NTSC Versus PAL

Hi,

I have a region 2 dvd player and had it upgraded to multi-region. Bought a dvd from the US (region 1) but the playback is not as good as region 2 at all, characters are a bit blurry around the edges, the colour and sound are perfect. The TV set I have is PAL but can take NTSC - its a 100htz Panasonic.

Would anybody know how to eliminate the chequered appearance and improve the picture ?

Many thanks

NTSC Vs PAL

Hi Swoon0,

Try your DVD player with another NTSC compatible TV. Most modern TV's support NTSC and PAL, even my cheap Matsui

If picture performance improves , then your TV is the problem. Maybe NTSC only works well with 50Hz TV's ?

If the picture is still bad, either the DVD or the player would be suspect.
In this case try another Region 1 DVD or another multi-region DVD player, if possible, with your panasonic TV.

Also, are you using a SCART lead (DVD player to TV) ?

NTSC Vs PAL

Are you sure the picture problems are not simply display artefacts of the NTSC playback? In general NTSC is less detailed (lower resolution - 480 versus 576 scan lines) and has poorer colour reproduction than PAL. Some wag termed it Never Twice the Same Color because of the latter. If I recall correctly one advantage of NTSC over PAL is the higher frame rate (60 versus 50 frames per second) so the image should be steadier. Of course perhaps a frame rate of 60 fps on a 100Hz TV may result in other artefacts that don't occure with a (PAL) 50 fps source? Hmmm....

[broken link removed]

Thanks

Thanks for your replies but I am none the wiser !!

Freq Out - Yes I am using a Scart lead to the TV

Unreg User - Thanks for help but all a bit technical

Are all US/Canada i.e. region 1 dvds only NTSC ??

Wondering if I should have bothered going Multi region in the first place !

Ta

Thanks

> Unreg User - Thanks for help but all a bit technical

Sorry about that - and the extraneous underlining! Basically what I'm saying is that it may not be a problem at all - just a "feature" of NTSC playback which by definition has crappier resolution and colour reproduction than PAL.

> Wondering if I should have bothered going Multi region in the first place !

Strictly this has nothing to do with DVD region issues but rather may be specifically an NTSC versus PAL output format issue.

www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.10

> Are all US/Canada i.e. region 1 dvds only NTSC ??

THAT is the key question as far as I can see. I think that some region 1 DVDs may be dual NTSC/PAL but I'm not sure.

www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.19

DVD's

I have purchased quite a lot of Region 1 DVD's from the US and they all play perfectly. Colour and sound are both fine and their is no blurring around the edges. Its a matter of testing each item seperately until you figure out what the problem is. You can buy multi region players now for circa €60. I have a Thompson DVD player that I was able to change to mulit region via the remote. When you say you got yours upgraded I presume you mean "chipped" and these may not work as well for some reason! Its only a thought, but one worth looking at!

Paul