Will NTSC Play in UK? at DVinfo.net

Alex DeJesus · May 18th, 2013, 10:19 PM

I need to know - will an NTSC DVD play in the UK? I know they are PAL, but aren't their players capable of NTSC playback?
My project is NTSC 29.97 fps edited in Adobe Premiere and DVD created in Encore. I assured client that I can send him a PAL version, but turns out I don't really understand the conversion. Although Premiere can export any sequence in PAL format, there seems to be an issue with DVD menus and such. Too much to contemplate with my workload and I'm wondering if it is worth all the extra time. Client seems to think he needs it in PAL, but I have read in forums that it is not necessary. What is the REAL scoop?
Please answer if you know for sure. it will take several days to make a PAL version of a program I already edited in NTSC

Brian Drysdale · May 19th, 2013, 12:41 AM

I've played region 1 DVDs in the UK. Only problem being you needed to bypath the protection code, bot that's nothing to do with NTSC.

Paul Doherty · May 19th, 2013, 01:46 AM

Most European DVD players will play an NTSC DVD, however some will have problems (eg my Sony DVP-NS305 will only show a B+W picture) and some won't play at all. You certainly won't get 100% compatability.

I've got a contact who sold an NTSC DVD in the UK with a money back proviso if you had problems. I'll see if I can find out how that went and roughly what percentage were returned, but it's the weekend so I can't get any info until tomorrow at the earliest.

Donald McPherson · May 19th, 2013, 06:55 AM

As far as I know NTSC plays fine in the UK DVD PAL players.
But and don't ask me why, Pal will not run on an USA DVD NTSC player.

Steve Game · May 19th, 2013, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donald McPherson

As far as I know NTSC plays fine in the UK DVD PAL players.
But and don't ask me why, Pal will not run on an USA DVD NTSC player.

Because region 1 (North America) is all NTSC, therefore (legal) players only need to play region 1 discs. Region 2 however comprises Europe the middle east, and a few colonies in Africa and the Carribean (50Hz vertical scan rates) and Japan (60Hz vertical scan rates - a slightly modified version of NTSC).

As has been said above, the region coding system applied to commercial discs will prevent any legal player from playing a non-local region's coded disc. That even prevents a region 2 player from playing a 50Hz region 4 (Australasia and South America) discs. It is common in Europe for players to be hacked, (usually by a series of remote key entries, to change the region or remove any bars from playing non-local region discs. Such a 'fix' is less likely to be available in the us as the hardware may not have the capability of outputting anything other than a 60Hz based video stream.

Guy Caplin · May 19th, 2013, 09:49 AM

The answer to the question is sometime but not always.

Some DVD (and VHS) players in PAL countries playback NTSC by converting the NTSC colour carrier to resemble a PAL colour carrier and, as the line frequency is very close (525 x 30 ~ 625 x 25), the image locks up. The aspect ratio is not quite right but the picture is acceptable. Sadly not all players do this.

Mike Beckett · May 19th, 2013, 11:52 AM

Maybe stating the obvious, but anyway. As it's your own DVD, build it as region 0 and there's no worries at all about encoding, hacking your player etc.

Playback of NTSC may still be a problem on some players, but at least the region won't be a problem.

Steve Game · May 19th, 2013, 02:45 PM

Most region 2 players produced in the last 10 years will play an NTSC disc that isn't protected by another region code. Many of them have a setup choice of 1) pure NTSC and 2) NTSC4.43.
The former is what it says, and shouldn't be an issue on an HD Ready LED/Plasma TV and on most CRT TVs with 16:9 tubes. A few TVs may play the video in monochrome as the PAL decoder cannot sense the NTSC idents.
The latter is a compromise for these TVs where the colour subcarrier is transposed to the PAL reference frequenct and usually, the chroma video and colour burst is modified to look like a PAL signal. There is still the problem of the vertical and horizontal timebase circuits being able to work at 525lines/59.94Hz field rate.
Most of these problems disappeared with the advent of digital video, colour and timebase processing as the different rates are determined by register values derived from the firmware. TV set design is global and if the manufacturers wish, it is simple to embody multi standard capability. It seems that those sets destined for the US are not endowed with such features.
With the advent of HDTV, sets should be able to display all of the standards in the ATSC standard which include both 625/50 as well as 525/60 video. I think that this still isn't necessarily true for some sets sold in the US.

