NTSC/PAL, cheap DVD players and jumpy R1 discs...
Posted by: Top Cat on 26 December 2004
Hi folks.
Yesterday our DVD player died. The trusty donkey that was the Samsung 709 has given sterling service but it was all too clear that it had had its day, and was getting progressively worse at playing most any film. It would jump and corrupt - usually around the half-way point and onwards.
So, because we're waiting for the DVD-with-HD recorders to come down a bit in price, we thought we'd avail ourselves of a 'stand-in' DVD player - a Toshiba as it happens.
Anyway, great player for the money, but I have a techie question.
We've a small number of R1 and R4 (?) discs - i.e. US DVDs and some Asian Zatoichi-style swords-and-silliness flicks. As we're slumming it with a hand-me-down TV whilst we wait for the LCD tellies to come down to sensible money, we've got out new player region-unlocked and hooked up to this basic telly.
R2 plays just fine, when set to PAL. R1 and R4 play fine when set to NTSC or Auto output mode, but appear only in B&W. No colour, so much for that dang colour telly, amigos. If we switch the output to PAL, there's a noticeable-but- regular jerkiness to the picture. Almost as if the picture has a hiccup. I am guessing that NTSC DVDs are encoded with a differing FPS to PAL ones, and that our cheapo telly can't adjust its frequency to compensate, hence the step, which is most noticeable when there's significant motion on the screen.
So, we're stuck with B&W R1/R4 without jerkiness (via Auto setting for output) ot jerky colour (via PAL setting). R2, of course, is perfect.
As we're not planning on changing to a new telly for a little while yet, can anyone explain what is going on here with this jerkiness and whether there's any easy way to get around it (other than settling for a life of mono)?
Many thanks,
John
Yesterday our DVD player died. The trusty donkey that was the Samsung 709 has given sterling service but it was all too clear that it had had its day, and was getting progressively worse at playing most any film. It would jump and corrupt - usually around the half-way point and onwards.
So, because we're waiting for the DVD-with-HD recorders to come down a bit in price, we thought we'd avail ourselves of a 'stand-in' DVD player - a Toshiba as it happens.
Anyway, great player for the money, but I have a techie question.
We've a small number of R1 and R4 (?) discs - i.e. US DVDs and some Asian Zatoichi-style swords-and-silliness flicks. As we're slumming it with a hand-me-down TV whilst we wait for the LCD tellies to come down to sensible money, we've got out new player region-unlocked and hooked up to this basic telly.
R2 plays just fine, when set to PAL. R1 and R4 play fine when set to NTSC or Auto output mode, but appear only in B&W. No colour, so much for that dang colour telly, amigos. If we switch the output to PAL, there's a noticeable-but- regular jerkiness to the picture. Almost as if the picture has a hiccup. I am guessing that NTSC DVDs are encoded with a differing FPS to PAL ones, and that our cheapo telly can't adjust its frequency to compensate, hence the step, which is most noticeable when there's significant motion on the screen.
So, we're stuck with B&W R1/R4 without jerkiness (via Auto setting for output) ot jerky colour (via PAL setting). R2, of course, is perfect.
As we're not planning on changing to a new telly for a little while yet, can anyone explain what is going on here with this jerkiness and whether there's any easy way to get around it (other than settling for a life of mono)?
Many thanks,
John