Forum Archive Home -> Media -> VHS region compatibility?
VHS region compatibility? | ||||
| Jeikobu posted 2009 Jun 18 16:54 | ||||
| Can I play a PAL VHS tape on a NTSC player? I know about DVD regions, but I'm almost completely unfamiliar with VHS regions. Thanks. | ||||
| johns0 posted 2009 Jun 18 16:56 | ||||
| Nope.Different recording system(pal) and different recording speeds. | ||||
| anaboland posted 2009 Jun 18 17:15 | ||||
| A large number of later generation UK/European VHS players will playback both NTSC and PAL formats, by converting the NTSC signals into PAL, but i don't know if there were ever any in the US that worked the other way around.
Prehaps Lordsmurf might know if any were ever produced :?: | ||||
| lordsmurf posted 2009 Jun 18 18:55 | ||||
| No, you cannot play PAL tapes on an NTSC deck.
Some PAL machines can play NTSC, however, yes -- but it's not converting, it plays NTSC as PAL-60, a quasi-signal. It's not NTSC, and trying to capture it is difficult, as PAL-60 quasi is not often supported on capture devices. There are no regions on VHS tapes. But you will have trouble playing PAL, SECAM or NTSC if the player is not designed for it. The signals are not the same. | ||||
| solarfox posted 2009 Jun 19 00:05 | ||||
| There was someone making a VHS player which had an on-the-fly standards converter inside it... but as I recall, the image quality left a lot to be desired, so I don't think it sold very well, and I haven't seen one in quite some time. (And given the lateness of the hour, I'm completely blanking on who the manufacturer was, although I seem to recall it wasn't one of the big-name electronics brands...) | ||||
| johns0 posted 2009 Jun 19 01:09 | ||||
| The vcr was an aiwa,got one myself,they digitally convert pal to ntsc,they made several models. | ||||
| AlanHK posted 2009 Jun 19 02:18 | ||||
| Most of the VHS decks I've seen here, in Hong Kong, are "multi-system". They play PAL as PAL and NTSC as NTSC, since most TVS here can cope with both. | ||||
| lordsmurf posted 2009 Jun 19 08:11 | ||||
Samsung too -- but these were clearly marked as multi-format players. About 5x-10x the cost, too. | ||||
| Jeikobu posted 2009 Jun 20 23:25 | ||||
| Ah well. Thanks for the insight. ^^ | ||||
| amckinney posted 2009 Oct 02 11:07 | ||||
Yes, quite. The ones with the built-in converters, while offering the plus of having VCR and converter "all in one unit", have the downside of a fairly poor PAL-to-NTSC conversion. All on-screen text, horizontal/vertical lines, for instance will have a sort of "flashing" or shimmering effect. Plus, the machines are (were) extremely expensive. I had them, though (first, an Aiwa HVMX1 and a Samsung), not only for playback, but also so I could record stuff in PAL for my trading friends overseas. A far better solution for playback of PAL tapes, though, would be to buy a mulit-standard VCR (i.e. one that does not have the converter built-in) and buy a separate stand-alone converter, such as the ones made by Tenlab or ComWorld. Those converters are a lot better than the built-in ones, plus many offer "de-macro" features and buying a combo of such a converter plus separate VCR (in my experience) worked out to be less expensive than those all-in-ones anyway. eBay might be a good place for a cheap multi-system VCR. You might still have to shop at an import specialist for the good converters, though. I bought my setup (admittedly, about 5-6 years ago) from World Gift Center. Click on their "multi-system VCR" tab, and you can browse the different models of VHS decks and converters, or look at their "Multi-System VCR and converter sets", where they offer a package deal of VCR + converter. Looks like their sets start about $250 for the pair. | ||||
| lordsmurf posted 2009 Oct 02 12:39 | ||||
| Those standalone converters -- Tenlab and others -- are pretty crappy for conversion, lots of ghosting and drop-frame. No better than the Samsung. It's best to leave PAL as PAL and NTSC as NTSC. You can make a PAL DVD from a PAL VHS tape, and play it on most all NTSC players. | ||||
| hech54 posted 2009 Oct 02 12:49 | ||||
| I don't know why so many keep ragging on machines like the Aiwa converting one (HV-MX100). I owned one. Yes it was damn expensive but it had VERY good picture quality and has always been highly rated on sites like Amazon and others. You could take it anywhere in the world and it will run on their power AND tune in their TV channels....on top of outputting very good quality video during conversion.
I'd be using it "over here" right now if my family hadn't worn it out not knowing it was not intended to be used as a daily VCR.....especially when there was an awesome flip-front Sony NTSC VCR sitting directly under the Aiwa. :evil: | ||||
| amckinney posted 2009 Oct 02 13:35 | ||||
I have to respectfully disagree. The Comworld one I have (which was rated on par with much more expensive TenLab ones) gave a much better conversion than the ones that were built-into the all-in-one machines from Aiwa and Samsung. I've owned all three (Aiwa, Samsung and a Comworld converter paired with JVC VCR). Aiwa and Samsung were about the same. The separate converter + VCR was miles better. Of course, in 1995, I thought the Aiwa was pretty darn good (especially compared to what was on the market earlier in the decade). Are there better standards converters out there? No doubt. Snell and Wilcox, for example, but most are beyond the reach of the average consumer. Yes, you could burn a PAL tape to a PAL disc (if you have a DVD recorder that can record in PAL), but at least in my experience, the built-in converters on DVD players have their own imperfections. For example, on material that was shot on PAL videotape, the "live, studio" look is somewhat reduced and almost looks like it was something shot on film. None of these methods are perfect. For the average person who just wants to watch PAL tapes, though, one of those VCR + converter setups will do quite nicely (heck, some people would be satisfied with the quality of the Aiwa and Samsung decks, too). And, yes, it is best to leave PAL as PAL and use multisystem equipment along with a multisystem TV (I have a CRT one downstairs), but the average person is going to have either a difficult time finding a multisystem TV, or find the prices/trouble too much to deal with (I, personally, am planning to make my next TV purchase a multisystem LCD, I just know it's going to take a lot of research, etc. on my part -- I won't just be able to go to Best Buy and grab any TV off the shelf). By the way, is there an appropriate "for sale" sub-forum on here somewhere where I can post? I've got a bunch of PAL precorded tapes I'd like to get rid of. | ||||
| MOVIEGEEK posted 2009 Oct 02 13:37 | ||||
I think you mean the other way around, few NTSC players support PAL. | ||||
| amckinney posted 2009 Oct 02 13:40 | ||||
I'm thinking that Lordsmurf meant by doing this you could use the built-in standards converter that many DVD players have. As I mentioned above, though, those converters have their own sets of 'problems' (such as making shot-on-tape stuff look more 'filmic' rather than the way it's supposed to look, which can be a big blow to Doctor Who fans who buy the R2 discs, as the VidFire process can get cancelled-out by watching the R2 discs in this fashion. The stand-alone converters, while having other imperfections, at least manage to preserve that "video" look. | ||||
| victoriabears posted 2009 Oct 03 00:50 | ||||
| transfer pal vhs to pal dvd then use a dvd player to convert, many choices
tranfer ntsc vhs to ntsc dvd then use almost any pal dvd player to convert, this issues has been discussed many times but I am happy to give the simple specific solutions, |
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