PAL Tv set --- NTSC DVS

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dht1 · #1 Post by **dht1** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 10:54 pm

I live in Canada and soon will be going to France. I would like to show my parents a few DVDs (NTSC format) by connecting my laptop to their television set. Their tv set is PAL and SECAM and has no NTSC capabilities. Will it be it possible to show my NTSC format DVDs on their PAL/SECAM tv without any problem? If not what do I need to do? Or where should I direct my query? My laptop is a T42 - 2373 JXU.

level · #2 Post by **level** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 12:08 pm

I don't believe your thinkpad has a NTSC to PAL converter for the tv-out.

You can convert to PAL, which is involved and a little tricky. Here is a good guide:

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=209166

Or you can but a fairly inexpensive dvd player in France, that will play both formats. They are common now, but check first before you buy.

nesen · #3 Post by **nesen** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 12:20 pm

The thinkpad should do NTSC or PAL on the TV-Out
I didn't check with the Thinkpad, but I don't know of any Laptop that does only NTSC or PAL.

In fact I once connected the TV Out of a Acer Notebook to my TV and wondered why the picture wasn't very nice. Because my TV does NTSC, but not as good as PAL, switched to PAL and everything was fine.
-> TVs which play both formats aren't exotic at all.

I think it'd be nonsense to lock the format which would be necessary since European and US models use the same graphics card.

edelrc · #4 Post by **edelrc** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 1:10 pm

Yes, you can show your DVDs in a PAL TV without problems. (I have laptop and DVDs from US playing in Europe)

Just when you connect the S-Video to the TV you will see a bad black&white laptop screen on the TV (that is NTSC playing on PAL).
So go to Properties>Settings>Advanced>Displays, click on TV and choose "France". That is all!

(Well, almost... to be able to see the DVD set the TV as the Main Screen, and your laptop as the Secondary (blue buttons)

dht1 · #5 Post by **dht1** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 2:11 pm

Thank you, edelrc, nesen and level for your input. I will be in France early December and I will report on my experiment then. If it does not work from the T42, it's good to know that I can always buy a cheap DVD player over there.

edelrc · #6 Post by **edelrc** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 6:17 pm

Buying a DVD Player that are valid for both American and European DVDs is not easy task, the vast majority are sold for one zone only... That is under Hollywood´s almighty command!!!

But your laptop will work just fine... you wil just need the S-Video to Composite adaptor (and also you may need the Composite to Euroconnector adaptor.) Each are around 3€ worth..

Moreover, if you are going to watch European DVDs (Zone 2), get software so the DVD drive does not loose any of the only 4-zone changes possible (again, a Hollywood´s idea of globalization

).

Elhabash · #7 Post by **Elhabash** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 8:59 pm

Yeah, if it asks you if it should switch zones, don't.
I made good experiences with VLC player (www.videolan.org), which didn't ask me about region codes. All other applications do (They want to change the region setting of the DVD drive). This apparantly doesn't work with some other DVD drives, unfortunately.

Also check what inputs the tv has first before you go and buy an adapter, we have an awful mess of different in- and outputs over here in Europe.

BTW, just recently I bought a standalone DVD player which is not only region-free, but you also can set the region if you need to (some DVDs don't play on a region 0 player), for an indefinite amount of times. It cost about €50 (!)
Supposedly those players were made in China, and the manufacturers didn't follow the guidelines. Also they can be legally sold in Switzerland, so the situation might be different in France. Plus there have been some changes, so they are not produced anymore, but that's all just hearsay.

edelrc · #8 Post by **edelrc** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 7:52 am

Good for Switzerland!!! I´ll take a llok how easy available are those versatile DVD players available in the EU...

(By the way in my A20p I had 7-pin S-Video OUT and 7-pin S-Video IN connectors, and IBM suppied it with a free Composite adaptor. Now a bare 4-pin S-Video Out and that is it... I miss the old IBM philosophy!)

dht1 · #9 Post by **dht1** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:08 pm

Report from France. No colour.
I am in France now. It was not possible to have a direct S-Video connection from my T42 to my parents’ television set. I had to buy an adaptor, in order to connect my S-video cable to the AV1 port at the back of the tv set. I connected the audio and the video cables to the adaptor and configured the video card to Television, France (from the country, it sets by default to Pal B at 1024 x 768). Everything works fine, except… the image is in Black and White. No colour. What is the problem? Does anyone know?

edelrc · #10 Post by **edelrc** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 6:00 pm

when i tried in Spain with NTSC, the image was also black and white and of bad quality. Changing the profile to Spain also changed the settings to a PAL-? but don´t remember witch. I will try the other PAL formats... maybe there are more than one in france!

level · #11 Post by **level** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:44 pm

Read the end of the last post, it may be of some help.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

I've also seen other posts where they talk about problems with the SCART adapter and s-video. Don't have any direct experience though.

nesen · #12 Post by **nesen** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 1:13 pm

It _may_ have something to do with FBAS (Farb-Bild-Austast-Synchron-Signal, Color Picture ??? synchron signal)

I think the graphics cards are to blame, since they only provide a 4-Pin S-VHS connector.

