CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[Stephen]

Hello, I'm interested in importing a US player into the UK because (as with laser discs) there seem to be so many more titles available on NTSC discs. Am I right to think that as long as I get a player that has AV rather than RF output and uses quartz timing for the turntable rather than line frequency (as ours is 50Hz in the UK compared to your 60Hz) that everything will play fine?

All (or most) the UK players were made by Hitachi, whereas the US ones seem to be RCA. According to the list of players on CEDmagic, the Hitachi models used quartz timing, so would they work for me and would it be easy to find replacement parts or am I best to stock with RCA? Problem is SKT400s don't come on ebay often! Thanks, Stephen.

[kitchensynch]

You have some big deals to get past.

PAL and NTSC need to be converted. They are incompatible and you'll want to find a set that plays multiple standards (you can find that okay) or a recorder that converts if you want to record them, whether digitally or in analog.

You need a voltage standards converter to use the US player in the UK.

I'll explain why. Running a 60 Hz *cycles per second device on 50 Hz means you have about 16 PERCENT less cycles. The scanning relies on that 60 cycle line frequency to scan 60 times a second, 1/2 a frame each scan and in sequence making 30 full FRAMES each second. In the old UK system it was 50 cycles, 1/2 scan, 25 frames. The difference create some very noticeable flickering and artifacts when you are used to watching the other way (look up 'persistence of vision' for some insight on why). You are going to get some rolling picture problems as well because of over or underscanning dependent on which way you go NTSC on PAL/vice versa.

I have an old Pioneer audio timer for my stereo that has worldwide voltage capability, for an example. I had to tape over the 50/60 Hz switch on the bottom of the timer because I found it could get moved from 60 to 50 when I put it down and you wouldn't BELIEVE how time flew!

60 Hz things don't run well on 50 Hz and likewise 50 Hz runs funny on 60.

PAL isn't NTSC on UHF with 100 more scan lines, the audio and video are in different area on the carrier and the color is completely different too. Simply using the composite video isn't the solution because it's the same video signal and still not compatible. The separate stereo audio is the only difference from the coaxial.

If you have an old NTSC US TV you only had the voltage conversion to do.

I think some or many of these new LCD flat panel digital TVs are supposed to convert for you, you'd have to look that up. Still, it's not as simple as it sounds.
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A New Vista of RCA Victor COLOR!

[SelectaVision420]

well folks there you have it cant really explain it better
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(2)Sears 274 & 934(80150,10&11350), sft100, sgt250, sjt 090-400, vp550, VDR3000, VP2000 & 4000
complete '84 Dimensia Owner

[kitchensynch]

I meant 16 PERCENT less cycles, of course, and I corrected that.

It's like shutting down a cylinder on a six-cylinder engine. Likewise 60 into 50 is like overloading that engine, it will run badly.
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A New Vista of RCA Victor COLOR!

[happycube]

This is what Tom did for the reverse - he basically regenerated the 220v/50hz power by going AC->DC->AC:

http://www.cedmagic.com/misc/ntsc-pal/ntsc-pal.html