Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

Hope this is the right group...and I'm not intruding.

I have a VHS tape of a program that played on "Today with Des and Mel"
on Granada TV in January . The hosts of the show joked around with a
novelty product that we sell primarily in the States, though a handful
wind up in the UK and on the continent. www.smitten.com

It would cost about 100 dollars to run from PAL to NTSC and burn a CD
of the small section that applies to our product. I'd be happy to mail
the VHS tape to somebody who could burn an MPEG-2 of the reference to
our product, mail us the disk and toss out the tape. If interested,
I'll ship you the tape along with a check for $10, plus with a couple
of our Smitten mittens.

Cheers,
Gene in New Jersey

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

Paul D.Smith wrote:
Gene,

A US dollar cheque (this is a UK NG ;-) ) is as much use to us as a
chocolate tea pot. We use UK pounds sterling and the costs of banking a
dollar cheque would be way over the $10.00 face value.

Very true. PayPal would work nicely though.

I would suggest that you ask around friends and relatives who might know
someone with a dual standard video recorder. They're quite common over here

....but the reverse isn't common "over there"

(my very cheap model does this) and have dropped in price so much that
they're probably common over there now. This allows you to play your PAL
tape and get NTSC output.

You're thinking of the standard VHS machines over here which will "let
you watch NTSC tapes on a PAL TV". The reverse doesn't really exist in
the USA. Enen what _we_ have over here doesn't _convert_ 525-line NTSC
to 625-line PAL - the output is 525-line PAL/NTSC hybrid.

(Real standards converting VCRs are different altogether - they're
available on both sides of the atlantic - but not "standard" consumer
items).

Next you find someone with a TV-capture card, again these are cheap and
common over here. They will be able to then cut you a DVD.

Given the above, it's a non starter. Some capture cards sold in the USA
are bundled with software that handles NTSC only.

Alternatively, you might try e-mailing the program producers and asking for
a DVD of the show. They might be able to oblige, especially since it was
your product they were discussing.

Very unlikely.


Gene,

If no one offers to help, contact me off group (email
) and I'll do it for you. It will mean mailing
the tape back to the UK though. You'll get what you pay for - i.e. it
won't be a broadcast quality standards conversion, but perfectly
watchable. You will have to send the cost of postage to me somehow.

Cheers,
David.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

To play back a PAL 625 tape in the USA then a standards converter is the
only way. It's PAL 625 50 to NTSC 525 60 which is an entirely different
matter! FAR better to get a DVD copy made of the prog as this will at least
play on a computer.

If I am misunderstanding the request and a TELEVISION replay is required
then it's a standards converter that's required.

Expecting a 50 quid video to actually convert the line and frame rate is not
on, it just converts the colour system.
Modern TVs will play both 50 and 60 frames per second only because they have
a special frame chip.

Before anyone comments PAL/SECAM conversion IS possible as they are both
625/50.

--
Robert

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

"Rob" wrote in message
...
To play back a PAL 625 tape in the USA then a standards converter is the
only way. It's PAL 625 50 to NTSC 525 60 which is an entirely different
matter! FAR better to get a DVD copy made of the prog as this will at
least play on a computer.

If I am misunderstanding the request and a TELEVISION replay is required
then it's a standards converter that's required.

Expecting a 50 quid video to actually convert the line and frame rate is
not on, it just converts the colour system.
Modern TVs will play both 50 and 60 frames per second only because they
have a special frame chip.

Before anyone comments PAL/SECAM conversion IS possible as they are both
625/50.


Is it not simpler to use a video capture card to turn it into an MPEG?
At least that way you could watch it on the computer.
Unless I am missing something that might not make that possible?

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

wrote in message
oups.com...

Gordon Hudson wrote:
"Rob" wrote in message
...
To play back a PAL 625 tape in the USA then a standards converter is
the
only way. It's PAL 625 50 to NTSC 525 60 which is an entirely
different
matter! FAR better to get a DVD copy made of the prog as this will at
least play on a computer.

