Should I play R1s as PAL or NTSC?

[Jon Weaver]

I used to have a Samsung player which had a switch at the back for NTSC/PAL and a software option to select between 50/60hz

For watching DVDs, I used to leave it in PAL(60)

With my Pioneer, its got a software selection between AUTO, NTSC and PAL.

As default it comes as Auto, which means that R1s output in NTSC and R2s in PAL.

But what gives the best quality, PAL or NTSC?

[RAPepper]

I believe at that NTSC has less resolution lines.

However at the end of the day, surely you just need to try it and see what looks best to your eyes??? Most of these things are subjective so it's whatever rocks your boat.

RAP

[Cable Monkey]

I would only use the PAL conversion if it were necessary. Conversions between formats only serve to reduce quality, regardless of the format considered to be better.

[Paul Buglass]

Dear Cable,

Just a friendly comment on what you said.

In reality there is no conversion between NTSC and PAL as such. A DVD stores no NTSC or PAL colour encoding, just MPEG2 with different X x Y sizes and frame rates as the only difference between an R1 NTSC and R2 PAL DVD. Remember R2 includes Japan where NTSC is used which is why most R2 DVD player come with options for PAL and NTSC o/p.

If you play an R1 NTSC DVD the player will produce NTSC 60Hz or PAL 60Hz (or PAL 50Hz if it's an option). Only one encoding into NTSC or PAL colour system takes place. If you use RGB connections there is no TV colour system involved so the only difference you will see will be down to the original source material and how it was encoded into MPEG.

Personally I have tried both and found PAL60 to 'seem' better on my TV (which handles real NTSC too).

At the end of the day its best to try all the options and see which seems best.

Best wishes

/Paul B, York, UK.

[Chris]

Originally posted by Paul Buglass
Dear Cable,

Just a friendly comment on what you said.

In reality there is no conversion between NTSC and PAL as such. A DVD stores no NTSC or PAL colour encoding, just MPEG2 with different X x Y sizes and frame rates as the only difference between an R1 NTSC and R2 PAL DVD. Remember R2 includes Japan where NTSC is used which is why most R2 DVD player come with options for PAL and NTSC o/p.

If you play an R1 NTSC DVD the player will produce NTSC 60Hz or PAL 60Hz (or PAL 50Hz if it's an option). Only one encoding into NTSC or PAL colour system takes place. If you use RGB connections there is no TV colour system involved so the only difference you will see will be down to the original source material and how it was encoded into MPEG.

Personally I have tried both and found PAL60 to 'seem' better on my TV (which handles real NTSC too).

At the end of the day its best to try all the options and see which seems best.

Best wishes

/Paul B, York, UK.

Yes the NTSC/PAL conversion shouldn't matter, IF the dvd was sourced from a component master (most movies are)

BUT, it will matter if the DVD was sourced from a composite master (conversion from Composite NTSC->YUV->PAL, which doesn't always come out very well.

[Justin]

Originally posted by Jon Weaver
I used to have a Samsung player which had a switch at the back for NTSC/PAL and a software option to select between 50/60hz

For watching DVDs, I used to leave it in PAL(60)

With my Pioneer, its got a software selection between AUTO, NTSC and PAL.

As default it comes as Auto, which means that R1s output in NTSC and R2s in PAL.

But what gives the best quality, PAL or NTSC?

Jon,

Leave it set to auto (NTSC-> NTSC, PAL->Pal) unless you have problems with your TV:)