I've asked this question before but remain confused - please can someone help?
I want to take my DVD and Blu ray players to America.
They are all multi region DVD bar 1 and region B blu ray.
I want to take my region 2 DVD's (and a few region 1) and my region B blu rays.
If I connect DVD and blu ray players to an American TV with HDMI will I get a picture - is there a problem with PAL versus NTSC and 50/60HZ - in other words will region 2 DVD's and region B bluray play on American TV with no picture problems.
Only 1 DVD player does not have HDMI - but is has composite - will I get a picture if I connect to American TV with composite - assuming American TV has composite.This player is also multiregion - will I be able to play region 2 PAL DVD's via composite onto American TV.
Thanking you in anticipation.

You can really only try, and see what happens - whilst most EU gear tends to be pretty good in this regard, the Americans deliberately crippled their sets to make them only work on their system. It's been rumoured since their DSO that the situation is better, but I've no personal knowledge of that.

Many (most) multi region DVD players can be set to output NTSC. Look through the menus, the choice is usually PAL, NTSC, and AUTO.

The problem would be more likely to be 50/60 Hz rather than PAL/NTSC especially since you are unlikely to want to use either PAL or NTSC.

Apart from PAL/NTSC/region coding, surely the player needs to be able to run on the US 110v mains, as far as I know not all players will, probably worth checking, because if they don't a converter would be needed.

Thanks for the replies everyone - Nigel can you advise what DSO refers to?
So it appears that if the DVD players are switchable between NTSC/PAL, I should get a picture.
The only worry I have is whether the 50/60Hz issue will affect picture motion - I know some of my players will require voltage converter - others are marked 110V/220v so voltage should not be a problem - it's just the 50/60Hz issue.
Am I correct in assuming that the NTSC/PAL issue only applies to DVD's?
In other words, a UK blu ray player will play my region B discs on an American TV in America.

Digital switch over.


No not at all. The big issue is whether the TV will take 50Hz for your "PAL" DVDs. I don't know whether modern US TVs will - the old ones usually didn't used to do this.

The "PAL" is in quotes because a "PAL" DVD really refers to whether it is 50/60Hz (UK or US). The DVD player NTSC/PAL will typically just switch the colour modulation scheme however you would not be using this as you would be feeding the TV via HDMI.


Blu-ray movies should play okay as they will likely be 24 fps. Blu-ray can be 50/25 but I don't think that is usual, certainly not for movies which will all be 24.


There will be a problem playing DVDs on the blu-ray if they are 50Hz if the TV doesn't support 50Hz it is no different to the DVD player in that respect.

As mentioned above you will need a step down transformer for each player, something like this.

Any DVD or Blu-ray disc encoded at 50Hz will probably not play on an American TV unless the player can convert 50 to 60Hz. Most DVD players' config screens run at 50Hz so you may not even be able to change the settings! Some really cheap DVD players can convert to 60Hz while the more expensive ones usually can't. I doubt there are many Blu-ray players that with 50/60Hz conversion, but you won't need it if all your Blu-rays are 24fps.

WRONG. DVD players that can output PAL or NTSC output true PAL (50Hz) or true NTSC (60Hz).

No he needs a step up transformer. What you linked to was not even a transformer but an electronic voltage converter, poorly made in the far east. Even the mains socket on the front was grotty.

Here is a proper transformer:
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind..._USA_Converter

Your post doesn't make sense.

I might guess that you are saying there are players that will convert from 50Hz to 60Hz. Yes you can but this is unusual and such players are expensive, also the picture quality from such a machine will not be the best in this mode. Unless the collection is very special it may be best to just replace the DVDs rather than buy such a machine.

If on the other hand you are saying that normal DVD players that have a selection for PAL/NTSC in the output will convert a 50Hz DVD to output 60Hz then you are wrong, most just select between PAL and NTSC. You may know of a cheapish player that does 50/60 Hz conversion, if so you should post a link because it will be helpful to the OP.

I think the best thing would be for the OP to try and find US TVs (or monitors) that will accept 50Hz. It may be that nowadays many will (nobody here seems to know), it is more likely that the cheaper makes will do so as there is less incentive for them to spend the extra money disabling 50Hz because it is less likely people will export cheap TVs from the states. For DVD/blu-ray there is likely to be less difference in PQ anyway.