If I am misunderstanding the request and a TELEVISION replay is
required
then it's a standards converter that's required.

Expecting a 50 quid video to actually convert the line and frame rate
is
not on, it just converts the colour system.
Modern TVs will play both 50 and 60 frames per second only because
they
have a special frame chip.

Before anyone comments PAL/SECAM conversion IS possible as they are
both
625/50.


Is it not simpler to use a video capture card to turn it into an MPEG?
At least that way you could watch it on the computer.
Unless I am missing something that might not make that possible?

I'm guessing the original poster doesn't have a PAL machine to play the
tape.

If you can't play it, you can't capture it!

Given that one can now purchase a cheap PAL VCR for around £30 in the UK, it
may well be an option if someone who is visiting the UK could purchase one
here to take back to the US.

I know that there's the voltage thing, but modern power supplies should work
OK even down to120 volts.. in fact to prove the point I've been using a
(cheap 'lightweight') Bush VCR906SIL which still works quite happily when
wound down to115 volts on a variac.

The PAL output from this could then be fed as composite into something like
a Win-TV card to be captured and converted by Nero into a DVD.


Cheers,
David.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

Ivan wrote:

I know that there's the voltage thing, but modern power supplies
should work OK even down to120 volts.. in fact to prove the point
I've been using a (cheap 'lightweight') Bush VCR906SIL which still
works quite happily when wound down to115 volts on a variac.

I have an old JVC which works perfectly at 80 volts, so I've no doubt you're
right.
--
Adrian A

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

On 30 Mar 2006 14:48:25 -0800, "smitten" wrote:

I'd be happy to mail the VHS tape to somebody who could burn an MPEG-2.

I will ask my friend who has a video recorder (PAL) and a DVD
recorder. He could burn a DVD for you. But I am from Poland/Europe.
Check costs of delivery to Poland.

Gregory

ps. let me know via an email: mistermc (at) o2.pl

--
Peptulis Amargolis peptulis malpa web.de

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 11:11:13 +0100, Paul D.Smith wrote:

as much use to us as a chocolate tea pot

Americans neither understand irony, nor the concept of a teapot.

--
Nigel M

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

And lack subtlety, too, thus...you have bad teeth and should bathe more
often.
spectator

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

David,

Follow-up questions below.

I would suggest that you ask around friends and relatives who might know
someone with a dual standard video recorder. They're quite common over
here

...but the reverse isn't common "over there"

(my very cheap model does this) and have dropped in price so much that
they're probably common over there now. This allows you to play your
PAL
tape and get NTSC output.

You're thinking of the standard VHS machines over here which will "let
you watch NTSC tapes on a PAL TV". The reverse doesn't really exist in
the USA. Enen what _we_ have over here doesn't _convert_ 525-line NTSC
to 625-line PAL - the output is 525-line PAL/NTSC hybrid.


Can you give a little more detail on what these videos actually throw out
then? I know enough to know about 625/525 and 60/50. Are you saying that
what they throw out is 525/60/PAL (and I believe UK standard is 625/50/PAL)?

Aside: I have a very old Sony which Sony tells me will handle 60Hz OK, and
does play US sourced DVDs happily (but of course that's using RGB).

If the output I describe is correct, what would be wrong with throwing
625/50/NTSC at a TV/capture card in the US? Would it not be able to handle
it? Are video capture cards really so sensitive?

As someone with US in-laws, I have a slightly vested interest in such things
;-).

Thanks,
Paul DS.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

Paul D.Smith wrote:
Can you give a little more detail on what these videos actually throw out
then? I know enough to know about 625/525 and 60/50. Are you saying that
what they throw out is 525/60/PAL (and I believe UK standard is 625/50/PAL)?