There are circuits out there which generate this Signal, and they are very simple, for example: SVHS-FBAS-Converter
Maybe you can build it yourself or ask a friend to build it.

HTH

dht1 · #13 Post by **dht1** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 1:46 pm

After writing IBM (Laptop), ATI (Video Card) and Thompson (TV set in France), I finally found the solution to my lack of colour problem.

IBM Technical support was useless and pathetic; telling me to set the video card to SECAM, not PAL. Here is their reply: “Merci d'avoir utilisé nos services. La télévision étant certainement au standard francais SECAM, la seule possibilité que vous avez est configurer la carte video a SECAM si ce n'est pas le cas, vous ne pouvez rien faire.“ Even worse. The next day I got an automated email telling me that if I did not response to their reply within a day, I would have to resubmit my query.

Thompson support answered all my messages. In the last one, they basically told me that colour should be possible on that set, that I should check my cables and connections, try other settings and connections and try with another TV. Here is their reply: “Nous vous informons que la prise AV1 de votre televiseur devrait automatiquement s adapter au format s-video. Nous vous conseillons de connecter votre PC a l AV2 ou AV3 de votre televiseur et de faire le test en passant en mode s-video via le menu preference du televiseur de
ces prises AV.
Nous vous conseillons aussi de verifier les cables et adaptateur.“

After two messages, ATI finally gave me the solution in the following link: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4614.html

As suggested by ATI, I ordered the S-Video to Scart Pro-SCART-INPUT-6ft for US$ 22.95, including shipping. Two weeks later, I received it and tried it out. I am happy to report that it works perfectly. Colour is in!

Thank you, everyone who replied to my query in this forum. Joyeux Noël !

edelrc · #14 Post by **edelrc** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:16 pm

That is strange... So, how i understand it has to be an Svideo-SCART cable adapter to see the color.
And if you use an S-video cable conected to a SCART adapter it only shows B&W and if you use a Svideo-Composite cable connected to a SCART adapter it only shows B&W.. that is all so extrange but heard something like that before...

(I haven´t try yet my 4pin Svideo on my T42p but on my 7pin Svideo of my A20p Svideo-composite cable connected to a SCART IN adapter works fine. I will see the T42 as soon as I get the svideo cable.

Thanks dht1! Bón Nadal to you too!

Elhabash · #15 Post by **Elhabash** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:40 pm

dht1, thanks! I tried for hours already with my friends tv; it's an older model. So now I know what to do...

edelrc · #16 Post by **edelrc** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:54 pm

Oh.. Elhabash, I found a DVD player in Spain too that can be play DVD from several zones. In Spain all DVD players has to have the zone limited to 2, but in the web you can see that many of the players you can change it to any other with a "secret" code. Now I was able to change mine to 0 after imputing the "secret" code.

Thanks.

Elhabash · #17 Post by **Elhabash** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 7:28 am

Nice. Did it work? It never occurred to me to look out for this code in the Internet...

Actually, when I bought my cheap DVD player (it was the same with my parents expensive one), there was a note attached to the manual with the instructions how to enter the code, as well as the code itself. I never tried it, though.

edelrc · #18 Post by **edelrc** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 7:55 am

The code worked great! I have even actualized its firmware to solve a couple of glitches.

It comes out that there are only a few processor makers for all DVD players. If yours is a "cheap" player (they work all quite the same) probably have one of two popular processors and usually there are firmware out there.

That you have the code to be able to change the zone in the booklet is a new for me, usually it is a code for them and it is not released to the public (at least in EU). The internet forums are then your friend.

If you have problem, let me know the maker and model of your player I’ll find it.

(To clear out any doubt about the zone restrictions, It IS NOT illegal to change the zone of your player. It is just a tool used to achieve the CSS agreement between Hollywood and all the makers of DVD players. Its only purpose is to fragment the marketplace for marketing purposes. In not way it can be constitute as piracy or anything like it)

(To clear out any doubt about the zone restrictions, It IS NOT illegal to change the zone of your player. It is just a tool used to achive the CSS agreement between hollywood and the makers of DVD players. Its only purpose is to frangment the market for marketing purposes. In not way it can be considered piracy)

PAL Tv set --- NTSC DVS

PAL Tv set --- NTSC DVS

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