Question about NTSC (1 Viewer)

[Matt_Vaudrin]

Hi
this is my first time posting here.

I'm pretty new to the world of DVD's and don't know much about it.
I got a DVD player for Christmas last year and been having some problems with it.

On certain movies, the brightness will fade in and out, it will get darker and then lighter, and it keeps doing that for the whole thing.
I've tried changing every setting that can be changed, and nothing works.

finally I discovered that Movies that have NTSC, on them are the ones that do that. because the DVD's that don't have that work just fine.

What does NTSC mean?
Is there a converter or something make mine play DVD's NTSC on them?

It seems that most movies have it, so far all I've found that doesn't, are the tvshows on DVD, which I like, but I'd like to be able to watch movies too.


Thanks in advance for any help you can give me on this.

Matt vaudrin

 

[Matthew Todd]

Welcome to the HTF Matt!

How is your DVD player connected to the TV? Are you running it through a VCR?

The brightness fluctuations that you're describing sound like Macrovision to me. It actually doesn't have anything to do with NTSC per se.

It is possible that the discs that don't show this are not macrovision protected, while the ones that do show it are. Macrovision seems to cause problems if you run the video through a VCR (there are probably other ways to make it show up too).

Matt

 

[Matt_Vaudrin]

I have a TV/VCR combo that my DVD player is connected to, so it pretty much has to go through the vcr.

 

[RodneyT]

by sending the DVD signal through the VCR portion of your combo, it is highly likely that the macrovision is playing havock with the signal coming through. Unfortunately, there is no legitimate (and easy) way of getting around this, so you are perhaps going to have to do one of a number of things:

1) get yourself a stand alone television and DVD player. Then the signal from the DVD player goes straight into the TV and is ouput thusly in correct format.

2) um..... perhaps this is the only way around it?

Always bear in mind this fact: Macrovision is an embedded signal in copyrighted material designed to disrupt the signal (invariably either picture or audio, but sometimes both)when people try and copy it. Assuming you are not trying to copy movies through your VCR/TV combo, the unfortunate thing is that macrovision makes no decision about it: its an assumptive thing and thusly, your picture will always be screwed up. The only way you will avoid macrovision is to buy yourself a television and dvd player that stand separate from your VCR thing, so that the signal is fed directly into the monitor and not through a device used for copying.

Hope this helps.

 

[Hendrik]

...what RodneyT said...

...oh... and as for what NTSC stands for, take a look here... and here...

...and for a full description of what Macrovision is and does, go here...

. . . . . .

 

[RobD]

Matt,

Devices which remove Macrovision from a scart signal are legal and available for around £30 in the UK, I dont know what country you're from though.

 

[Brian F]

This is my first post too, even though I have been lurking on the HTF for years! I have a suggestion for dealing with the Macrovision issue. This suggestion would not be ideal, but it would allow you to keep your current TV/VCR.

You could buy an RF-Modulator (about $20-$30), which would convert the composite RCA connections of the DVD player to RF cable. You can then hook it up to the TV as you would cable, antenna, or satellite. Keep in mind, you would want to get an RF-Modulator that has a connection for your cable/satellite/antenna as well (I think most do).

However, keep in mind that this option would severely degrade the picture quality of the DVD. Buying a new TV (preferably with Component or S-Video connections) would be a better option, but the RF modulator would be much cheaper.

I would guess this should work. Although there is the possibility that even the RF input goes through the VCR and will cause Macrovision to kick in, so make sure you save your reciept for the RF modulator!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I would guess this should work. Although there is the possibility that even the RF input goes through the VCR and will cause Macrovision to kick in, so make sure you save your reciept for the RF modulator!

We have an RF modulator on the basement TV, and there is none of the brightness fade from the VCR. But it does introduce other anomolies to the signal, mainly on the audio side of things.

 

[RobD]

RF modulation does not solve the problem, buy the remover device or a remote control/firmware hack may be able to disable macrovision depending on the brand and model.

 

[Matt_Vaudrin]

Hi all
sorry, I didn't get back on here to reply to all the help you guys gave me, I kinda forgot about this topic that I had started.

After reading tons of information, I did figure out, that the problem was due to the TV/VCR combo, not being able to read certain dvds or something like that.

