PAL to NTSC

[AbigailD]

Well the time has come. We are moving back to the UK.

It won't be for 6-8 months but already I have to start getting things in order and making plans. Now.

What's going to happen to my DVDs? I can take my player over with me, but not the TV. With the different frame rate and being PAL over there, not NTSC-will they play? Or should I just ditch them here, sell them before I go (hence the reason I am asking early).

[Obiwan176]

As I understand it NTSC should play fine in the UK. PAL does not here though. It seems strange to me but that is what I have found in my video research. I would hold onto them. If the dvd players there do not play them right away then all you need to do is find a UK player that supports NTSC. I know the TVs there can for sure. So, it all depends on the player.

[Ricky]

Actually, PAL does play here. I have a DVD player that is multi-region, and I import discs from amazon.co.uk. They play fine on a player that does the right region, that is hooked to a US TV.

So maybe the reverse will be true too.

Otherwise, are you taking a PC back? Won't that have a US region dvd player on it, and an attached monitor? In which case, just watch them on that.

[Obiwan176]

I know that players here in the US can play PAL but what the players do is actually convert the video for NTSC playback. I have done that too. The video seems to be choppy at points and so on. Our system here just doesn't accept PAL in its native format.

The UK does accept NTSC in its native format with no video conversion.

I really don't think keeping the discs is going to ba a problem at all.

[AKmaro1]

O.k. guys, there's a bigger issue at play here than NTSC and PAL. You should probably watch out about taking any plug in appliances at all back to the U.K. Remember they have an incompatible electrical system with ours, I believe the voltage is either to high or too low, and I believe the plug designs may be different. Unless of course you pick up some adapters for your devices.

So maybe the best plan of attack is to buy a multi-region DVD player when you get back home. Just a thought.

[Obiwan176]

I would say hold on to the discs until you get there. I guarantee you there is an easy way to watch them over there just fine. AKmaro is right I think our players are definately a no go but the discs are ok.

[AbigailD]

The player is ok actually. I've used it there before, when I went back for a month long holiday. It is such a tiny little thing (a couple of times the size of a DVD box, if that) that I packed it and took along an adapter. I was worried, because the voltage there is 240 not 110 or whatever it is here, but it was ok (my guess being because the amps are conversely affected, reduced). I've bought stuff from there and used here too.

[JimmysOne]

If you find you can't watch them ,there are plenty of software on the net for conversion

[AbigailD]

Yeah, I've tried one or two. The trouble is that they only work on computers, not on stand alone dvd players I could buy a spare dvd drive for a computer and set it to region 1 if I wanted to do that. Just run it externally.