Page 1 of Can I make Sumsung dvd-r120 BOTH NTSC and PAL ?

Just ordered this unit in the US. I want ot be able to convery BOTH PAL and NTSC tapes. IS there a way to make it both?
If not it seems I cna swap it by going back and forth with rrimware - is this an acceptable solution - or not recommended?

Thanks
Allen

Not sure what the Samsung does,but a US model is unlikely to accept PAL.
However,NTSC VHS is output from UK VCR`s in PAL 60,not pure NTSC.
Panasonic and others will not record PAL 60.
But if you get a Philips or Pioneer machines,then both of those will record either,assuming your VHS tapes have no copy protection,in which case a special lead will remove that

Quote:

Just ordered this unit in the US. I want ot be able to convery BOTH PAL and NTSC tapes. IS there a way to make it both?
If not it seems I cna swap it by going back and forth with rrimware - is this an acceptable solution - or not recommended?

You won`t convert anything with a straight forward VHS>DVD connection. You can`t set a DVD recorder to record in NTSC and record a PAL tape onto it to come out with an NTSC video- if the recorder records it at all (every one I can think of will give an `incorrect input format` or similar error message), you`ll just get a very messy unwatchable pitcure.

To do what you want, you`ve got to convert the tape before it hits the DVD recorder, and for that you`d need either a systems converter or a video recorder such as the Samsung SV5000W which can output any format from any input (and vice versa).

The other alternative - if you really do have to convert it to another format, is to record it onto a re-writable disc, then transfer it onto your PC and convert it there. It`s fiddlyy, it takes ages and even if you use some high end converting software like Canopus Procoder, you may well be disappointed with the output.

Quote:

Just ordered this unit in the US. I want ot be able to convery BOTH PAL and NTSC tapes. IS there a way to make it both?
If not it seems I cna swap it by going back and forth with rrimware - is this an acceptable solution - or not recommended?

You won`t convert anything with a straight forward VHS>DVD connection. You can`t set a DVD recorder to record in NTSC and record a PAL tape onto it to come out with an NTSC video- if the recorder records it at all (every one I can think of will give an `incorrect input format` or similar error message), you`ll just get a very messy unwatchable pitcure.

To do what you want, you`ve got to convert the tape before it hits the DVD recorder, and for that you`d need either a systems converter or a video recorder such as the Samsung SV5000W which can output any format from any input (and vice versa).

The other alternative - if you really do have to convert it to another format, is to record it onto a re-writable disc, then transfer it onto your PC and convert it there. It`s fiddlyy, it takes ages and even if you use some high end converting software like Canopus Procoder, you may well be disappointed with the output.

Assuming you simply want to transfer VHS to DVD and not specifically change NTSC into PAL or vice versa(in which case follow Emily`s advice),then your NTSC VHS tapes will output in PAL 60.Connect to a Philips or Pioneer recorder and your finished dvd will read as NTSC

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the hlep with the replys. I guess I was not clear. I know NTSc goes to NTSc.
I wanted to know if I could do Pal VHS - PAL DVD with this unit in addition to the NTSC-NTSC

Thanks
Allen

If you have a region 1 version of this machine and load the region 2 firmware onto it, I think the input/output becomes PAL format. I haven`t personally tried this so it`s my best guess. Anyone know for sure?

Anyway, the region 2 firmware is hackable to region-free and supports DiVX, so it would be nice to be able to load that region-2 version onto a region-1 machine and switch the output to NTSC from a menu somehow. Somebody please post if you know of a way to do this.

This item was edited on Saturday, 22nd October 2005, 06:43