Alex DeJesus · May 19th, 2013, 05:47 PM

Thanks for al the input. There seems to be sort of consensus that chances are good. And the money back guarantee is a good idea.

May 18th, 2013, 10:19 PM	#1
Alex DeJesus Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Henderson, NV Posts: 177	Will NTSC Play in UK? I need to know - will an NTSC DVD play in the UK? I know they are PAL, but aren't their players capable of NTSC playback? My project is NTSC 29.97 fps edited in Adobe Premiere and DVD created in Encore. I assured client that I can send him a PAL version, but turns out I don't really understand the conversion. Although Premiere can export any sequence in PAL format, there seems to be an issue with DVD menus and such. Too much to contemplate with my workload and I'm wondering if it is worth all the extra time. Client seems to think he needs it in PAL, but I have read in forums that it is not necessary. What is the REAL scoop? Please answer if you know for sure. it will take several days to make a PAL version of a program I already edited in NTSC

May 19th, 2013, 12:41 AM	#2
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,152	Re: Will NTSC Play in UK? I've played region 1 DVDs in the UK. Only problem being you needed to bypath the protection code, bot that's nothing to do with NTSC.

May 19th, 2013, 01:46 AM	#3
Paul Doherty Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sherburn, England Posts: 136	Re: Will NTSC Play in UK? Most European DVD players will play an NTSC DVD, however some will have problems (eg my Sony DVP-NS305 will only show a B+W picture) and some won't play at all. You certainly won't get 100% compatability. I've got a contact who sold an NTSC DVD in the UK with a money back proviso if you had problems. I'll see if I can find out how that went and roughly what percentage were returned, but it's the weekend so I can't get any info until tomorrow at the earliest.

May 19th, 2013, 06:55 AM	#4
Donald McPherson Major Player Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Aberdeen Scotland Posts: 815	Re: Will NTSC Play in UK? As far as I know NTSC plays fine in the UK DVD PAL players. But and don't ask me why, Pal will not run on an USA DVD NTSC player.

May 19th, 2013, 09:49 AM	#6
Guy Caplin Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Basingstoke UK Posts: 48	Re: Will NTSC Play in UK? The answer to the question is sometime but not always. Some DVD (and VHS) players in PAL countries playback NTSC by converting the NTSC colour carrier to resemble a PAL colour carrier and, as the line frequency is very close (525 x 30 ~ 625 x 25), the image locks up. The aspect ratio is not quite right but the picture is acceptable. Sadly not all players do this.

May 19th, 2013, 11:52 AM	#7
Mike Beckett Trustee Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Antrim, Northern Ireland Posts: 1,569	Re: Will NTSC Play in UK? Maybe stating the obvious, but anyway. As it's your own DVD, build it as region 0 and there's no worries at all about encoding, hacking your player etc. Playback of NTSC may still be a problem on some players, but at least the region won't be a problem. __________________ Irish Railway Videos on Youtube

May 19th, 2013, 02:45 PM	#8
Steve Game Major Player Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: London, UK Posts: 353	Re: Will NTSC Play in UK? Most region 2 players produced in the last 10 years will play an NTSC disc that isn't protected by another region code. Many of them have a setup choice of 1) pure NTSC and 2) NTSC4.43. The former is what it says, and shouldn't be an issue on an HD Ready LED/Plasma TV and on most CRT TVs with 16:9 tubes. A few TVs may play the video in monochrome as the PAL decoder cannot sense the NTSC idents. The latter is a compromise for these TVs where the colour subcarrier is transposed to the PAL reference frequenct and usually, the chroma video and colour burst is modified to look like a PAL signal. There is still the problem of the vertical and horizontal timebase circuits being able to work at 525lines/59.94Hz field rate. Most of these problems disappeared with the advent of digital video, colour and timebase processing as the different rates are determined by register values derived from the firmware. TV set design is global and if the manufacturers wish, it is simple to embody multi standard capability. It seems that those sets destined for the US are not endowed with such features. With the advent of HDTV, sets should be able to display all of the standards in the ATSC standard which include both 625/50 as well as 525/60 video. I think that this still isn't necessarily true for some sets sold in the US.

May 19th, 2013, 05:47 PM	#9
Alex DeJesus Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Henderson, NV Posts: 177	Re: Will NTSC Play in UK? Thanks for al the input. There seems to be sort of consensus that chances are good. And the money back guarantee is a good idea.