Hi everyone

Given that a PAL formated videoCD uses a size of 352 x 288 and NTSC is based on 352 x 240, will a PAL videoCD play in NTSC or should it be formated to NTSC sizes to be successfully played by a recipient in the States?

Thanks

-- Ross McLennan (rmclennan@esc.net.au), July 18, 1999

Answers

If the VCD player or DVD player is NTSC/PAL compatible then it will be just fine. However many DVD players in North America are NTSC and as such will cut off the bottom and many in Europe and Asia are PAL and will not display NTSC very well. Many VCD only players are NTSC/PAL auto switching and will display just fine. Philips, however, has seen the need for this auto switch and as a result included it as a feature on the Philips Model Number: DVD825. As for computers, they can scale resolutions on the fly so you will not see a difference at all.

-- The Lone Ranger (rutger_s@hotmail.com), July 19, 1999.

I have a philips DVD/Video-CD player Model 860. It is supposed play all formats on all TVs (NTSC and PAL). I can't get it work on VCDs I bought in Singapore on my NTSC TV here in US. If anybody knows any remedy, please let me know.

Thanks

-- James Savarin (jsavarin@worldnet.att.net), July 19, 1999.

james:

Contact philips for a replacement. Some units were made in error and designed only for NTSC. DVD825 does not have this problem.

-- The Lone Ranger (rutger_s@hotmail.com), July 20, 1999.

My Phillips 825 will play PAL VCDs on my NTSC tv but not very well. It plays them in black&white. According to the troubleshooting guide in the manual this is the expected behaviour. Also, it does not scale the image. the bottom part rolls up. But technically yes, they do play.

-- Sean (sean@magnuminvestments.com), July 20, 1999.