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Getting UK DVD Players Working in the U.S.? 20

Posted by Cliff from the converting-your-overseas-toys dept.
StonyUK asks: "I'm moving from the UK to the U.S. shortly, and I'm trying to find a way of not having to replace all my region 2 DVDs with their region 1 counterparts. My UK player is chipped to support region 1 and region 2 right now, so I'm thinking that maybe I could just bring my player with me. I can do voltage conversion, but what about the signals itself? Is it possible to buy a TV in America that supports PAL? Do American TVs have SCART sockets? Also, I'm thinking that maybe I can get around all of this by buying an LCD projector and using the super-video output of my DVD player. Does anyone know if this is PAL / NTSC independent?"
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Getting UK DVD Players Working in the US? More

Getting UK DVD Players Working in the US?

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  • Maybe you should get a dual standard TV in the UK and ship it to the US. I know people who have those from Hong Kong, so they do exist. I think such a beast would be hard to find and over priced here in the US though.

  • BUT doesn't S-Video still rely on one of the other standards, like a carrier/protocol relation ship? Somewhat like this: PAL and NTSC are to component video and S-Video as TCP/IP and IPX/SPX are to 10BaseT and 10Base2. One level is the video format or protocol, while the other is the physical standard for the signal's transmission.

    If this is the case (and I beleive it is, but I am by no means an expert) then S-Video solves nothing for you, you need to convert your PAL to NTSC.

    Any corrections more than welcome.

    -Smitty

    -Smitty
  • My DVD player has a little mod whereby you insert a disk and it pops up a window asking you what the region of the disc you just inserted is... if only it could autodetect :)
  • I believe that some Hauppauge TV boards support both PAL and NTSC formats. A product comparison chart can be found here [http]. Some of these boards also run under linux using the bttv driver. While this probably isn't what you're looking for, it's definitely an option.

    --
    "There's a lot more to being a partier than "I-love-you-man..."
    The false highs and constant lows of alcohol are never more
    sobering than when you realize you are a killer."
    --http://www.alccdenver.com/hh-kit.html
  • 1) Take your DVD player. You'll save money and effort that way. Take your disks, too. Don't rezone anything, since you already own zone 2 disks and your player can also play zone 1 disks.

    2) Buy a voltage converter to plug it into the wall.

    3) Buy a decent US TV. Not an el-cheapo, but something that has the S-Video jack on the back. Cable that to your DVD player, since you mentioned "Super Video" AKA S-Video. Most 32" TV's have S-Video.
  • And what player would this be???

  • RGB (Score:1)

    by Yer Mom ( 78107 )
    If your DVD player has RGB output, that should be the best way of doing it...
    --
    Hell hath no fury like a pissed-off Glaswegian.
  • PAL and NTSC have nothing to do with DeCSS. IT is the television transmissions standards used. The US uses NTSC and the UK uses PAL. IT is like the difference between TCP/IP and IPX/SPX.
  • Is it possible to buy a TV in America that supports PAL? Do American TVs have SCART sockets?

    Possibly, but it won't be easy. Here in Europe its quite common to find TVs that will support NTSC/SECAM as well as PAL, but in the US most TVs will support NTSC (525 line, 60Hz) only.

    Also, I'm thinking that maybe I can get around all of this by buying an LCD projector and using the super-video output of my DVD player. Does anyone know if this is PAL / NTSC independent?

    S-Video isn't PAL/NTSC independent. S-Video is essentially composite, but with the chroma carried on a different wire to the luminance signals rather than composited into a single wire. The only video signal formats that avoid PAL/NTSC are RGB or YUV (component) formats. RGB is commonly used in Europe, YUV is the standard format used in the US. ;-(

    Also, you should be aware that technically PAL/NTSC refer to the colour-coding format used, independent of the picture resolution and frame rate. So even if you found a TV in the US that was capable of handling RGB or YUV (thus avoiding the PAL/NTSC colour coding issue) you'd need to be sure it could handle 625 line, 50Hz signals. (Although any TV claiming to handle PAL would almost certainly support 625 line/50Hz).

    One possibility is to buy a multi-standard converting VCR (about $4-500 last time I looked) and use the conversion circuitry in that to convert PAL 625/50 to NTSC 525/60. That would result in a significant reduction in picture quality though so isn't particularly desirable.

    Another possibility is to take your TV with you and run it from a power converter. Problem with this one is that you won't be able to use it to watch US broadcast/cable TV or output from US VCRs.

    BTW SCART is a European standard (once referred to as Euroconnector), virtually unheard of in the US.

    Barry

  • Most pirate DVD's are region 0 (all regions).

  • I have one of the Apex DVD players that was the hot story here and elsewhere months back. It plays all region DVD's and will also let you disable Macrovision.

    The new ones supposedly have the loopholes closed, but there are several older ones on ebay that have bids from $90 to $300+.

