Wallet Boy

Ok, after months of hearing about it and waiting for it to come out in America (which I now believe it never will), I decided to import the new Motorhead Boneshaker DVD from England, and lo and behold, after salivating daily at the mailbox, it arrived today and I put it into my DVD player only to find out that it won't play. I specifically asked if this was a region 0 DVD and it is actually, but there is still some PAL encoding on there it seems, because it will not work.

Does anyone know if I am doing something wrong? Currently is just says something like "Not NTSC" when I put in the disc. Is there a way around this problem on my Toshiba SD-2700 player? Or is it off to ebay to sell this (unbelievably well-done, from the outside at least) DVD.

ScreachingWeasel

Unless you have a pal to ntsc convertor or a player with one built in you will not be able to play this. Well actually if you have a dvd player on your computer it will play it, so you could try that. Other wise you are out of luck.

codefree

It's a common misconception that Region 0 DVDs will play on all DVD players. In actuality, only NTSC R0 DVDs will play on Region 1 DVD players.

Wallet Boy

Thanks for the tip. I didn't realize. Now does that mean if I had a Pal to NTSC converter in my DVD player, but the disc was a region 2 instead of the region 0 that it is, it still would not play because I don't have an all-region player? I'm trying to understand why something would be a region 0 PAL disc, or region 0 NTSC for that matter? I'm not sure I understand why.

Hendrik

...well... ahh... a "Region 0" PAL disc can be played in all Region 2 and non-Region 2 countries where PAL is the TV standard (South Africa=R2, Australia=R4, New Zealand=R4, Hong Kong=R3, Malaysia=R3, Russia=R5, India=R5, Mainland China=R6, etc.)... Americans=R1, Canadians=R1 and Japanese=R2 and Mexicans=R4 are out of luck with such a disc, unless they are equipped (player-wise or multi-system TV-wise or converter-wise) to watch PAL-encoded DVDs on whatever display they happen to use...

http://www.pioneeraus.com.au/multime...region_map.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/freeregiondvd/tvstandards.html

. . . . . .

Dan Average

Technically Hong Kong is a PAL country, but aren't most HK DVDs in NTSC format?

benedict

Hmmm.... strange sense of deja vu!

axolotls return

Boneshaker is coming out in R1 NTSC. It just keeps getting pushed back because of the extras. They were working on the R1 extras in mid-December, I believe.

Trigger

god that's a huge list...

Hendrik

...déjà vu indeed!...

Technically Hong Kong is a PAL country, but aren't most HK DVDs in NTSC format?

...Yes...

...whoever decides to make a particular DVD "Region 0" (instead of "Region 4", say, or "Region 2") also decides whether that disc will be PAL-encoded or NTSC-encoded (my 'collection includes one German and a couple of French DVDs that are "Region 0" and NTSC instead of PAL, which is what West-European Region 2 DVDs normally are)...

...also, reportedly Warner Brothers recently released some NTSC-encoded DVDs in Australia (which is in Region 4 and a PAL country to boot)...

...the point then, the thing to keep in mind when discussing (over and over, ad nauseam, but hey! who uses search functions anyway, right?! - and who ever checks a DVD-dedicated FAQ site, right?!) PAL vs. NTSC and/or Region 0 vs. other Regions, is this:

...the term REGION (0 through 8) - which, by the way, was invented specifically for, and introduced with the coming of, DVD (there are and never were 'regions' for laserdiscs or VHS tapes!) - has absolutely nowt, nothing, nada to do with SYSTEM (NTSC, PAL, and - for those who love to be anal about such things - SECAM) (NTSC and PAL have been around since the far-away days of black-and-white-only television, SECAM was added with the arrival - in Europe - of color TV)... REGION and SYSTEM are two entirely different animals... the one is independent of the other, they are not the same, they are not related, not even distantly...

...wipes the perspiration from his forehead and takes another sip of strong, freshly-brewed coffee...

. . . . . .

Josh Z

I believe Hong Kong uses PAL for broadcast television, but defaults to NTSC for home video purposes.

Peep

Most of the VCD's that I have from Hong Kong are PAL.

Josh Z

That would blow my theory out of the water, then, I suppose. Thanks for the clarification. Regardless, every DVD from Hong Kong that I've purchased has been NTSC. I guess maybe they just prefer NTSC for DVD.

Yellow Hammer

for much of the world the NTSC/PAL issue is not a problem since TVs automatically do conversions if necessary. As far as I know it's really only an issue in North America, where TVs do not convert automatically.

Wallet Boy

Thanks for the clarification...please tell me if I understand properly.

The only reason I must look at region on a DVD is because my DVD player will only play certain region dvds, 0 and 1.

The reason I look at system on a DVD is because, being in America, my TV, and DVD for that matter (doesnt have a PAL-NTSC coverter) will only play NTSC.

So I can only play NTSC Region 0 or 1.

Is that correct?

Josh Z

Bingo.

axolotls return

Boneshaker is coming out in May 2002. There was a hold up on distribution rights with Steamhammer (Germany).

I was about to pick up the European Disc, but now I can wait.