NTSC, PS3 wont play PAL DVD's (in 2009 this is dumb)

interested

interested

Gawd
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
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Hey anyone else annoyed or just find it plain stupid that Sony wont let someone play a PAL (region free) movie DVD on a north American NTSC, PS3?

Especially when it properly plays all PAL and NTSC, MPEG, Divx, Xvids, etc... when streamed or on Hard Drive/flash etc..

This is the one thing i have always hated about Sony.
I also own an expensive Sony DVD player that does the same thing.
Back when i bought that Sony DVD player, i had to buy a second cheap Philips one that allowed me to play anything.

And now that i thought the PS3 would be a complete replacement for my USB equipped newer Philips DVD player, i find out that i will still need to keep the Philips DVD player plugged in in order to play the occasional (region free) PAL DVD.

Sony should wake up, given there are region codes on DVD's there is no reason why they should not allow a NTSC PS3 to play (region free) PAL DVD's

Any-well i thought i would post this information so people are aware of this PS3 limitation.

I'm curious does the Xbox360 also do the same thing (non-modded factory original)?
 
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Yeah, movies on the PS3 are region-locked...even if the actual media is not. Games aren't. I've read that you might be able to get away with what you're trying to do using a lower quality connection though.

Something about stopping those 'grey-market' sales... ie- buying something for cheaper in a different country.

It sucks, but that's how it is. Sony should really 'fix' the issue, but I think the issue is fixed, for Sony. What, with their ties to the movie industry and all.

Is there any way you can rip the movie and play it from an HDD on your media centre?
 
kumquat said:
How is your PS3 hooked up to your TV?
Click to expand...

Optical out for sound, and RCA for video ( soon to be SVideo, once my cables arrive)
Given the connection type i am using, the PS3 is running in 480i and not HD.

I don't think it matters what connection type you use, since once you put in a PAL (region free) DVD the PS3 pops up a screen saying something along the lines of "this system wont play PAL standard DVD's...".
It does not pop up a region error screen.Even if there is no region code or that the region code is set to ALL or even R1, all it says is that since its PAL it wont play it.

I have no idea if it also does this for BluRay movies (since i dont own any), however i wouldent be surprised if it also did.
 
interested said:
Hey anyone else annoyed or just find it plain stupid that Sony wont let someone play a PAL (region free) movie DVD on a north American NTSC, PS3?

Especially when it properly plays all PAL and NTSC, MPEG, Divx, Xvids, etc... when streamed or on Hard Drive/flash etc..

This is the one thing i have always hated about Sony.
I also own an expensive Sony DVD player that does the same thing.
Back when i bought that Sony DVD player, i had to buy a second cheap Philips one that allowed me to play anything.

And now that i thought the PS3 would be a complete replacement for my USB equipped newer Philips DVD player, i find out that i will still need to keep the Philips DVD player plugged in in order to play the occasional (region free) PAL DVD.

Sony should wake up, given there are region codes on DVD's there is no reason why they should not allow a NTSC PS3 to play (region free) PAL DVD's

Any-well i thought i would post this information so people are aware of this PS3 limitation.

I'm curious does the Xbox360 also do the same thing (non-modded factory original)?
Click to expand...

Let me see here

right on the back of the box it states:

"DVD Video with either region number [1] or [ALL]*1

*1 When outputting DVD Content or Playstation(R) 3 format software in SD resolution, only disks recorded in NSTC format can be played"

where is the confusion?
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
Let me see here

right on the back of the box it states:

"DVD Video with either region number [1] or [ALL]*1

*1 When outputting DVD Content or Playstation(R) 3 format software in SD resolution, only disks recorded in NSTC format can be played"

where is the confusion?
Click to expand...

what box are you talking about?

So based on your comment, if i was outputting in HD, the PS3 does play (region free) PAL DVD's?
Im going to test this tonight on a HD TV.
 
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Rip said DVD to something playable on your ps3, a bit of an inconvenience, but it should work right?
 
zaxour said:
Rip said DVD to something playable on your ps3, a bit of an inconvenience, but it should work right?
Click to expand...

