DVD region query
Posted by: Bosh on 15 May 2004
Just got a Panasonic DVD recorder that says "multi-region" on the box.
As my Pioneer player is only Region 2 I have not bought any Region 1 discs but got one free with a Canadian Foo Fighters CD
The Panasonic will not play it (just get ziggy zaggy lines) but can make out the FFighters menu and by pressing several buttons can get it to play the music but the picture is again zigzag
Before I spend an eternity setting it up do you think the Panasonic been shipped as Region 2 as the DVD plays fine in the PC drive with WinXP ?media player?
Posted on: 15 May 2004 by Manu
Looks like it is not a Region problem, but a format one. If the Region was wrong, the DVDR would refuse to play the disk. The DVD is region 1 so NTSC, your TV is probably PAL. Check in the DVDR menu if there is an option about PAL/NTSC.
Emmanuel
Euphonie
All opinions are my own, and reflect those of the organisation i work for, even if not stipulated.
Posted on: 15 May 2004 by TomK
You need to check:
1. Whether your DVD player can handle NTSC, and
2. Whether your TV player can also do it.
Most recent UK TVs can handle NTSC but if your TV is a few years old it probably can't. This is the most likely cause of your problem. If your DVD player couldn't cope it would probably just not recognise the disc.
My son had exactly the same problem with a Foo Fighters DVD bought last summer in HMV Blackpool. It was labelled as region free or whatever the wording is but it wouldn't play on his TV. We complained to HMV and got little joy although we saw a few weeks later that the same DVD in Glasgow had an NTSC label on it. This isn't the first time I've come across a "region free" NTSC music DVD sold in the UK without any warning about possible TV compatibility problems.
Posted on: 16 May 2004 by Geoff P
In principle most DVD players can convert NTSC to PAL so in theory you should be able to watch a NTSC DVD on a PAL only TV.
It is often a matter of setting a small switch on the DVD player back panel. Have a look in the instruction book. If youare lucky there will be an "auto" position which switches by signal detction. If not there should a t least be a manaual switch.
regards
GEOFF
Posted on: 16 May 2004 by Eddie Pugh
Geoff
Many so called multi region DVD players output Region 1 disc video as some sort of pseudo PAL or PAL 60 which many newer TV's can recognise and sync on to on certain inputs.
I had an Arcam DV88 for a while playing into a Sony Wega fx60 and it worked fine. When I upgraded to a Tag DVD32 which was also set to play Region 1 the Wega did not recognise the signal. The problem was that the Tag actually outputs a proper NTSC signal and your TV must be real NTSC capable. Fortunately my Sony Wega was but I had to hack into the Service Menu to configure the set to autodetect the NTSC.
eddie
Posted on: 16 May 2004 by Bosh
Thanks for the advice but still no joy.
The panasonic helpline wasnt.
Tried setting the DVD up to NTSC output but it made all the other channels ziggy zaggy too.
An absolute bu**er to get it back to PAL until I read the manual small print and held a couple of buttons at the same time whilst standing on my head
Will have to blag a "proper" region 1 and try again
Posted on: 18 May 2004 by JohanR
quote:
Just got a Panasonic DVD recorder that says "multi-region" on the box.
Bosh! What exact model is it? As I'm thinking of buying one.
JohanR
