UK and AU dvd's versus U.S. dvd's - Help pls
 

I know you need a special DVD player to be able to play DVD's that weren't encoded for your region....but other than that is there any major difference in the DVD's?

There are some DVD's I want to buy that have been released in the UK and AU right now, but won't be released in the U.S. for quite some time.
I was thinking of buying the foreign releases, but wanted to know what I'm getting myself into ahead of time.

Your input is appreciated.

yeah, they might be in PAL format..
once again, some dvd players/tv's support it, others dont :)

Well I'm buying a "region free" DVD player that should play them all.
The different format might look weird, but I have a widescreen TV that lets me adjust the format to stretch it out to fit the screen anyways.
Shouldn't look much different than NTSC I hope.

The three differences between NTSC discs and PAL discs are: 1) Picture size and pixel aspect ratio (720x480 vs 720x576), 2) Display frame rate (29.97 vs 25), 3) surround audio options (Dolby Digital vs MPEG audio). Video from film is usually encoded at 24 frames/sec. but is preformatted for one of the two display rates. Movies formatted for PAL display are usually sped up by 4% at playback, so the audio must be adjusted accordingly before being encoded. All PAL DVD players can play Dolby Digital audio but not all NTSC players can play MPEG audio. PAL and SECAM share the same scanning format, so discs are the same for both systems. The only difference is that SECAM players output the color signal in the format required by SECAM TV's. Note that modern TV's in most SECAM countries can also read PAL signals, so you can use a player that only has a PAL output.


from http://www.microcinema.com/index/ntsc

i have several and i travel a lot and own a lot of foreign dvds. i dont believe it matters what video format it is (PAL, NTSC, SECAM etc)... the only way that makes a difference is when you try to connect it to the tv and play the dvd through a portable player to the tv.

i have a few region free dvd players and take them everywhere and watch dvd's from many regions.


edit:
oh... just read your post more clearly. yeah... you can't play a PAL dvd through a region free dvd player on an NTSC tv as far as i know. the video formats have to be the same or you need a multi system tv.

Have a look at videohelp.com

Hmmm....so I'll have to check and see if my TV can handle the PAL format or not.

If you're really desperate, your PC should be able to play both NTSC and PAL DVDs.

Most modern TVs should be able to handle both PAL and NTSC, the only difference between brand X's TV in the USA and Australia is probably a setting in EPROM somewhere to specify the tuning range...

I'm not that desperate.

I have a 62" DLP television and a really comfortable lazy boy recliner, when I watch a movie/dvd I'm watching it in the living room.
The last thing I want to do with my free time is sit in front of this computer...LOL

Get a converter:

I have the Tr-1000 . Works great

http://www.tenlab.com/