BOC-L Digest / Still in the Shadows

[Henderson Keith]

Andy G. ärgert sich über das Folgende...

>All I can say is that, for the supposed global economy we are supposed to
>inhabit, for the supposed technological age in which we live, why the
>sodding hell we STILL have this stupid intercontinental format thing going
>on, is beyond me. The manufacturers of the whole shooting match
>want.......errrrrrr........shooting!!

As Paul alluded to...I believe the problem stems fundamentally from
the power difference between the US and Europe.  Not so much the voltage,
but rather the frequency.  Again, I'm speaking as a half-wit layperson,
but I've understood it to be the case that the scan rate of a PAL TV
matches in some way the 50 Hz frequency of the AC power.*  And likewise
60 Hz for NTSC TVs.  And I think maybe even the total number of pixel
lines is different between PAL and NTSC TVs.  So, as it's an inherited
problem that will only disappear once the world has left analogue in
the dust (those vinyl nuts notwithstanding) :) there's not many folks
alive that I (or we) can blame.

*does this give a sharper picture, or eliminate 'resonance' patterns,
if the frequency matches?  I would *guess* this must be the case...

This was why I didn't believe my nephew could 'magically' hack his DVD
player to play PAL, at least without distortion due to the scan rate
problem.  But that was before I learned that these 'one-size-fits-all'
chips were found in many American DVD players, and that they *do* have
the format-conversion capability in place, if you just know how to
activate it.

One question I have though...why don't they have *all* the features of
these chips activated for every model?  My guess is that it would be
harder for them to sell more expensive models, if the cheaper ones had
all the same features.  Which means the companies are basically making
their products "inferior" intentionally, so that you will pay more for
something that isn't really any more advanced, but just has been 'turned'
on.  OK, I'm a professional cynic when it comes to mega-corporations,
but what other answer is there?

Grakkl (FAA)