About this Huw DVD

[Paul Mather]

On Mon, Oct 21, 2002 at 05:43:37PM -0500, Arin Komins wrote:
=> On Mon, 21 Oct 2002, John Majka wrote:
=>
=> :Subject: About this Huw DVD
=> :
=> :I know people have discussed this before on the list, but I don't seem to
=> :recall seeing any concrete information... will this Huw DVD-R play on US
=> :players?  I am definitely interested if this is the case.
=> :John Majka
=> :jmajka2 at comcast.net
=>
=> Steve Litchfield said:
=>
=> In answer to the question yesterday, the Huw DVD is not region coded. So
=> as long as your TV/PC equipment handles PAL video, the DVD will be fine.
=>
=> See http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/hawkwind/huwdvd.htm
=>
=>
=> ....so, unless your setup handles PAL (which, by default in the US, it
=> won't), then you won't be able to play it.
=>
=> You could get a video converter, though....

This doesn't make sense for digital video.  Surely any half-decent
system is able to do the resolution and frame rate conversion on the
fly as part of the decoding process?  Then it's just a matter of the
analogue output stage being able to generate a TV signal using the
appropriate sync and timings (just like computer video cards do when
you switch video modes).  The AGP graphics card in a friend's PC has a
TV out that can switch between PAL and NTSC in software.  Another
friend's $50 el cheapo DVD player has a menu option to switch between
PAL and NTSC.  It's probably fairly standard across the board, so that
Tiawanese board shifters can build only one design for a world market
that can be configured by the end user, rather than having to build
multiple versions for the USA and European markets.  One size fits all
is cheaper for them.

Is the PAL requirement a red herring?

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

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