Yup you could always rip the DVD to a xvid or divx and then stream it onto the PS3.
Since the PS3 does not care if the streamed file is PAL or NTSC

However In order to keep the DVD format on a DVD disk, that can continue to play on a standard DVD player you would have to re-encode the DVD into the other format.

Re-encoding NTSC to PAL DVD is ok. (~30fps to ~24fps)
Re-encoding PAL to NTSC DVD is not really ok, since you would have to fill in for missing frames.

plus who would want to waste time re-encoding or ripping, when you can just have another cheap DVD player plugged in that plays both PAL and NTSC DVD disks. ( which just about every other DVD player on the market besides Sony does)
 
Region encoding on DVD players is nothing new?

BluRay also has region encoding; however far less BR movies adhere to it. You can tell by looking on the rear of the case for the region logo.
 
The Donut said:
Region encoding on DVD players is nothing new?

BluRay also has region encoding; however far less BR movies adhere to it. You can tell by looking on the rear of the case for the region logo.
Click to expand...

The topic is not about Region, its about Format.. Please note "Region Free" PAL DVD was posted.
In other words a PAL format DVD that is region "ALL" or region "1"
 
interested said:
what box are you talking about?

So based on your comment, if i was outputting in HD, the PS3 does play (region free) PAL DVD's?
Im going to test this tonight on a HD TV.
Click to expand...

That is straight off of the US PS3 box. and no your test won't work as it states "when outputting DVD content or Playstation (R) 3 software in SD resolution"
 
interested said:
what box are you talking about?

So based on your comment, if i was outputting in HD, the PS3 does play (region free) PAL DVD's?
Im going to test this tonight on a HD TV.
Click to expand...

That's the idea.

When your PS3 is connected to a regular TV, it's outputting an NTSC signal. It doesn't convert the PAL DVD signal to NTSC.

When connected to an HDTV via component or HDMI, it's not using NTSC anymore. It should convert NTSC or PAL DVDs to work properly.
 
silent-circuit said:
Then you need to find some new ripping software, as there's no reason for this.
Click to expand...

what are you talking about?

step 1: have a dvd player
step 2. put a PAL dvd in said player
step 3. PAL dvd doesnt play perfect

no ripping involved? why would I rip a PAL DVD if the suggestion was already that any normal dvd player can play a PAL dvd and the PS3 can not
 
interested said:
The topic is not about Region, its about Format.. Please note "Region Free" PAL DVD was posted.
In other words a PAL format DVD that is region "ALL" or region "1"
Click to expand...

Thats fine, but if his ps3 is telling him it won't play that region then the DVD isn't a proper region free disc.
 
interested said:
what box are you talking about?

So based on your comment, if i was outputting in HD, the PS3 does play (region free) PAL DVD's?
Im going to test this tonight on a HD TV.
Click to expand...

Have you tested it? Is PS3 Slim able to play region free DVDs if output is HD (over HDMI cable)?

Please share.
 
where's the update that interested was going to post about testing out playing a pal dvd on a nstc ps3?
 
Ok well i was able to test out if "REGION FREE/ALL REGIONS " PAL DVD(movie) disks work on a NTSC Playstation 3 Slim, when connected via HDMI to a HD TV.
PS3 slim which was used for this test had version 3.00 firmware.

The answer is NO , it still does NOT play PAL region free/all region DVD(movie) disks.
The PS3 gives the same stupid message saying this system cannot play PAL disks.

So next i will get one of my friends with one of the older gen PS3's to try it out and see if it works.
I will report the results.
 
I have the good ol' 80GB with full backward compatibility, and trust me, it doesn't do PAL.

I have some region free or region 1 blu rays imported, and it usually can't even do them because of the PAL menus (even though the HD video should be able to play, it stops it with an error).

I have some region free PAL standard DVDs and those just get a "PAL Encoded Will Not Work on PS3" message.

Rumor had it in the Spring that the firmware update would give PAL playback, but still no luck. The PS3 website flat out says any DVD content can only play NTSC. Odd thing is, other region PS3s can play PAL and NTSC, but the reverse is harder to find.

Ah well, I keep writing Sony asking for this update, but no luck yet, just a standard response.
 
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