    Be warned that quality is spotty on these. They seem to either be DOA or die soon after, or they are fine. Mine has been flawless, but I know others who had DOA's or warranty repairs after only a month or so. If you buy at auction, make sure that returns are accepted.

  • Wont this all end when we get CSS accepted???
  • Well if you have firmware/software updateable DVD-ROM player [datatestlab.com] then that would work (check their BBS [datatestlab.com] for screeds of detail).

    For specifically UK DVDs you could try this site [reviewer.co.uk] I stumbled across a while back (BBS [reviewer.co.uk]).

  • PAL/NTSC dictates the timing/resolution. S-Video vs. composite video dictates how much the signals are multiplexed together. I think (I'm not sure) that standard video has the chrominance and luminance signals mixed, but S-Video splits these two signals on two different wires. (I know that something is split on S-Video that isn't on standard composite video, I can't recall exactly what is split.)
  • You can get PAL/NTSC/SECAM sets that will run on 110/220V 50/60 Hz power. See this page [world-import.com] for some Sony models.
  • Very true... here in AU practically every video is NTSC/PAL playable, and do the conversion, all at the 'normal' price - $150 up, depending on quality.

    My relatives in Chicago mentioned that getting a dual format player over there means a cost of well over a thousand dollars.

    I'm not sure whether you could expect similarities with TV pricing.

  • Now, does anyone know why american light switches are all upside down... ?

    We have a phallo-centric/obsessed society over here. Up means on, down means off...

  • The biggest problem is going to be the PALNTSC conversion.

    I haven't yet seen a multi-standard TV for sale in the US. They are 100% NTSC. In Europe I regularly see multi-standard PAL/SECAM/NTSC TVs.

    But I haven't been looking at the newest 16x9 TVs, maybe they will support any signal coming from a DVD player.

    On the continent, many large chains such as FNAC in Belgium sell zoneless (zonderZone) DVD players. What they do is for an extra few hundred BEF, they 'burn out' the zone chip so the machines will play DVDs from any zone. They do this in the store when you buy the unit, so in case something goes wrong, they just grab another unit for you. They claim 80% of customers pay extra for zone-free systems, even if they don't plan on getting cheap DVDs from other zones any time soon.

    Some of my Aussie friends have brought back a bunch of pirated DVDs from passing through Singapore and Bangkok. They have had no problem playing all those DVDs on their zoneless players, and I'm sure some of them are NTSC/zone 1 disks.

    The biggest complaint I have seen is the copy protection scheme on the video output. The sync levels get changed every few seconds making cheap TVs and all tape units lose the picture. Maybe you can look into buying a level restorer to clean up the video signal, and it may also do PAL to NTSC conversion for you.

    And what happened to the DVD boycott until deCSS and DMCA battles are won? :-)

    the AC

  • Actually, you can get reasonably inexpensive dual-format hardware in the United States - you just have to know where to look. One place to look would be the New York area photography/video stores. Do not look in just any shop - you have to go to the ones the professionals use. Most of these businesses are heavily reliant on mail-order sales, so you can have one shipped likely anywhere in the country.

    Expect to pay around $200-$300 US dollars (plus shipping) for a basic player unit. These stores stock a lot of equipment to support a variety of formats. Now I really do not want to plug any stores over any others, but doing a quick look, here is one company [bhphotovideo.com] that stocks multi-format players. Do not treat this as a recommendation - I have never purchased anything from them. Look in their consumer video section. The one downside is that you really have to do some research into what you are buying - unless you are actually visiting these stores, you will not know what you have physically purchased until you get it.

    Of particular intrest to me is one item. I would link to it, but they're site is dynamically generated. Do a search for the part number "Dv414" - it should be made by Pioneer. A $400 Multi-Region DVD player?

  • My setup... (Score:3)

    by MythMoth ( 73648 ) on Wednesday July 19, 2000 @06:38PM (#919799) Homepage
    I moved here about three months ago.

    Since my stuff was being shipped out by my new employers, the cheapest option for me was to buy a voltage transformer (Maplins sell these for about 50 quid) to convert US voltage (& socket) to UK. Don't forget you'll need to buy this BEFORE you leave.

    Then get a cheap VCR and connect that to your TV via the SCART socket. NOTE the output of your US VCR will be composite video through "Phono" style connectors, so you will need to buy a suitable cable - again BEFORE you leave.

    However, if you're not especially fond of your TV or it's going to be expensive to ship it out, remember that consumer electronics are rather cheaper in the US; as a rule of thumb just change the pound sign to a dollar sign and the exchange rate will do the rest ;-)

    Check out some US stores to get a feel for prices - BestBuy.Com seems ok, but this isn't especially a plug for them.

    That's about it. Now, does anyone know why american light switches are all upside down... ?

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