DeCSS, crypto, law, and economics

[R. Hirschfeld]

> Date: Thu, 09 Jan 2003 10:18:33 +0000
> From: Pete Chown <Pete.Chown at skygate.co.uk>

> Alan wrote:
> 
> > Another argument for the regions is the differing formats for TV
> > signals. (NTSC v.s. PAL.)  It is a bogus argument as you can find DVD
> > players that will convert the signal with little or no problem.
> 
> Actually my TV is happy with either.  I always had the notion that I 
> wouldn't be able to play American videotapes, but then I tried it and it 
> works fine.  So if I don't want to bother with region codes, the other 
> possibility is to buy films on video.

This may be due to not only your TV but also your VCR.  Some have
"NTSC PLAYBACK ON PAL TV" (PAL60), which uses PAL color encoding but
NTSC scanning rate, which most PAL TVs can handle.

> When I play region-1 DVDs, the player doesn't convert the signal.  This 
> would introduce a slight judder because of the differing frame rates. 
> Instead the TV just acts like a multisync monitor, and adjusts to the 
> signal it is given.

The output of your player from a region 1 DVD is probably not NTSC but
rather PAL60.  A disc may be labeled NTSC (or PAL) if it is formatted
for a scanning rate of 525/60 (resp. 625/50), but this is a bit of a
misnomer because the encoding of the color signal is determined by the
player and is not inherent to the disc.

Ray

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