Tech question by a newbie
 

Hi everyone,

I´ve just arrived in the US (I´m from Germany) and I´m planning to buy a new hd tv-set and a new dvd player (maybe blu-ray).
And here is where my problem starts.
Right now I´m owning a multi-norm crt tv and a dvd player (no HDMI output), which has been set up to be code free. I do also own about 380 dvds about half of which were bought during my last 3 year stint in the US. The rest was bought back home in Germany.
With this setup (TV-Set & DVD-Player) I can watch all my dvds regardless of regional code and TV-Norm (NTSC= USA; PAL= Germany). How can I translate this into the new technologie ( LCD/Plasma HD TV - (Blu-Ray) DVD).
Do I have to get a multinorm HD TV-Set (expensive) or are there workarounds?
My intention is to take the TV-Set and the dvd-player back to Germany.
Input voltage isn´t an issue, because I also own voltage transformers which worked well in the past.

Are there suggestions how to tackle this ?

Thx in advance

Regards

Torsten

Re: Tech question by a newbie
 

You can't play Blu-ray discs on a dvd player so you're going to have to buy a blu ray player. Does "multinorm" mean the tv can play PAL and NTSC?

Re: Tech question by a newbie
 

They do sell region free blu-ray players if you are asking about that, Momitsu makes one.

Re: Tech question by a newbie
 

I think the biggest problem will be trying to take the TV back to Germany. You'll likely run into problems trying to receive TV signals, either OTA or via cable/satellite when you go back.

How much longer are you planning to stay in the US? It might be in your best interest to sell off any US TV you buy rather than try and take it back to Germany.

Re: Tech question by a newbie
 

Hi All,

thx for your replies
@ robert
Yes, multinorm means, that the TV-Set can receive (and display) at least PAL and NTSC signals (thru cable/satelite or whatever-most can also receive SECAM).

@fandango
can´t blu ray- players also play "non blu ray" dvds without the HD? And isn´t it possible to make all dvd players region free, blu ray also, with a "secret" combination of pushing buttons on the remote?

@ jay g
I´m going to stay another 2 1/2 years. But selling the US-TV wouldn´t help, because i need to have a NTSC-compatible display, if I want to watch my US-DVDs. I was aiming at using the hdmi connection between dvd player and tv-set and hopefully avoiding the tv-norm issue.
My dvd player plays ntsc and pal dvds (since it´s region free) but because it utilises a cinch (analog?) output for the video signal, I´m still stuck with the two different tv-norms (US-DVD = NTSC-Signal - GE DVD=PAL-Signal) Therefore my tv-set has to have the means to receive PAL and NTSC.
I´m hoping that by using HDMI the output signal would be digital and the tv-norm is irrelevant.
Is that wishfull thinking

thx in advance

Torsten

Re: Tech question by a newbie
 

Yes, all BD Players can play DVDs.

No, not all DVD players can be made region free via a remote hack. And there's very, very few BD players that can be made region free that way. Some BD players may be made multi-region via physically adding a chip to the player. Also, some BD players may play all regions of DVD, but not all regions of BD.

In addition, some all-region DVD and BD players may be only able to play NTSC, or can only output PAL or NTSC in their native format. However, some can convert PAL to NTSC for playback on NTSC-only HDTVs, and vice-versa.

I meant, it'd probably be easier to buy an NTSC-only TV in the US, use it for 2 1/2 years, sell it, then buy a multi-norm TV when you get back to Germany.

Multi-norm is extremely rare in the US, so your only choices will likely be either ultra-expensive professional equipment, or ultra-expensive imports (like from Germany). Then you'll have to deal with shipping the TV back to Germany, which is also going to be pricey.

HDMI doesn't solve the TV standard (tv-norm) issue, since the signal going to the TV is still going to be either PAL or NTSC (or their HDTV equivalent), just sent digitally instead of via analog. The problem is based on what standard the DVD is encoded in, what the BD/DVD player is capable of decoding/outputting/converting, and what the TV is capable of handling.