To explain this, it's necessary to unpick three important
characteristics of a video signal:
1. number of lines and field rate
2. colour encoding _method_
3. colour subcarrier frequency

There are two common standard definition scanning formats: both are 2:1
interlaced. One has 525 lines per frame, 60 fields per second, the
other have 625 lines per frame, 50 fields per second.

So far so good!

There are slight variations in sync voltage and black level, which
don't cause any significant problems in practice. There are huge
differences in _broadcast_ format, which are irrelevant when we're
talking about tapes and discs.

The compatibility problem comes with the composite colour encoding
mechanism (the way of sending monochrome and colour information via a
single connection).

There are 3 methods in common use:
1. NTSC - the original composite colour encoding method - amplitude
modulated subcarrier, two colour components.
2. PAL - very similar to NTSC, but the exact choice of colour
components is slightly difference, and the phase of one of them is
flipped on alternate lines
3. SECAM - frequency modulated subcarriers (two of).

There are no significant variations in NTSC colour encoding. The
subcarrier is always 3.579545MHz.

There are a couple of variations in PAL colour encoding. In most of the
world, the subcarrier is 4.433618.75MHz, but Brazil (M/PAL) use
3.579611.49MHz while Argentina (N/PAL "combination") use 3.582056.25
(both are close to the NTSC frequency, because they're designed to fit
into a similar bandwidth).

_None_ of these are what your VCR or DVD player outputs when playing an
NTSC tape/disc on a PAL TV. Almost no UK TVs will display M/PAL
properly.

There are three different tricks in use:
1. The simplest is just to output standard NTSC. Many TVs are happy
with this, but some just aren't looking for a colour subcarrier at
3.58MHz, even if they can display 525 lines at 60Hz, so display a
slightly fuzzy black and white picture. The fuzzyness is the undecoded
colour subcarrier which looks like high frequency junk on top of the
black and white picture (because that's what it is!).
2. The next step is to output an "NTSC" colour encoded signal, but at
4.43MHz subcarrier frequency. This is called NTSC 4.43. It's totally
non standard, but some TVs can display it.
3. Even more complex is to output a "PAL" colour encoded signal at
4.43MHz. This means the colour encoding aspect is absolutely bog
standard for the UK, but it's sitting on top of a "foreign" 525-line
60Hz signal. It's totally non standard, but some TVs can display it.

Many DVD players will go the whole hog and output a 625-line 50Hz PAL
4.43MHz signal from a 525-line disc, but this conversion is messy -
unless you have the processing power and clever design of a
professional grade standards converter behind you, the results will
look a bit crappy.

If you have an RGB or component connection, then most of this is
irrelevant - you just send the 525-line signal via that connection, and
no composite colour encoding (PAL or NTSC) is used. This is the best
way to watch 525-line content on 625-line TVs, but isn't very relevant
to VHS.


If the output I describe is correct, what would be wrong with throwing
625/50/NTSC at a TV/capture card in the US? Would it not be able to handle
it? Are video capture cards really so sensitive?

Most are fine. There are two problems for the OP: getting a VCR that
will output that working in the USA, and ensuring that the 625-line
50Hz content is then converted to 525-line 60Hz before burning to DVD -
otherwise he'll have a DVD that he can't show on any US television.

(Generally, DVD players sold in the USA won't convert from 625-line to
525-line, and TVs sold in the USA won't display 625-line content at
all).

As someone with US in-laws, I have a slightly vested interest in such things

Do the conversion over here. Send them a 525-line ("NTSC" - though of
course it's not because DVDs don't have composite colour encoding - but
people use the terminology incorrectly) DVD.

You can convert from 625-line to 525-line in software. The results vary
from acceptable to crap, depending on software and content.

Cheers,
David.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

Adrian A wrote:
Ivan wrote:

I know that there's the voltage thing, but modern power supplies
should work OK even down to120 volts.. in fact to prove the point
I've been using a (cheap 'lightweight') Bush VCR906SIL which still
works quite happily when wound down to115 volts on a variac.

I have an old JVC which works perfectly at 80 volts, so I've no doubt you're
right.