Posting the question on a US AV site where they know a lot about US equipment would be the best bet.

I doubt that american sets have 50Hz disabled, I suspect they use a different, cheaper chip set. It's gigantic market almost certainly with it's own production facilities.

All the DVD players I have ever owned will output PAL 50hz or NTSC 60 Hz from any disk.
I am NOT wrong when

All the DVD players I have ever owned will output PAL 50Hz or NTSC 60 Hz from any disk and were not unusual nor expensive.
I am NOT wrong when I say DVD players that have a selection for PAL/NTSC in the output will convert a 50Hz DVD to output 60Hz.
I have a Samsung that does this, a Dansai from Tesco, a Cyberhome (no longer have this), and a Scott fron Currys.
Any player that won't do this will have been hobbled by the manufacturer.

Anyway at the end of the day standards converters are dirt cheap anyway:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/DreamTeck-Pa...ntsc+converter

I wouldn't bother taking UK players to us. US gear is so cheap compared to UK I would just by new ones (multi region).

Well none of mine have ever converted 50Hz to 60Hz or vice versa, I do know some expensive models that do this and there may be cheap ones as well just none I've ever used. All my players have had PAL/NTSC output selection but none have converted the frame rate. I suggest you list yours or give current models that do this as it will be very helpful to the OP.

There's no reason for missing 50Hz to be cheaper and I would be very surprised if there aren't a lot of imported TVs in the US, I know they are a very protectionist market but I don't think they go that far - the cheap imported TVs are the best bet for 50Hz supporting TVs if the expensive ones don't.

The issue is not so much multi region it's more whether the TV will support 50Hz or not. None of us seem to know the situation for modern TVs (we know the old ones typically didn't) which is why I suggested the OP ask on a US AV site.

Generally they use the same chip sets, deliberately crippled - it's unlikely you can even buy chipsets that would only support the American market?, it wouldn't be cost effective and would be completely pointless.

I tried my PAL50 digital camera via HDMI on an LG LCD when in the US a year ago and it didn't want to display the results and that was a very modern digital HD capable 40" LCD TV

You can't assume that just because all the LCD and video equipment we now use in Europe is generally multi system capable that the same applies in the US market. Some items will and some won't.

I'd imagine that on the whole, the vast majority of the US market won't ever have a need to be able to display anything other than their own home market material.

It's not particularly that, just that America is incredibly insular, with the population having little idea of what exists outside the USA - with even senior politicians not knowing what countries are

I've already given a list in post 14, But I can now add Philips DVD640/051 to that list. Someone gave it to me today as they had upgraded to bluray. And yes just like all the other machines I mentioned it will output NTSC 60Hz. Just go to menu, video, TV type and choose NTSC.

How do you know your players don't convert the frame rate? Have you measured it with a waveform monitor?

Most DVD players have an 'NTSC Output' option but the choices are usually a) NTSC and b) PAL60. This does not affect the frame rate but the colour encoding on the composite output. Frame rate conversion is less common. On my old LG-made player if I eject a disc then hold down the pause key the display on the machine cycles through Auto, NTSC and PAL.

You don't need a waveform monitor to check the frame rate! When NTSC is being viewed a TINT setting should appear among the TV's picture menu options - something you will never see when viewing PAL.

Now come on your 2 choices NTSC and PAL60 are both 60 Hz rate. Frame rate conversion seems to be very common in my experience and appears to apply to your LG.
Actually the biggest problem for the OP would be seeing the menus on a US TV to change them. Best to change it here first.

I'm aware, of course, that you don't actually need a waveform monitor.

Just about all DVD players will do this, that is not the point in question and never has been. What we are talking about is converting 50 Hz to 60Hz which is a different proposition. I can't find a user guide for this player to check whether it will do this conversion.

I don't deny there may be cheapish players that will do frame rate conversion as just because I haven't seen them doesn't mean they don't exist, what I do deny is that most players do this. I would also point out that this is not going to produce great results and getting a TV that will display 50Hz will result in better PQ.

Your "list" in #14 was just a list of manufacturers so no use at all.

EDIT: I have now downloaded the manual for this particular device and it does not mention any frame conversion so I would have to conclude it does not do this. What it does is give the "standard" selection of colour modulation - automatic, PAL or NTSC.