Pal NTSC????

B

BBenve

Apple seeder
I noticed that in my ne 14'' iBook there is an option for the screen 60 HZ NTSC and 50 PAL...what is it for? i thought computer did not have ths kinda stuff...may be i can watch DVD from different region??? lol that would be cool but i seriously doubt it...can anyone explain??

Thanks
 
These options should only show up when you have the AV cable plugged in. Thats about $25 US and lets you mirror your display to a TV-set. Its great for watching DVDs (which can only appear on the TV when the cable is plugged in).
Sadly, it has nothing to do with DVD region codes. It just changes how the signal is output. NTSC is the US standard and has a faster framerate, PAL is the european standard and has better colour. The difference is very marginal and most modern TVs will support both as input, but you need to know you're getting the right one if you want to run your own movies and animations to a video recorder.
 
Originally posted by symphonix
NTSC is the US standard and has a faster framerate
Click to expand...

And is actually a black & white TV system with colour 'bolted on'. NTSC runs at 525 lines of resolution.

PAL is the european standard and has better colour.
Click to expand...

As it was designed from the start to be a colour TV system (no Tint/Hue control required). It's also worth noting that modern PAL TVs aren't restricted to 50Hz scan and many can easily display:

  • 50Hz PAL
  • 60Hz PAL
  • 100Hz PAL
  • NTSC 4.43
  • NTSC 3.58

PAL runs at 625 lines of resolution.

The difference is very marginal and most modern TVs will support both as input
Click to expand...

Most modern PAL TVs, that is. The majority of NTSC TVs in the US will still throw a hissy fit if fed a PAL signal.
 
Also PAL is not a European standard, but in fact a UK standard,
that is used in most countries where the Brits were based.
Most of Europe is SECAM based. Yet another standard.
 
Most modern SECAM TVs should be able to display a PAL picture though. IIRC, the main difference between PAL and SECAM is that PAL displays odd and even lines alternately and SECAN is a sequential scan (it displays the entire screen in one pass). They're both 625 line/50Hz systems.
 
Originally posted by jcart12
Also PAL is not a European standard, but in fact a UK standard,
that is used in most countries where the Brits were based.
Most of Europe is SECAM based. Yet another standard.
Click to expand...

Scandinavia uses PAL.
 
Originally posted by jcart12
Also PAL is not a European standard, but in fact a UK standard,
that is used in most countries where the Brits were based.
Most of Europe is SECAM based. Yet another standard.
Click to expand...

Generally NTSC has better frame rate and PAL has better quality picture.

But during Movie (cinema shot at 24fps) transfers to PAL or SECAM the Film is just slowed down to turn it into 25fps(PAL). But when transfered to NTSC they actually apply a mathematical equation to get to 30fps(actually 29.97 frames per second). This means British DVDs are actually longer in minutes than the US copy of the same film!!!

PAL was a UK standard but more of the world adopted (or had to) during our subtle little attempt at owning the planet. About 95% of Europe uses PAL. Also all the old Commonwealth countries are PAL (except Canada), the whole of Europe is PAL except Bulgaria, Russia and France who use SECAM. SECAM is related to PAL so most of the time it's compatible. SECAM is a French thing so many old French Empire countries share the same. Here are the totals of countries using what:

SECAM = 52 countries
NTSC = 45
PAL = 79

For country list goto

http://www.high-techproductions.com/pal.htm

Handy little site. And look at

http://www.high-techproductions.com/pal,ntsc.htm

for the technical differences. Hope that helps.
 
Just butting in for DVD playback.
Under OS 9 there are tools that allow you to
1) make your DVd drive a mutliregion drive (firmware)
2) which allow you to change regions many many times without problems of locking up to one region

I have done with with my G3 :)
 
Originally posted by AdmiralAK
Just butting in for DVD playback.
Under OS 9 there are tools that allow you to
1) make your DVd drive a mutliregion drive (firmware)
2) which allow you to change regions many many times without problems of locking up to one region

I have done with with my G3 :)
Click to expand...

That's cool for our Mac Monitors as they have no predetermined PAL or NTSC signal. But if one wants to use their iBook as a portable DVD player they still must use the correct TV Signal for an image to come through. A good example of this is that the UK and Japan share the same region BUT we're PAL and they're NTSC. So neither will play on each others' TV's regardless of Multi-Region DVD Players.

This isn't a big problem in the UK as most new TV's receive NTSC signals though.

Handy tip nonetheless, there is a very good French site for Firmware hacks. I can't remember it though
 
Originally posted by alexachucarro


That's cool for our Mac Monitors as they have no predetermined PAL or NTSC signal. But if one wants to use their iBook as a portable DVD player they still must use the correct TV Signal for an image to come through. A good example of this is that the UK and Japan share the same region BUT we're PAL and they're NTSC. So neither will play on each others' TV's regardless of Multi-Region DVD Players.

This isn't a big problem in the UK as most new TV's receive NTSC signals though.

Handy tip nonetheless, there is a very good French site for Firmware hacks. I can't remember it though
Click to expand...

If you're using your computer to output DVD to a TV then whatever format the computer is set to output (PAL/NTSC) is how the DVD will play regardless of the format of the DVD. I stayed with friends in the US last summer and we watched several PAL DVDs on an NTSC TV through her Pismo. :)
 
Originally posted by GFive


If you're using your computer to output DVD to a TV then whatever format the computer is set to output (PAL/NTSC) is how the DVD will play regardless of the format of the DVD. I stayed with friends in the US last summer and we watched several PAL DVDs on an NTSC TV through her Pismo. :)
Click to expand...

Sweet. I had no idea it did that, I wonder how that works...? Handy anyway.

Thanks
 
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