NTSC and PAL -- Does it matter if DVD is played back on computer?

[David]

Sorry for the noob question. I only know in the US, if you want to play a VHS tape or DVD on a player, it got to be NTSC. While over here, we use PAL.

But can I play an NTSC DVD on any computer? I haven't heard of the computer DVD drive differentiating NTSC and PAL.....

thanks~! :embrass:

 

[dreaming]

They're Not Really PAL or NTSC

The first thing I need to clarify about DVD is that PAL and NTSC are words and formats that are applied to DVD for convenience, and because of historical convention. There is nothing fundamental about a DVD which makes it either PAL or NTSC, but for simplicity and brevity, I will continue to use these terms throughout this article.

At their heart, DVDs are merely carriers of data files with compressed audio-visual information contained therein. This information can be placed on DVD in one of two resolutions; 720 x 576 pixels (PAL DVDs), or 720 x 480 pixels (NTSC DVDs), and with various frame rates (24, 25, and 30 frames per second are common). The DVD player itself takes this data file and formats it appropriately for display in either PAL or NTSC.

http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Articles/PALvsNTSC/PALvsNTSC.asp

i think replay is normally decode in MPEG2. maybe now everything is multi system, region free.

 

[GavinTing]

They're Not Really PAL or NTSC

The first thing I need to clarify about DVD is that PAL and NTSC are words and formats that are applied to DVD for convenience, and because of historical convention. There is nothing fundamental about a DVD which makes it either PAL or NTSC, but for simplicity and brevity, I will continue to use these terms throughout this article.

At their heart, DVDs are merely carriers of data files with compressed audio-visual information contained therein. This information can be placed on DVD in one of two resolutions; 720 x 576 pixels (PAL DVDs), or 720 x 480 pixels (NTSC DVDs), and with various frame rates (24, 25, and 30 frames per second are common). The DVD player itself takes this data file and formats it appropriately for display in either PAL or NTSC.

http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Articles/PALvsNTSC/PALvsNTSC.asp

i think replay is normally decode in MPEG2. maybe now everything is multi system, region free.

Not really region free.. It's still there to make us pay more, and make life harder

 

[David]

Thanks guys...

I was confused initially cos I wanted to buy a DVD from a US website but it says there are 2 DVD versions, NTSC and PAL.

Then I remembered, I've been playing many DVDs made in USA (NTSC type) without problems here so was wondering why they sold them as 2 separate formats.

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

the main difference is the timing... Pal is 25FPS, NTSC is 29.97 iirc...

on tape, unless you have a multi-system tv and player, its ok...

on dvd wise... its still ok iirc, since most are multisystem already... the only thing is depends on sources, some shows that release in NTSC like japan movie or US movie then release in UK with pal standard, the picture and sound may not syncronise...

 

[bousozoku]

Computers rarely care, but some DVD players care about PAL or NTSC. I recently got some DVD meant for PAL and it wouldn't play on my equipment but it was fine in the computer.