PAL-NTSC: Paperclip in not the ideal solution!

#1

In my country TV standard is PAL.

WDTVLive offers many services in NTSC.

I have many NTSC files and DVDs.

Obviously my WD is set to PAL but, while color is well converted, NTSC files and DVD are unwatchable due to the wrong frame frequency.

Having a mutistandard TV, setting to NTSC solves everything.

I have it and result is very good BUT:

Imagine to have to  insert a paperclip in a thin hole and keep it pressed for more than 10 seconds every time you have to watch a file with a different standard.  Wonderful!

Here in Europe we have to do this continuously for the reasons I said before. (Indeed many people don’t take notice of the problem being already used to watch in the wrong way almost everything)

Is it really so hard to make this via Menu?

To buy another device is not too convenient for me.

#2

Yes, it’d be darn near impossible to do via menu.  If someone is hooked up via Composite, and the WDTV was set to the wrong standard, it’d be impossible to navigate the menu to fix it.

Hardware switch is the better choice.

#3

Thank you for your replay.

Please, are you so kind to tell me also if with HDMI the problem is not present at all (automatic 25 30)  or does it require a change of the settings via menu?

Perhaps I am wrong thinking that also HDMI is PAL or NTSC.

#4

To be honest, I don’t really know about the technical details of HDMI.   I would THINK that, since it’s digital, that it’d handle PAL and NTSC together.

However, I’ve not tried a PAL DVD Rip, so I don’t know first-hand.

#5

Bobo5 wrote:

In my country TV standard is PAL.

WDTVLive offers many services in NTSC.

I have many NTSC files and DVDs.

Obviously my WD is set to PAL but, while color is well converted, NTSC files and DVD are unwatchable due to the wrong frame frequency.

Having a mutistandard TV, setting to NTSC solves everything.

I have it and result is very good BUT:

Imagine to have to  insert a paperclip in a thin hole and keep it pressed for more than 10 seconds every time you have to watch a file with a different standard.  Wonderful!

Here in Europe we have to do this continuously for the reasons I said before. (Indeed many people don’t take notice of the problem being already used to watch in the wrong way almost everything)

Is it really so hard to make this via Menu?

To buy another device is not too convenient for me.

 

 

How are you connecting your WDTV Live to the TV. If it via composite then there is a menu option.

Settings - Audio/Video - Video Output (enter) select - Composite - select NTSC or PAL.

There are also component and HDMI with the relevant frequencies.

I can select PAL or NTSC on my unit in the UK and both work.

#6

Bobo5 wrote:

Thank you for your replay.

 

Please, are you so kind to tell me also if with HDMI the problem is not present at all (automatic 25 30)  or does it require a change of the settings via menu?

 

Perhaps I am wrong thinking that also HDMI is PAL or NTSC. 

 

Hi Bobo5,

PAL and NTSC don’t affect HDMI.  PAL and NTSC are just different ways of encoding colour information for analogue signals.

The most important difference between HDTVs in different regions is the refresh rate (50Hz / 60Hz) when connecting digitally.

When connecting the WD TV via HDMI, you can set it to ‘Auto’ and let the TV negotiate the resolution / refresh rate.  If you know what your TV supports, you can manually specify those settings.

I’ve played files of varying refresh rates when connected via Component (also unaffected by PAL / NTSC) and now by HDMI.  I don’t need to change any settings to view them.

If your TV supports HDMI, get yourself a decent (doesn’t need to be expensive) HDMI cable and try it out.  :)

#7

Thank you!

 You are absolutely right!

I went again to the menu and I found that the option composite(Pal) that I saw many times but that I always read as “composite in the standard selected via hardware” leads to an entry where you can select PAL or NTSC.

I have the last prerelease firmware and I like to think that I tried this with the previous one, but now I cannot verify.

The first replies to this post seamed to confirm my wrong conviction.

Now I am glad to see my problem solved

Thanks to you all,