NTSC on PAL devices at DVinfo.net

Marius Burz · July 31st, 2003, 04:13 AM

One thing I am wondering...

Where I live, the standard is PAL, my TV is PAL but knows NTSC as well - I connect my cam directly to TV using the normal analog video output(chinch not S-Video).

So my question is: how does my TV display NTSC, it displays it at 30fps or converts it automaticaly at 25fps?
The quality of video on TV is flawless, perfect, not a single jump or whatever... So I suspect it displays it at 30fps, but I'm not sure.
Another question is: what happens when you put an NTSC DVD in a PAL DVD-Player that can handle also NTSC(as most of them can, over here)?

thanks,
marius

Josh Frye · July 31st, 2003, 04:25 AM

I won't give you technical explanations here, because there are people on this forum far more qualified, but I have similar experiences. Most regular German PAL TVs will display my XL's NTSC output flawlessly. On the other hand the opposite in NOT true. Many American TVs and VCRs do NOT support PAL at all. Odd. As for the DVDs; it is not so much a format problem these days, as most PAL systems can handle NTSC some how, as a regional coding issue. While region free DVD players are becoming really popular, and can handle NTSC, SECAM, PAL, etc., those standard units that are locked to region 2 will not play your average region 1 NTSC DVD. I really think the establishment of region coding for DVDs was a horrible move by the industry. Oh well.

On a side note; my MiniDV tapes, NTSC, work perfectly in my friends's PAL Sony Handicam, yet his PAL DV tapes do not work on my XL1. Its not fair! Well hope I helped you out...somewhat.

Rob Lohman · July 31st, 2003, 04:49 AM

To the best of my knowledge they simply operate at 60 hz instead
of the usual 50 to display the picture, which translate to 30 fps
indeed.

Now onto DVD. Basically the DVD player just outputs the signal
as it gets it off the DVD (after a MPEG2 decompression and then
converting it to analog). Ofcourse there might be some signal
processing and so forth, but that is basically how it works. So
in this case, your TV needs to understand the other format to
display it as well (as in your previous example).

However, some DVD player support converting the format to
PAL for you BEFORE sending it to the TV. It changes the framerate,
the resolution and perhaps some other small things. This usually
looks worse then if your TV can handle NTSC natively.

If you can setup your DVD player for either NTSC, PAL or MULTI
(or auto, etc.) then set it to automatic/multi mode if your TV
supports it.

Why does the TV display it better? Because the TV is NOT
CONVERTING the signal. It is simply turning itself temporarily
into an NTSC TV (power is converted most probably) instead of
altering the input signal (which the DVD player is doing).

Marius Burz · July 31st, 2003, 11:42 AM

Well, thanks a lot for the info.
One point: NTSC quality is not that good as PAL quality, so maybe that's why NTSC would be easier to display on a PAL TV than PAL on a NTSC TV. Ignoring the 50Hz vs 60Hz ;)

July 31st, 2003, 04:13 AM	#1
Marius Burz Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: romania Posts: 52	NTSC on PAL devices One thing I am wondering... Where I live, the standard is PAL, my TV is PAL but knows NTSC as well - I connect my cam directly to TV using the normal analog video output(chinch not S-Video). So my question is: how does my TV display NTSC, it displays it at 30fps or converts it automaticaly at 25fps? The quality of video on TV is flawless, perfect, not a single jump or whatever... So I suspect it displays it at 30fps, but I'm not sure. Another question is: what happens when you put an NTSC DVD in a PAL DVD-Player that can handle also NTSC(as most of them can, over here)? thanks, marius

July 31st, 2003, 04:25 AM	#2
Josh Frye Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Berlin Germany Posts: 46	I won't give you technical explanations here, because there are people on this forum far more qualified, but I have similar experiences. Most regular German PAL TVs will display my XL's NTSC output flawlessly. On the other hand the opposite in NOT true. Many American TVs and VCRs do NOT support PAL at all. Odd. As for the DVDs; it is not so much a format problem these days, as most PAL systems can handle NTSC some how, as a regional coding issue. While region free DVD players are becoming really popular, and can handle NTSC, SECAM, PAL, etc., those standard units that are locked to region 2 will not play your average region 1 NTSC DVD. I really think the establishment of region coding for DVDs was a horrible move by the industry. Oh well. On a side note; my MiniDV tapes, NTSC, work perfectly in my friends's PAL Sony Handicam, yet his PAL DV tapes do not work on my XL1. Its not fair! Well hope I helped you out...somewhat. __________________ Cheers

July 31st, 2003, 04:49 AM	#3
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	To the best of my knowledge they simply operate at 60 hz instead of the usual 50 to display the picture, which translate to 30 fps indeed. Now onto DVD. Basically the DVD player just outputs the signal as it gets it off the DVD (after a MPEG2 decompression and then converting it to analog). Ofcourse there might be some signal processing and so forth, but that is basically how it works. So in this case, your TV needs to understand the other format to display it as well (as in your previous example). However, some DVD player support converting the format to PAL for you BEFORE sending it to the TV. It changes the framerate, the resolution and perhaps some other small things. This usually looks worse then if your TV can handle NTSC natively. If you can setup your DVD player for either NTSC, PAL or MULTI (or auto, etc.) then set it to automatic/multi mode if your TV supports it. Why does the TV display it better? Because the TV is NOT CONVERTING the signal. It is simply turning itself temporarily into an NTSC TV (power is converted most probably) instead of altering the input signal (which the DVD player is doing). __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 31st, 2003, 11:42 AM	#4
Marius Burz Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: romania Posts: 52	Well, thanks a lot for the info. One point: NTSC quality is not that good as PAL quality, so maybe that's why NTSC would be easier to display on a PAL TV than PAL on a NTSC TV. Ignoring the 50Hz vs 60Hz ;)