Ah, but does it work properly from a 60Hz power supply? It could well
do, but "hum bars" can be a problem when using mediocre 50Hz video
equipment from a 60Hz power supply, or vicer versa.

If you superimpose a small 50Hz sine wave on top of a 50Hz video
signal, part of the screen will be a little too bright. The bright part
might move up or down slowly. You'll barely notice it.

If you superimpose a small 60Hz sine wave on top of a 50Hz video
signal, then you'll get strobing bars on the screen.

Hence slight power supply problems which you'd never notice when the
field rate matches the power supply can become quite visible when
there's a mismatch.

It shouldn't happen with half decent equipment. But someone mentioned a
£30 VCR.

Cheers,
David.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

Peptulis Amargolis wrote:
On 30 Mar 2006 14:48:25 -0800, "smitten" wrote:

I'd be happy to mail the VHS tape to somebody who could burn an MPEG-2.

I will ask my friend who has a video recorder (PAL) and a DVD
recorder. He could burn a DVD for you.

That will be a "PAL" DVD.

Most US DVD players will play it, but output a 625-line ("PAL") signal.

Almost no US TV sets will display such a signal.

It would be possible to play the DVD on a PC though, and possible to
convert the format on a PC and burn a new DVD in 525-line ("NTSC")
format.

Cheers,
David.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Adrian A wrote:
Ivan wrote:

I know that there's the voltage thing, but modern power supplies
should work OK even down to120 volts.. in fact to prove the point
I've been using a (cheap 'lightweight') Bush VCR906SIL which still
works quite happily when wound down to115 volts on a variac.

I have an old JVC which works perfectly at 80 volts, so I've no doubt
you're
right.

Ah, but does it work properly from a 60Hz power supply? It could well
do, but "hum bars" can be a problem when using mediocre 50Hz video
equipment from a 60Hz power supply, or vicer versa.

If you superimpose a small 50Hz sine wave on top of a 50Hz video
signal, part of the screen will be a little too bright. The bright part
might move up or down slowly. You'll barely notice it.

If you superimpose a small 60Hz sine wave on top of a 50Hz video
signal, then you'll get strobing bars on the screen.

Hence slight power supply problems which you'd never notice when the
field rate matches the power supply can become quite visible when
there's a mismatch.

It shouldn't happen with half decent equipment. But someone mentioned a
£30 VCR.

The virtually standard arrangement in the UK is that the 230v mains supply
feeds a bridge rectifier and a capacitor, which supplies the primary side of
a sops power supply with around 300v DC.. I can't therefore really see that
the variation in mains frequency is going to make an awful lot of
difference, years ago I used to run a 115v NEC computer monitor in
conjunction with an auto transformer, and never experienced any problems.


Cheers,
David.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

In article ,
Ivan wrote:


The virtually standard arrangement in the UK is that the 230v mains
supply feeds a bridge rectifier and a capacitor, which supplies the
primary side of a sops power supply with around 300v DC..

That "standard arrangement" is history. The vast majority of domestic
devices use a switchmode power supply. My Thorn TX9 (1969 vintage) had one.

--
From KT24 - in drought-ridden Surrey

Using a RISC OS5 computer

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Ivan wrote:


The virtually standard arrangement in the UK is that the 230v mains
supply feeds a bridge rectifier and a capacitor, which supplies the
primary side of a sops power supply with around 300v DC..

That "standard arrangement" is history. The vast majority of domestic
devices use a switchmode power supply. My Thorn TX9 (1969 vintage) had
one.


I don't think you've quite woken up yet Charles :0) "which supplies the
'primary side' of a *sops* power supply with around 300v DC."... *switch
operated power supply*.


--
From KT24 - in drought-ridden Surrey

Using a RISC OS5 computer

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

"Ivan" wrote in message
...

"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Ivan wrote:


The virtually standard arrangement in the UK is that the 230v mains
supply feeds a bridge rectifier and a capacitor, which supplies the
primary side of a sops power supply with around 300v DC..

