Blu-ray and NTSC or PAL??

[Minning Around]

Couldn't find anything with Search.

I'm new to Blu-ray. I'm in the U.S. but I watch some Euro movies. In the past, with a DVD player I've always had to make sure they could convert from PAL to NTSC. But I don't see the Blu-ray players mention anything about NTSC or PAL compatibility. Is this not an issue with Blu-ray? If I buy a Euro disc that is region free but doesn't mention anything about NTSC or PAL can I expect it to play on a U.S. purchased Blu-ray player?

[blindcat87]

The high definition standard is different from standard definition, the only thing to watch out for on foreign BD releases is that some outside of the US are in a 50 Hz frame rate that can present a problem for some US displays and perhaps players, though I am not certain on the latter, and in some cases they contain standard definition features in PAL or NTSC that can present the same problem for users of the other system if their player or display cannot deal with this. Outside of that high def is high def as long as the title isn't region locked barring having a modded player that can switch regions.

HTH,

Chris

Originally Posted by Minning Around

Couldn't find anything with Search.

I'm new to Blu-ray. I'm in the U.S. but I watch some Euro movies. In the past, with a DVD player I've always had to make sure they could convert from PAL to NTSC. But I don't see the Blu-ray players mention anything about NTSC or PAL compatibility. Is this not an issue with Blu-ray? If I buy a Euro disc that is region free but doesn't mention anything about NTSC or PAL can I expect it to play on a U.S. purchased Blu-ray player?

[Minning Around]

Thanks. That's what I was looking for.
Anyone else with more?

[gekke henkie]

Like the former poster said, the movie in HD is not the problem anymore (for >95% of the disks) if it is region-free. Only the extra's on an European disk are mainly in PAL. So, if you want to watch these as well, you will need a BD-player that also except these signals.

You have 2 (actually 3) options: the player exports the signal as PAL to your display, but your display needs to be capable of handling it (most displays don't, but most projectors do), or your BD-player can convert the signal from PAL-50Hz to NTSC-60Hz (like Oppo's BD-player AFAIK) and you can play it on any display.

A third, hardly seen, option as that your (region-free) player can convert the PAL-50Hz signal to a NTSC-version of that, namely NTSC-50Hz (some displays in the US can actually handle that signal); but you can forget about this rarely seen option.

Conclusion:
I would choose a BD-player that can convert PAL to NTSC, like the Oppo. An added bonus is that you can very easily make (or have made) this player region-unlocked, but I am not gonna tell you how/where (there are many threads existing on that already)