ottaky
01-10-2004, 03:09 AM
Hi all, and apologies for a long and boring post ;-)
I have a Japanese VR100K (NTSC), but I live in London where everything video related uses PAL. I also have a Samsung DVD-709 (PAL) which has been "hacked" to remove region restrictions and macrovision - it also has a switch on the back to choose between PAL, SECAM and NTSC. Everything described below is recording on the VR100K via line in directly from the DVD player.
With a region 2, PAL disc in the player which is set to PAL, I can record video. Unsurprisingly, the aspect ratio is not 100% correct and a number of scan lines are missing from the bottom of the movie (PAL has more scan lines than NTSC). Colour is fine (which is a little suprising), as is the sound. I can live with that, no problem. But, the video is not as smooth as it could be .. it's watchable, but there's a little room for improvement. I guess it's because PAL is 50 fps, while NTSC is 60 fps, and that the VR100 (recording at 15 fps) simply samples every 4th frame .. which is fine for NTSC, but results in missing some frames when recording PAL (just a guess).
With a region 2, NTSC disc in the player, again set to PAL, the video recorded is smoother (as smooth as it gets) but monochrome.
With a region 2, NTSC disc in the player and the player set to NTSC, I have a 100% perfect result. Colour, smooth .. everything is perfect. As I would expect.
So .. the obvious solution is to set the switch on the DVD player to NTSC permanently. But, the player then rejects PAL discs and simply ejects them. D'oh. NTSC discs play fine, but not PAL .. and 99% of my DVDs are PAL.
So, I'm wondering if anybody has any bright ideas. I know I can get standalone PAL -> NTSC converters, but the good ones (not the ones that simply replace colours) are quite expensive (more than I played for the recorder). Maybe somebody in the UK can suggest a cheap DVD player to try, one that can output NTSC with PAL discs perhaps?
Any suggestions gratefully received!
Cheers,
sjb
I have a Japanese VR100K (NTSC), but I live in London where everything video related uses PAL. I also have a Samsung DVD-709 (PAL) which has been "hacked" to remove region restrictions and macrovision - it also has a switch on the back to choose between PAL, SECAM and NTSC. Everything described below is recording on the VR100K via line in directly from the DVD player.
With a region 2, PAL disc in the player which is set to PAL, I can record video. Unsurprisingly, the aspect ratio is not 100% correct and a number of scan lines are missing from the bottom of the movie (PAL has more scan lines than NTSC). Colour is fine (which is a little suprising), as is the sound. I can live with that, no problem. But, the video is not as smooth as it could be .. it's watchable, but there's a little room for improvement. I guess it's because PAL is 50 fps, while NTSC is 60 fps, and that the VR100 (recording at 15 fps) simply samples every 4th frame .. which is fine for NTSC, but results in missing some frames when recording PAL (just a guess).
With a region 2, NTSC disc in the player, again set to PAL, the video recorded is smoother (as smooth as it gets) but monochrome.
With a region 2, NTSC disc in the player and the player set to NTSC, I have a 100% perfect result. Colour, smooth .. everything is perfect. As I would expect.
So .. the obvious solution is to set the switch on the DVD player to NTSC permanently. But, the player then rejects PAL discs and simply ejects them. D'oh. NTSC discs play fine, but not PAL .. and 99% of my DVDs are PAL.
So, I'm wondering if anybody has any bright ideas. I know I can get standalone PAL -> NTSC converters, but the good ones (not the ones that simply replace colours) are quite expensive (more than I played for the recorder). Maybe somebody in the UK can suggest a cheap DVD player to try, one that can output NTSC with PAL discs perhaps?
Any suggestions gratefully received!
Cheers,
sjb