That "standard arrangement" is history. The vast majority of domestic
devices use a switchmode power supply. My Thorn TX9 (1969 vintage) had
one.


I don't think you've quite woken up yet Charles :0) "which supplies the
'primary side' of a *sops* power supply with around 300v DC."... *switch
operated power supply*.



PS. the TX9 didn't arrive on the scene for a number of years after 1969,
you're probably thinking of the Thorn 3000 chassis (with its R2008 chopper
transistor/s) one of the first switch mode power supplies, in fact I wish I
had a £10 note for every one of those I've serviced :0)


--
From KT24 - in drought-ridden Surrey

Using a RISC OS5 computer

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

Lots of detail snipped and some follow up questions.

Paul DS

There are three different tricks in use:
1. The simplest is just to output standard NTSC. Many TVs are happy
with this, but some just aren't looking for a colour subcarrier at
3.58MHz, even if they can display 525 lines at 60Hz, so display a
slightly fuzzy black and white picture. The fuzzyness is the undecoded
colour subcarrier which looks like high frequency junk on top of the
black and white picture (because that's what it is!).
2. The next step is to output an "NTSC" colour encoded signal, but at
4.43MHz subcarrier frequency. This is called NTSC 4.43. It's totally
non standard, but some TVs can display it.
3. Even more complex is to output a "PAL" colour encoded signal at
4.43MHz. This means the colour encoding aspect is absolutely bog
standard for the UK, but it's sitting on top of a "foreign" 525-line
60Hz signal. It's totally non standard, but some TVs can display it.

Umm, nothing that came with my video recorder says anything about needing
help from the TV to play an NTSC pictures, but it does, with all the clear,
precise, colour that you expect from NTSC ;-). Presumably this means that
almost all TVs will handle "NTSC-ish" pictures because I doubt my £50 video
has the processing power that you talk about below.


Many DVD players will go the whole hog and output a 625-line 50Hz PAL
4.43MHz signal from a 525-line disc, but this conversion is messy -
unless you have the processing power and clever design of a
professional grade standards converter behind you, the results will
look a bit crappy.

If you have an RGB or component connection, then most of this is
irrelevant - you just send the 525-line signal via that connection, and
no composite colour encoding (PAL or NTSC) is used. This is the best
way to watch 525-line content on 625-line TVs, but isn't very relevant
to VHS.


If the output I describe is correct, what would be wrong with throwing
625/50/NTSC at a TV/capture card in the US? Would it not be able to
handle
it? Are video capture cards really so sensitive?

Most are fine. There are two problems for the OP: getting a VCR that
will output that working in the USA, and ensuring that the 625-line
50Hz content is then converted to 525-line 60Hz before burning to DVD -
otherwise he'll have a DVD that he can't show on any US television.


I seem to recall that videos don't have 625 (or even 525) line resolution so
do they actually produce 300 (say) line pictures or do they fake up a 625
line picture? If they produce 300 line anyway, does this mean that it
should be still relatively simple to get a US video to play PAL takes
(assuming that US TVs will handle PAL-ish formats - and I thought most TVs
these days use universal chipsets).

(Generally, DVD players sold in the USA won't convert from 625-line to
525-line, and TVs sold in the USA won't display 625-line content at
all).

So although we in the UK can buy and play US DVDs, are you saying that
people in the US cannot buy UK DVDs and expect them to play?


As someone with US in-laws, I have a slightly vested interest in such
things

Do the conversion over here. Send them a 525-line ("NTSC" - though of
course it's not because DVDs don't have composite colour encoding - but
people use the terminology incorrectly) DVD.

If only my PC weren't 5 years old ;-). I was interested because having a
"will play NTSC" video, I was surprised that the reverse (play PAL in the
US) was not possible which is why I'm drilling for details. Never had to
send them anything yet but we do have friends who occasionally ask "could
you..." to which I currently answer "sorry but no".


