Video Asylum

Posted by monk (A) on August 25, 2003 at 05:56:40

In Reply to: Help with DVD - PAL - Region 1 & 2 question for video dummy.... posted by Malcolm on August 10, 2003 at 09:41:35:

Your DVD player will need to be *Region Free*, able to play PAL discs and convert this PAL video to an NTSC video output.

The world has been arbitrarily divided into 6 regions by the makers of DVD's (for no technical reason, all to do with marketing and copyrights). If your machine can play PAL *and* it can convert this to NTSC output, you'd still get tripped unless the machine was also region free.

Some inexpensive DVD players can do all three of the things you need, and it's possible yours can too. On the other hand, some can read both PAL and NTSC, but can only output in the format of the original DVD (i.e., can't convert) ...and some can read in one format and output in another video standard.

The kind of machine you need exists, and they don't cost much, but I don't know what's the case with the machine you own. Search on the AVS_forum.com (or is it AVSforum.com ?) and you should get some tips on models that work.

I believe the CyberHome 500 can do all you need (and Progressive Scan as a bonus). Best Buy and other stores sell them, often as cheap as $50 (with rebates)

M.