DVD help

[Daddles]

I'm looking at getting some cycling DVDs from a bloke in the US and he's asked what format I want them in - NTSC or PAL.
Help - which do I need?
I want to play them on my normal DVD player rather than the computer.

Richard

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Either should work (depends on the player) but PAL would mean less work for the hardware and, theoretically, a better pic. After all, our CRT TV's are PAL standard...

[KRH]

Short Version

Most DVD players nowadays handle all formats (as do most television sets), the conversion is usually automatic so you should not have a problem with either format.

Long Version (Television 1.01)

For standard definition, the television transmission standard in Australia is PAL (Phase Alternate Line). The US standard is NTSC (National Television System Committee), which is inferior to PAL for a variety of reasons (Google it to get more detail).

But technology has now advanced such that multi-format equipment is now pretty much the norm, and it is mostly automatic - ie. the technology does the monitoring and necessary conversions between formats.

It has nothing to do with CRT, LCD or Plasma screens. That is only the display technology. The underlying electronics that drives the display is the issue.

Regards

Ken

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Short Version

Most DVD players nowadays handle all formats (as do most television sets), the conversion is usually automatic so you should not have a problem with either format.

Long Version (Television 1.01)

For standard definition, the television transmission standard in Australia is PAL (Phase Alternate Line). The US standard is NTSC (National Television System Committee), which is inferior to PAL for a variety of reasons (Google it to get more detail).

But technology has now advanced such that multi-format equipment is now pretty much the norm, and it is mostly automatic - ie. the technology does the monitoring and necessary conversions between formats.

It has nothing to do with CRT, LCD or Plasma screens. That is only the display technology. The underlying electronics that drives the display is the issue.

Exactly. However PAL input -> PAL output means no transcoding required. No matter how good the algorithm, conversion always involves loss of quality... although it may not be detectable to the human eye. Even with the latest'n'greatest equipment, when playing an NTSC DVD the best picture is obtained when the DVD is played natively with the TV in NTSC mode, and a PAL DVD natively to a TV in PAL mode. Simple.

Old Oz CRT's only accept PAL, newer equipment doesn't have this limitation. However, not everyone has equipment less than 10 years old... and do need to consider the format problem to get the best out of what they have.

That's why there's the qualifications of "CRT" and "theoretically" in my original post.

[Daddles]

Thanks boys.

Richard

[Iain]

The US standard is NTSC (National Television System Committee)

Wrong, NTSC = Never The Same Colour (Color)