You can convert from 625-line to 525-line in software. The results vary
from acceptable to crap, depending on software and content.

Cheers,
David.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

In article ,
Ivan wrote:


PS. the TX9 didn't arrive on the scene for a number of years after 1969,
you're probably thinking of the Thorn 3000 chassis (with its R2008
chopper transistor/s) one of the first switch mode power supplies, in
fact I wish I had a £10 note for every one of those I've serviced :0)


Yes, I was confusing my first Thorn set with the later TX9

--
From KT24 - in drought-ridden Surrey

Using a RISC OS5 computer

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

"Ivan" wrote in message
...

"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Ivan wrote:


The virtually standard arrangement in the UK is that the 230v mains
supply feeds a bridge rectifier and a capacitor, which supplies the
primary side of a sops power supply with around 300v DC..

That "standard arrangement" is history. The vast majority of domestic
devices use a switchmode power supply. My Thorn TX9 (1969 vintage) had
one.


I don't think you've quite woken up yet Charles :0) "which supplies the
'primary side' of a *sops* power supply with around 300v DC."... *switch
operated power supply*.




Sorry Charles brain fade! 'sops' is usually the acronym for self-oscillating
power supply.


--
From KT24 - in drought-ridden Surrey

Using a RISC OS5 computer

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

Ivan wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Adrian A wrote:
Ivan wrote:

I know that there's the voltage thing, but modern power supplies
should work OK even down to120 volts.. in fact to prove the point
I've been using a (cheap 'lightweight') Bush VCR906SIL which still
works quite happily when wound down to115 volts on a variac.

I have an old JVC which works perfectly at 80 volts, so I've no doubt
you're
right.

Ah, but does it work properly from a 60Hz power supply? It could well
do, but "hum bars" can be a problem when using mediocre 50Hz video
equipment from a 60Hz power supply, or vicer versa.

If you superimpose a small 50Hz sine wave on top of a 50Hz video
signal, part of the screen will be a little too bright. The bright part
might move up or down slowly. You'll barely notice it.

If you superimpose a small 60Hz sine wave on top of a 50Hz video
signal, then you'll get strobing bars on the screen.

Hence slight power supply problems which you'd never notice when the
field rate matches the power supply can become quite visible when
there's a mismatch.

It shouldn't happen with half decent equipment. But someone mentioned a
£30 VCR.

The virtually standard arrangement in the UK is that the 230v mains supply
feeds a bridge rectifier and a capacitor, which supplies the primary sideof
a sops power supply with around 300v DC.. I can't therefore really see that
the variation in mains frequency is going to make an awful lot of
difference, years ago I used to run a 115v NEC computer monitor in
conjunction with an auto transformer, and never experienced any problems.


Cheers,
David.

Your quoting is a bit messed up here. From the lack of quoting it
appeared that you wrote most of the above post, but in fact only the
paragraph starting "The virtually..." was yours - I can't imagine you
signed off "Cheers, David"!

Anyway, I speak only from real world experience of running UK equipment
in the USA, and US equipment in the UK. Results can be unpredictable.
Usually fine, but strange anomalies can creep in, usually when it
really matters!

Cheers,
David.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

Paul D.Smith wrote:

Umm, nothing that came with my video recorder says anything about needing
help from the TV to play an NTSC pictures, but it does, with all the clear,
precise, colour that you expect from NTSC ;-). Presumably this means that
almost all TVs will handle "NTSC-ish" pictures because I doubt my £50 video
has the processing power that you talk about below.

The frequency change is trivial. Converting NTSC to PAL colour encoding
isn't.

I seem to recall that videos don't have 625 (or even 525) line resolutionso
do they actually produce 300 (say) line pictures or do they fake up a 625
line picture?

No. I think some technology journalists were confused by this, so it's
not surprising us mere mortals can be too - but VHS tapes include the
full number of vertical lines 625 or 525. The 200 line resolution is
200 lines across the screen (horizontal resolution). In otherwords,
it's the reason that the picture from VHS is a bit soft.

