I'm going to venture a slightly longer explanation... An easy way to think of the NTSC vs. PAL vs. SECAM issue is that these standards affect the monitors on which a given home video will play. Different standards affect the construction of TVs in various parts of the world. I sometimes use the analogy of how Europeans use different hair dryers due to different standards for electrical outlets.
What varies with the TV standards are issues such as how color information is encoded, how quickly lines refresh, and other technical aspects I won't even pretend I understand. Because these standards affect monitors, it is possible to watch a PAL, region 0 DVD on some computers; computer monitors can adjust for the various standards more readily than your average TV AND computer drives can play discs with no set region code. Region code affects how a DVD player reacts to various DVDs. DVD players in the United States are designed to play only discs coded for region 1. Multiregion DVD players are designed to play discs no matter which region flags are set. Muddying the issue, however, a multiregion player also needs to be able to convert between NTSC and PAL standards, since the disc content itself will be designed for output on one or the other type of monitor. Sincerely, Brian Boling Government Information & Media Services Vanderbilt University -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steffen, James M Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 10:39 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Videolib] Can a DVD be both "all regions" and NTSC? Yes, a DVD can definitely be "all regions" and NTSC. The region coding and video standards are completely separate issues. For example, Region 2 can be either PAL (Europe) or NTSC (Japan). Region 0 is the same thing as "all regions." There are also many Region 0 PAL discs. Hope this helps! James Steffen ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:19:15 -0600 From: "Winona Patterson" <[email protected]> Subject: [Videolib] Can a DVD be both "all regions" and NTSC? To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <3e7b329687f1c541a9f1251b3a2a201e06b85...@admexchs1.admdom.harpercollege.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello CW, I have in hand a DVD titled Architects Herzog & de Meuron (OCLC 233036642), and the region coding on the DVD says "ALL" in the little globe icon, and NTSC below it. It's transcribed as such in the 538 field. Obviously, this DVD works just fine here in the US and our patrons will have no problems using it, but now I'm just curious: is this actually correct? I was under the impression that NTSC was just a different way of saying Region 1. I looked at the Wikipedia article on NTSC, as well as the NTSC website (http://www.ntsc-tv.com) and now I'm more confused because NTSC apparently refers to some sort of color information system. Any information would be appreciated. It's not going to affect my cataloging of this DVD; I'd just like to understand. Thanks! Winona Patterson Library Technical Assistant, Audiovisual Cataloging LRC Tech Services, Harper College 1200 W. Algonquin Rd., Palatine, IL 60067 Direct Line 847-925-6770 [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
