in the last 20 years, and probably longer, is NTSC compatible.

But most DVD players bought here will actually do the conversion for you and put out a PAL signal

NTSC is a lower standard, with not as much information in the signal as PAL. So it's easy for PAL equipment to lower its standards slightly and display a reasonable picture from an NTSC signal. It's like a stereo radio making use of a mono broadcast signal.

It's harder the other way around though. Most NTSC equipment has difficulty in coping with a PAL signal. Like a mono radio trying to cope with a stereo broadcast. It's usually only the higher end NTSC equipment that can handle it

Steve