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    Delivery from Amazon

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    • S Offline
      sashimi
      last edited by

      caroline3sg:
      sashimi

      I would like to know US DVD format can be used in SG meh? NTSC vs PAL.

      Recently I bought close to S$300 worth of DVD from HMV. I am interested in National Geographic (not shipping to SG) and Discovery.

      I don't subscribe to Starhub Cable. I know now Octo & Channel U have the programmes but the DVDs are worth buying for watching (at our own time) and keeping.

      Thank you
      Yes DVDs come in NTSC and PAL, as well as regional codings.

      Most if not all players will play both formats - in fact, now it's more a question of High Def, i.e. Blu-Ray, etc. PAL and NTSC are ancient relics now.... But basically I'm not particular, so I don't bother.

      Short answer: yes, USA DVDs on NTSC will play fine. In fact, I also buy occasonally from Australia (code 4, PAL if I'm not mistaken). Actually some 90% of my DVD collection is from USA.

      Mmmm..... HMV Singapore? You probably should stop buying from them. From what I rem, they have the highest, most unreasonable prices in Singapore. You are likely to be much better off ordering from Amazon.

      Give me an example of what you bought from NGC/Discovery? I'll make a comparison?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • S Offline
        schellen
        last edited by

        insider:
        So my kids told me Japanese brands DVD players are 'stricter' in decoding while China ones can 'anyhow'... Not sure how true it is.

        That's what my dad says too.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • S Offline
          sashimi
          last edited by

          insider:


          Some of the DVDs I bought cannot be played in my more expensive DVD players (such as Toshiba) with a display of something like \"Format Not Compatible\" but these DVDs can be played in cheaper brands such as Enzer (those China brands). So, it can be frustrating sometimes... (that I have to stack an Enzer on top of the Toshiba for just in case DVD can't be played).

          So my kids told me Japanese brands DVD players are 'stricter' in decoding while China ones can 'anyhow'... Not sure how true it is.
          From my limited understanding, this happens when:

          a) the player is a high quality player with a high quality lens
          +
          b) the disc in question was manufactured/burned at very low quality.
          or
          c) the film on the disc is not a \"DVD\" format per se but one of those computer-related formats, eg. wmv, avi, mp4, mpg, etc. - so basically the player doesn't recognize them.

          The irony is that cheaper players are, how to say, designed to play these because of something involving one-eyed sea captains with parrots who go \"aarrhh, shiver me timbers!!\" 😉

          In the case of a+b, if I'm not wrong (I am not an expert in this area), basically the low quality disc cannot be played because the player will be forced to make a lot of corrections when reading the data on the disc. Prolonged correction causes the lens to deteriorate. So, to protect itself (and your purchase), the player simply refuses to play the bad disc.

          This causes the phenomenon where an expensive, high quality player refuses to play \"cheap\" discs.



          Incidently, in recent years some studios (eg. MGM) attempted to introduce new barriers to enforce the region encoding, so that their code 1 discs would spit a \"Wrong Regional Format\" message even if you attempted to play it with a region-free player.

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          • S Offline
            schellen
            last edited by

            insider:
            Coz of all these confusion, I cannot buy my Blue Planet from Amazon (which...eventually I went to buy the $5 version... sshhh...). Still have no confidence to spend on US DVDs and run the risk.

            Actually, lousy dvds can spoil good player but the chances of good dvds being spoiled by a low-end player, that I've never heard of. So go invest in your dvds but don't need to spend so much on player. :lol: (sashimi will :shock: if he sees this. 😛 )

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            • C Offline
              clarabella
              last edited by

              Hiya all

              So when you purchase DVDs from Amazon, do they get sent to MDA?

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              • S Offline
                sashimi
                last edited by

                No. The trick is not to buy a huge amount nor any items which are either very new (thus not in MDA’s black book) or risque. If you buy discovery stuff, MDA should just let it through.

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                • C Offline
                  clarabella
                  last edited by

                  Thank you, sashimi. Like that ah… must wait a while then to get the more interesting titles…

                  Somehow this thread moved from board games to DVDs hehehe.

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                  • Q Offline
                    quixation
                    last edited by

                    Actually we found out that cheaper DVD players (multi region) bought from Giant like Enzer, Akira, etc costing less than SGD60 or 80 plays all region!


                    Was able to play all US region code 1 DVDs… My JVC couldnt even read them but my Enzer still the best!

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S Offline
                      sashimi
                      last edited by

                      insider:
                      two DVDs that I can remember clearly cant be played in my Toshiba were 'Mummies' & the other one is \"Stepmom\". Both original from the States given by friend but can be read from Enzer.


                      Coz of all these confusion, I cannot buy my Blue Planet from Amazon (which...eventually I went to buy the $5 version... sshhh...). Still have no confidence to spend on US DVDs and run the risk.
                      First part - my best educated guess is that your Toshiba is/was not set to play code 1, i.e not region-free. But frankly this is unlikely, but it does happen.

                      If you have a recent DVD player, I can confidently declare that 99% of all US DVDs (i.e code 1) will play just fine. If cannot, then likely the player is not set to be region-free. BRing it back to your retailer and ask them to set it to be region-free.

                      I recently bought an LG mini home theatre. When I got home I realized it won't play my code 1s. It had not yet been set region-free. So I brought it back to the shop, and one of the staff just entered a code, pressed a few buttons, and voila, region-free. I have run through about 7 or 8 players since marriage, all play code 1s fine.

                      Among them were a few \"Enzer\"-class players, which I use stricly for playing VCDs (my DD's stuff) and lousy DVDs including the \"Ahoy me hearties!\" versions. For my favourite DVDs, blockbuster movies, I always use my LG now. 🙂

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • M Offline
                        metz
                        last edited by

                        Hi Insider,


                        But if I’m not wrong, the adjustment is done by the ‘factory’ and not the Best Denki sales staff. When my free Pioneer DVD player broke down on me last year, I brought it down and complained that it’s not region-free as promised. They told me the ‘factory’ side might have missed it. Gave me a brand new set and assured me it’s region free. And true as the sales staff promised, it is region free. If you have just bought the set, you can try insisting on changing a new one as it doesn’t play your DVDs.

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