A dumb PAL, NTSC, HDTV question

colin.w · 08-24-2006, 06:55 AM

This is probably a dumb question but it's been annoying me for a while. I live in the USA but I'm from the UK and I have a lot of PAL DVDs. I have a multisystem CRT and a multisystem DVD player. So no problems there. But when I eventually upgrade to an HDTV the choices of multisystems are zero. I want to go to a 1080p set (by the time I get around to it they'll be the standard). So my question is this.
If I get a 1080p set and a DVD player like the Oppo that plays PAL discs and upconverts the DVD to 1080 it obviously will not play unless I let the Oppo convet it to NTSC. How bad is that going to look? A DVD that is upcoverted to 1080 then converted from PAL to NTSC and displayed on an HDTV set sounds pretty bad to me.

Am I wrong, or is there a better way around this?

Col.

Vincent_P · 08-25-2006, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colin.w

This is probably a dumb question but it's been annoying me for a while. I live in the USA but I'm from the UK and I have a lot of PAL DVDs. I have a multisystem CRT and a multisystem DVD player. So no problems there. But when I eventually upgrade to an HDTV the choices of multisystems are zero. I want to go to a 1080p set (by the time I get around to it they'll be the standard). So my question is this.
If I get a 1080p set and a DVD player like the Oppo that plays PAL discs and upconverts the DVD to 1080 it obviously will not play unless I let the Oppo convet it to NTSC. How bad is that going to look? A DVD that is upcoverted to 1080 then converted from PAL to NTSC and displayed on an HDTV set sounds pretty bad to me.

Am I wrong, or is there a better way around this?

Col.

Most front-projectors can display native PAL. Since many of the HD rear-projectors are based on the same technology (i.e., DLP, LCD, etc.), I'd imagine it would be the same situation with them, no?

Vincent

colin.w · 08-26-2006, 07:30 AM

That's an interesting point. I'll see if I can hunt down some online manuals on those kind of TVs and see what I find.

Thanks for the reply.

Col

Vincent_P · 08-26-2006, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colin.w

That's an interesting point. I'll see if I can hunt down some online manuals on those kind of TVs and see what I find.

Thanks for the reply.

Col

No problem, Colin. I just bought the Oppo 970, did the region hack thing, and set it to "auto" in the set-up menu so it's outputting NTSC discs as NTSC, and PAL discs as PAL into my Panasonic LCD front-projector. It also upconverts both formats.

Vincent

colin.w · 08-27-2006, 05:36 PM

The Oppo is what I'd go for too. Could you tell me which Panasonic LCD front projector you have. Thanks.

Then comes the hard part. Convincing the wife.

Col.

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Ted Todorov · 08-29-2006, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colin.w

..
If I get a 1080p set and a DVD player like the Oppo that plays PAL discs and upconverts the DVD to 1080 it obviously will not play unless I let the Oppo convet it to NTSC. How bad is that going to look? A DVD that is upcoverted to 1080 then converted from PAL to NTSC and displayed on an HDTV set sounds pretty bad to me.

Am I wrong, or is there a better way around this?

Col.

I am in the exact same boat as you -- I have a large number of PAL discs and currently have a SD 16:9 CRT, which I would love to upgrade to a 1080P LCD. I'd love to get a LCD that is PAL/NTSC multi standard, so I can use my upconverting DVD player.

If I don't find one -- the way I see it, the solution might be hooking up a Mac Mini via DVI -- in other words having the LCD act as a 1920X1080 computer monitor, at which point if I play a DVD on the Mini, whether it is PAL or NTSC shouldn't matter as they are meaningless when viewing a DVD on a computer monitor.

Am I missing something?

Ted

colin.w · 08-30-2006, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ted Todorov

the way I see it, the solution might be hooking up a Mac Mini via DVI -- in other words having the LCD act as a 1920X1080 computer monitor, at which point if I play a DVD on the Mini, whether it is PAL or NTSC shouldn't matter as they are meaningless when viewing a DVD on a computer monitor.

You mean something like the Westinghouse LVM-42w2. Which is a 42" 1080p LCD with no inbuilt tuner and is classed as a monitor. A review of which is here http://www.audioholics.com/productre...LVM-42w2p1.php

Ted Todorov · 08-30-2006, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colin.w

You mean something like the Westinghouse LVM-42w2. Which is a 42" 1080p LCD with no inbuilt tuner and is classed as a monitor. A review of which is here http://www.audioholics.com/productre...LVM-42w2p1.php

Yes, that is indeed the idea. I'm not sure yet I trust Westinghouse as a brand, but in general terms that's exactly what I need -- I don't watch TV, so I don't care about a tuner -- indeed my current TV only has a PAL tuner, so I can't watch TV on it -- I use it for DVDs only.

Ted

colin.w · 08-30-2006, 07:57 AM

Well, if you ever find one that you're happy with I'd appreciate it if you could post it here so that I could take a peep at it. Thanks, and happy hunting.

By the way, I'm in New York too.