foreign DVDs 29 November 2004 at 9:06AM in Techie Stuff 11 replies 1.5K views

Amba_Gambla

Hmmmm - I'm in Malaysia at the moment, and i'm stunned by the cheapness of the dvds- i bought a couple the other day, but I just realised there NTCS (or whatever0 and PAL versions - mine are NCTS ones, and supposed to be for use in the uSa....now i have a multiregion dvd player.....will it play these dvds??

whats the difference between PAL and NSTC


(sorry about the go-awful typing, but  this internet cafe is complete and utter *@[email protected]!)

LincsLad_3

Many 'modern' players and TV combinations will play NTSC DVDs. Without knowing exactly what equipment you have it's hard to be more specific.

Tra300_2

I bought a few DVDs on my last trip and I had no problem wit playing any of them on our newer DVD player but they won't play on the 'old' (bought three+ years ago). Mind you the latter won't even read CDs and only some DVDs. I was told when I was there that Malaysian DVDs are region free. So as long as your machine is a NTSC-a-phob you should be OK!

Amba_Gambla

cheers for the help......!

i bought the player this year on amazon, so i'm hoping it should work!

halifax

I have some foreign DVDs from when I worked abroad and re-authored them to region free using DVDShrink. This free application removes the region tag and fits a 9gig film onto a standard 4 gig disk. Of course you need a DVD burner on your PC but its very easy to do.

https://www.dvdshrink.org

shaunrobinson

If your DVD player is not region free and only plays region 2 disks the chances are you will find a hack for it on the internet. go to your usual search engine and type in the model number of your player then the word hack, you should be able to get the code for your player to make it region free.

krakan

NTSC is the US picture format - more frames/second but lower resolution..

As for gettings the discs (that's disCs) I say go for your life - as you say, they're cheap as chips so you can always give 'em away if they're no good to you

Only thing to watch out for though is that an estimated 90% of DVDs and Software over there are pirated, so don't get bought by customs or you're in trouble

talkshop

Only thing to watch out for though is that an estimated 90% of DVDs and Software over there are pirated, so don't get bought by customs or you're in trouble

I agree with that.

The copies are usually very poor quality and don't have all the soundtracks such as DTS or 5.1 DD.

NTSC has fewer lines of picture resolution than PAL in the UK, so picture is not quite as good anyway.

Amba_Gambla

they are copies, but very very good ones - they've got the stuff printed on the disc and they're in the right cases - in fact, they ould even be real??? but then again, Shrek 2 and farenheit 9/11 at 3 quid a pop!!

machofairy

but then again, Shrek 2 and farenheit 9/11 at 3 quid a pop!!

£3 each??? You're being ripped off, mate

Expect to pay £1 for a DVD-5 or £1.50 for a DVD-9, regardless of the picture quality.

A good place to go for these would be in a mall called Sungei Wang Plaza, if you happen to be in the capital.

CityHunter_3

Amba_Gambla,

The technical differences between PAL and NTSC are
PAL number of lines 625 with a refresh rate of 50.
NTSC number of lines 525 with a refresh rate of 60.

Provided your DVD Player is multi region you will be able to play NTSC discs, the DVD player will output a NTSC signal unless there is a pseudo PAL conversion switch on the back of the player.

The question you should be asking is how old your TV is? As if it's quite old, the NTSC output signal will display on your TV in black and white.

On a side issue you should be careful if you're buying a large number of discs (where the origin is questionable) and bringing them back to the UK. If you get stopped by customs at best they will confiscate them at worst you could be fined.

CityHunter.