Page 1 of USA DVDs... NTSC TV needed??? help!

Hi..
I`m new here, and a big movie fan, so I`m finally going to take the plunge and get a DVD player. Of course there`s no point getting one unless it can be fixed to play US disks (so I can buy cheaply online :o) But when I went in to my local Richer Sounds to get the nitty gritty details they said that to play US DVDs I`d have to have an NTSC tv. Despite having 4 TV`s in my family home none of them are NTSC compatible, and it`s using up enough money getting the player! Is it definite that I need an NTSC TV or is there some way round it... I really hope there is....
Thanks for any help!

I`m by no means a tech expert, but I can play American (Region 1) DVD`s no problems through my Scan SC2000 (with the region free code enabled).

You don`t need a NTSC TV if your DVD player converts the signal automatically (and most of them do).

Also if you are looking to buy Region 1 DVD`s on-line I use http://www.play247.com They are really cheap and really fast.

NiVZ.

as long as your tv has scart connections on the rear (and or an S-video connection) you should not have a problem at all. Most TV`s made in the last 5 years have SCART.

I was hoping that`s what people would say! It seemed odd that this sales guy was saying that when I`d seen no other reference to TV type anywhere, no one saying they`d had problems.

Thanks very much, I guess I can go ahead and buy one now!
(thanks also for the website tip :o)

>"as long as your tv has scart connections on the rear (and or an S-video connection) you should not have a problem at all. Most TV`s made in the last 5 years have SCART."

Whooooah! Hold up here!! If the TV does NOT have NTSC or RGB capability, then R1 or other NTSC films will appear in black and white!!

In some cases, they will also appear to stutter and jerk on the screen.
Scart alone is not enough. It has to be RGB capable to play in colour.

The easiest solution is find a player that can output PAL from an NTSC disc.
And everyone knows my recommendations for this...
1) Aiwa 370 (Clone player of the LG 3350 and almost impossible to find!)

2) LG 3350 (The player cloned to make the 370! lol)

Just set either on "PAL" with the switch on the rear and your problems will be non existant.

My telly is the same..not multi standard!
Take a peek on my site: http://choosefirst.co.uk
for more Aiwa and LG information!

AIWA 370 (officially) ROCKS!!!!!

Well i did say "Should" :)

I shoulda mentioned checking your user guide for your tv`s they should give you the info you need regarding your SCART connections RGB etc.

OK, so everything is not quite as sorted as I`d thought! If I check the SCART info on my tv, what sort of RGB reference am I looking for? The idea of hardware that will definitely deal with NTSC disks and no NTSC TV sounds good.. is there anywhere I can find specific info on models and that spec? (other than the Aiwa and LG :o)

Just discovered another question... I read that ntsc on a non ntsc tv can appear jerky? Is that going to be a problem whatever I do unless I buy an NTSC tv? or will one of those DVD players that outputs PAL not have that problem..

Thanks for all the help btw - I appreciate it!

The Scan SC-2000 DVD player automatically converts NTSC Disks (i.e Region 1) to PAL 50 if you set the menu to PAL !

Another feature that makes the Scan player a bargain - they should advertise the fact more [plus it outputs the PAL signal to your video recorder !)

Isobel,

If your TVs are not NTSC compatible, check they can take an RGB signal in on the Scart. Also check that the DVD player you buy outputs RGB.

Your DVD player will do `NTSC to NTSC` or `NTSC to PAL60` or `NTSC to PAL50` when playing a R1 disk, depending on which player you buy. If you are using an RGB signal, then `NTSC to NTSC` and `NTSC to PAL60` are the same thing.

If one of your TVs will accept a 60Hz refresh, then you`ll be OK with `NTSC` or `PAL60` output from the player (using RGB). This is a bit of a dodgy area, because accepting a 60Hz picture might not be mentioned in the TV`s manual. My main TV doesn`t mention anything about 60Hz, but it does show a PAL60 picture, even though there are some visible interference lines on the screen as it was never designed to work at 60Hz.

If your TV won`t show a 60Hz picture then you will need to use `NTSC to PAL50` This requires the DVD player to change the frame rate (i.e. screen refresh rate) which is where the jerky picture comes in. Some players are worse than others at doing this, the Lecson 900 and Wharfedale 750 have been reported as being a bit crap at doing this, resulting in a jerky picture. However. there is likely to be some jerkiness whichever player you have.

Another important point is that R1 discs are stored differently to R2 discs. This means that R1 discs will *always* be slightly jerky anyway compared to the R2 equivalent.

Hope this helps.