European Pioneer DVD Players (1 Viewer)

[Kevin_Roman]

Looking at the European Pioneer Website, I saw that a lot of their models are PAL/NTSC compatible. The website further explains they can be used on both NTSC and PAL TVs. If this is true, why isn't everyone buying those players region-free instead of the Malata? Link Removed sells it region-free for 340(US$).
http://www.pioneer-eur.com

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Because they just pass PAL, they don't do the conversion to NTSC. You would need to buy a $300 box to convert PAL to NTSC if you have this player

 

[Ted Todorov]

I looked at their web site for the specs on the Pioneer DV-444S and in fact they do PAL to NTSC conversion, but unfortunately not all the way: they convert to NTSC 50, which would lead to a rolling picture on an American TV.

At any rate, PAL to NTSC conversion is hardly the Malata's only feature -- it has very powerful picture scalling as well as progressive scan capabilities, which I presume the Pioneers in question do not.

Ted