If they produce 300 line anyway, does this mean that it
should be still relatively simple to get a US video to play PAL takes
(assuming that US TVs will handle PAL-ish formats - and I thought most TVs
these days use universal chipsets).

No again. Very few TVs in the USA will display a 50Hz signal, even
modern ones.

All modern TVs in the UK will display a 60Hz signal, and most have done
for a decade or more.

So although we in the UK can buy and play US DVDs, are you saying that
people in the US cannot buy UK DVDs and expect them to play?

That's right. Multi-region is virtually unheard of over there. Players
which convert 50Hz to 60Hz are uncommon over there. TVs which display
50Hz are uncommon over there.

If only my PC weren't 5 years old ;-). I was interested because having a
"will play NTSC" video, I was surprised that the reverse (play PAL in the
US) was not possible which is why I'm drilling for details. Never had to
send them anything yet but we do have friends who occasionally ask "could
you..." to which I currently answer "sorry but no".

They'll be able to play 625-line 50Hz DVDs on PCs over there (as long
as the discs themselves are region free, which home made ones should
be), so if you have a DVD recorder you can do something for them - but
to play on a TV, you need to convert, and a PC is the best (home)
option.

Cheers,
David.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

"Paul D.Smith" wrote:

A very good point. As someone who's worked over there, I really should have
known better. FWIW, if you find a "Crate and Barrel", you have a good
change of getting a tea pot these days, or a wide, squat, Boden (?) coffee
pluger/pot works a treat.

Now where do I get an electric kettle in the US, and would I trust the
monster cable required to get 2kW out of a 110V socket if I found one? ;-).

In the past year or so, decent cordless electric kettles have become widely
available in the area around NYC - even in discount-type chains.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

....Lots of stuff about US TVs, videos and DVDs only handling US format
content deleted...

So it's true that they really are as "closed" as people always claim.
Having said that, I do recall seeing some "lovely" RCA and similar badged
sets when I was last out there (only 8 years ago) that frankly looked like
they were made in about 1970 - and these were brand new, on the shelves. I
imagine they even had trouble with those modern DVD thingies ;-).

Paul DS.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

In article ,
Paul D.Smith wrote:
...Lots of stuff about US TVs, videos and DVDs only handling US format
content deleted...

So it's true that they really are as "closed" as people always claim.
Having said that, I do recall seeing some "lovely" RCA and similar badged
sets when I was last out there (only 8 years ago) that frankly looked
like they were made in about 1970 - and these were brand new, on the
shelves. I imagine they even had trouble with those modern DVD thingies

Doesn't Thompson now own the RCA brand?

--
From KT24 - in drought-ridden Surrey

Using a RISC OS5 computer

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

charles wrote:
In article ,
Paul D.Smith wrote:
...Lots of stuff about US TVs, videos and DVDs only handling US
format content deleted...

So it's true that they really are as "closed" as people always claim.
Having said that, I do recall seeing some "lovely" RCA and similar
badged sets when I was last out there (only 8 years ago) that
frankly looked like they were made in about 1970 - and these were
brand new, on the shelves. I imagine they even had trouble with
those modern DVD thingies

Doesn't Thompson now own the RCA brand?

They did do, I think it's been sold again.
--
Adrian A

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Ivan wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Adrian A wrote:
Ivan wrote:

I know that there's the voltage thing, but modern power supplies
should work OK even down to120 volts.. in fact to prove the point
I've been using a (cheap 'lightweight') Bush VCR906SIL which still
works quite happily when wound down to115 volts on a variac.

I have an old JVC which works perfectly at 80 volts, so I've no doubt
you're
right.

Ah, but does it work properly from a 60Hz power supply? It could well
do, but "hum bars" can be a problem when using mediocre 50Hz video
equipment from a 60Hz power supply, or vicer versa.

