Rogue588

A friend of mine was telling me that he was going to buy a PAL laserdisc, but he wasn't sure if his LD player would play it.

The word PAL apparently scared him away.

I didn't know so I couldn't give him an answer.

Anyone know?

movielib

Yes, laserdiscs can formatted in NTSC or PAL and an American NTSC LD player will not play PAL discs.

Rogue588

thanks movielib.

good thing I didn't tell him what I was thinking. I own a couple Prince LDs from Japan that play fine in my LD. I thought those might be PAL. I wasn't sure, so I didn't say anything.

JoeyOhhhh

Japanese LDs are NTSC

Rogue588

that would explain it

man, he woulda been pissed at me..

Pants

If he'd bought it he would have needed a PAL laserdisc player and a PAL television to watch it on.

lcnickell

k, this might be a dumb question, i only got into laserdiscs,after they were being phased out..

but were there any "region free"players out there for LD's?

bboisvert

LDs do not have region coding.

The NTSC/PAL issue is not region coding... it has to do with different video formats being used in different areas of the world. These formats apply not only to LDs, but DVDs, VHS, and standard television broadcasts.

So, if you have a U.S. player, you can view any NTSC material (which is the standard used in North America, Japan, etc.)

If you want to view PAL material (Europe, etc.) you need both a PAL LD player and a TV that can receive the PAL signal. The same is true if you were looking to buy a PAL video tape.

Josh Z

One thing to add: The reason many people with "region free" DVD players are able to watch PAL discs on an American television is that these DVD players have PAL-to-NTSC conversion built in. No laserdisc player was ever built with PAL-to-NTSC conversion.

Rogue588

Hey Josh, theoretically, would one be able to cap any content from a PAL LD player..?

Josh Z

A PAL LD player has to be connected to a PAL TV to work.