But rather than buying a convertor or whatever, I just bought a new tv, well I sort of had to, after my old one broke.

 

[MikeJM]

Does playback quality of either NTSC or PAL differ?

 

[Harminder]

Quality... usually no.

But there are complaints of PAL speed up (speeding up of the picture by 4% I believe), so that's why I've stuck to NTSC like white on rice.

 

[jason:g]

For NTSC, there's the "3:2 pulldown" issue, which can cause frame jerkiness (noticeable when there is panning) - If there is one good reason for making the switch to PAL, it is that. However, I mainly stick to Region 1s and NTSC DVDs because R1s generally still have better picture compared to R2/R4 PAL. I also buy some R3 Korean - these are usually ports of R1s, so the transfer is generally on par with the R1s.

 

[Rob_Walton]

There's a drop in resolution and hence normally picture quality with NTSC so all extras being equal I go with PAL .

 

[andrew markworthy]

But there are complaints of PAL speed up (speeding up of the picture by 4% I believe),

Make of the following what you will:

(1) PAL speedup has always been present when movies have been broadcast on Brit television.

(2) Nobody noticed the speedup.

(3) Along come DVDs and the internet and people start complaining in various chat rooms about 'PAL speedup'.

(4) Suddenly there are lots of folks who refuse to buy R2 discs 'because of PAL speedup'.

(5) Did the Brits amongst them notice speedup for the decades they were watching movies on TV? No.

(6) I refuse to believe anyone who says they are affected by PAL speedup unless they can provide tangible proof that they noticed it pre-DVD days.

Since PAL has a better picture quality and there are a lot of excellent R2 releases which are either better than the R1 versions or are otherwise unavailable in R1, I'd say forget the hype and start enjoying R2 PAL.

 

[Hendrik]

Hear! Hear!

. . . . . .

 

[CraigL]

Umm...considering VERY few of us had VHS capable of playing PAL and there were a handful of PAL laserdisc, that's impossible.

That said, i notice PAL speed up immediately and find it INCREDIBLY annoying.

And to someone who has always lived with PAL speed-up, you're not going to notice there being something "wrong." Now try watching one of your favorite movies in NTSC that you've always watched in PAL and tell me what you think.

 

[CraigL]

Also, playback of PAL on an NTSC TV will never look perfect (or even better than the NTSC) and you're not going to get the "extra" resolution either. You're just going to get speed-up and some artifacts (which vary depending on your playback machine).

 

[Hendrik]

...erm... the VAST majority of the world's people (including a billion+ Chinese and about a billion Indians) have been watching PAL for several decades... nobody went blind (due to speed-up) or deaf (as a result of 'helium voices')... and, yes!, I have watched favorite films (e.g. "Les enfants du Paradis", "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs") both in PAL and NTSC versions and can honestly say that, whatever the difference, it never annoyed me, shocked me, nor in any other way affected my enjoyment of these films... (perhaps I should add that from 1962 to 2003 I lived in Europe, where in the past, say, twenty years I built up a nice collection of VHS tapes (both NTSC and PAL), LaserDiscs (again, both NTSC and PAL), and DVDs (yet again, both NTSC and PAL))

...anyway, this subject has been discussed to death on this and other Forums, with the anti-PAL people adamant that 'their' NTSC is 'better', and the pro-PAL people proclaiming that 'their' system is better, ad nauseam (and never the twain shall meet)...

...interesting question (perhaps?): will this (pointless!) 'battle' continue once HD-DVD comes along, or does HD-DVD do away with the 'problem'...?...

. . . . . .

 

[CraigL]

How about this? I HATE PAL. I refuse to buy it unless I have no other choice. But I'm not saying there's anything "wrong" with it per se...just as I don't think the PAL people are saying there's something "wrong" per se with it. It just sounds wrong in my ears because I can hear the speed up.

It cannot be argued, however, that the NTSC version is the way it was originally filmed. One listen to the pitch of an persons ACTUAL voice as opposed to their PAL version will prove that. Also, just look at the running time. It's not the running time of the movie as it was projected and filmed.

So whatever your preference, enjoy the movies. I think the PAL people just get really defensive when they hear us NTSC freaks not buying