If you superimpose a small 50Hz sine wave on top of a 50Hz video
signal, part of the screen will be a little too bright. The bright part
might move up or down slowly. You'll barely notice it.

If you superimpose a small 60Hz sine wave on top of a 50Hz video
signal, then you'll get strobing bars on the screen.

Hence slight power supply problems which you'd never notice when the
field rate matches the power supply can become quite visible when
there's a mismatch.

It shouldn't happen with half decent equipment. But someone mentioned a
£30 VCR.

The virtually standard arrangement in the UK is that the 230v mains supply
feeds a bridge rectifier and a capacitor, which supplies the primary side
of
a sops power supply with around 300v DC.. I can't therefore really see
that
the variation in mains frequency is going to make an awful lot of
difference, years ago I used to run a 115v NEC computer monitor in
conjunction with an auto transformer, and never experienced any problems.


Cheers,
David.

Your quoting is a bit messed up here. From the lack of quoting it
appeared that you wrote most of the above post, but in fact only the
paragraph starting "The virtually..." was yours - I can't imagine you
signed off "Cheers, David"!

Anyway, I speak only from real world experience of running UK equipment
in the USA, and US equipment in the UK. Results can be unpredictable.
Usually fine, but strange anomalies can creep in, usually when it
really matters!


I hear what you're saying, and agree that even nowadays one can still
encounter some really weird faults, caused by things ranging from failing
capacitors, pick-up from badly routed leads, circuit board track leakage and
even (heat affected) glue used in manufacture for holding components in
position!

Re your comments on my 'messed up quoting'... the strangest thing, when I
attempt to reply to anyone else, after selecting 'Reply to Group' the
thingy's appear exactly as they should do, however for some strange reason
they do not appear when attempting to reply to any of 'your' posts, so I've
had to insert them manually!.. obviously the reason for your difficulty in
trying to separate original reply... I wonder if any computer literate guys
or gals out there would know the reason for this? I'm using Outlook Express
6.



Cheers,
David.

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

Ivan wrote:
snip
I hear what you're saying, and agree that even nowadays one can still
encounter some really weird faults, caused by things ranging from
failing capacitors, pick-up from badly routed leads, circuit board
track leakage and even (heat affected) glue used in manufacture for
holding components in position!

Re your comments on my 'messed up quoting'... the strangest thing,
when I attempt to reply to anyone else, after selecting 'Reply to
Group' the thingy's appear exactly as they should do, however for
some strange reason they do not appear when attempting to reply to
any of 'your' posts, so I've had to insert them manually!.. obviously
the reason for your difficulty in trying to separate original
reply... I wonder if any computer literate guys or gals out there
would know the reason for this? I'm using Outlook Express 6.

Google for OE-QuoteFix, it has several useful features.
--
Adrian A

Guy from "Sopranos" country, USA, needs a favor.
 

"Adrian A" wrote in message
...
Ivan wrote:
snip
I hear what you're saying, and agree that even nowadays one can still
encounter some really weird faults, caused by things ranging from
failing capacitors, pick-up from badly routed leads, circuit board
track leakage and even (heat affected) glue used in manufacture for
holding components in position!

Re your comments on my 'messed up quoting'... the strangest thing,
when I attempt to reply to anyone else, after selecting 'Reply to
Group' the thingy's appear exactly as they should do, however for
some strange reason they do not appear when attempting to reply to
any of 'your' posts, so I've had to insert them manually!.. obviously
the reason for your difficulty in trying to separate original
reply... I wonder if any computer literate guys or gals out there
would know the reason for this? I'm using Outlook Express 6.

Google for OE-QuoteFix, it has several useful features.
--

Thank-you Adrian, I quickly found 'Quote fix' (a freeware programme)
installed within seconds and even appears to colourise quoted text into the
bargain. I'll play about with it for couple of days and if it's is good as
it looks at first sight, then I'll probably send a donation.

Cheers Ivan



Adrian A