Playstation3 NTSC/PAL

[popayetwo]

My daughter bought a Playstation 3 while she was working in Taiwan. It's an NTSC version. Now she has moved back home to SA where we have PAL DVD's. These won't play on her PS3, and we get the error message to this effect.

But PS3 bought in Australia WILL play PAL DVD's. so is this just a software thing and if so where can we get the software.

There must be thousands of people moving around the world every day who have similar problem. Surely Sony don't expect us to sell the PS3 when we move and buy another?

Note: we are talking DVD movies here -- NOT games.

[AndyD]

The PS3 is region locked in two ways for movie playback. Firstly movie disks are region coded, Taiwan would be region 1 and SA is region 2. Secondly by video format ie NTSC or PAL.

There's two ways to approach the problem, you can mod-chip your PS3 which involves buying and installing an UNOFFICIAL new chip which has firmware enabled for both PAL and NTSC. If you go this route just make sure the firmware is not region code or format restricted.

The other option is to take your original movie disk and encode it or rip it using a pc with a program like AnyDVD which removes regionalisation restrictions and DVDFab which does the encoding. This might sound tedious but you'll be able to load numerous movies on a USB flash drive and plug it into your PS3.

[tec0]

Or a cheap R200 DVD player can do the trick sadly for some reason “region free” DVD players are close to impossible to find but I was told that they do exist so maybe it is worth shopping for.

[AndyD]

Never thought of that but realistically Tec0's advice is probably the easiest, safest and cheapest route.

[eitai2001]

In actual truth ... all branded dvd players such as Sony, LG, Samsung, etc are region free. If not and you buy them at Cats, you can get the unlock code ... I think they have to be unlocked by the manufacturers when brought into the country. At least when I worked there they were.

[adrianh]

NTSC - PAL

My daughter bought a Playstation 3 while she was working in Taiwan. It's an NTSC version. Now she has moved back home to SA where we have PAL DVD's. These won't play on her PS3, and we get the error message to this effect.

But PS3 bought in Australia WILL play PAL DVD's. so is this just a software thing and if so where can we get the software.

There must be thousands of people moving around the world every day who have similar problem. Surely Sony don't expect us to sell the PS3 when we move and buy another?

Note: we are talking DVD movies here -- NOT games.

Of course the reason is tha NTSC is primarily used in the US and Japan. The NTSC video standard is rather different to PAL and also totally incompatible. Every aspect of the standard differs, Lines/field, Horizontal frequency, Vertical frequency, Colour subcarrier frequency, Video bandwidth & Sound carrier frequency. The video modulator/ demodulator chips is basically a solid state device that converts the digital DVD information to a composite TV signal. If the suppliers were to support PAL playback on an NTSC device it would mean that they would have to fit both PAL & NTSC modulators. Now why would they do that given the the movies are automatically region locked by virtue of the fact that PAL, NTSC & SECAM are incompatible standards.

This issue DVD not games has got nothing to do with region locking and everything to do with NTSC / PAL incompatibility.

Your request to have a NTSC / PAL playback device could be likened to having a left & right hand drive car (there is simply no money in it)

[AndyD]

I suspect the motivation for region locking devices is more economic than technical, it allows them to use different price points for identical equipment in different countries so they can charge what they think each geographical market will stand. Often the only difference is in the firmware which can sometimes be unofficially flashed.

[tec0]

I know that most PC DVD RW can be flashed so that they can no longer be region locked. But it is worth asking what DVD players are available. But if most DVD players are Region Free then it would be handy to print it on the box or something like that. Most resellers don’t know what you are on about when you ask if the device is Region free or not.

[popayetwo]

... Secondly by video format ie NTSC or PAL.

No problem there. my tv can accept both. I have a separate dvd player but I wanted to use just the PS3 as it can playback more formats including bluetooth (NTSC) and MP4 etc.
If PS3 is PAL in Oz, then it must be either soft/firmware or hardware different from the NTSC model. Sony couldn't care less if you move regions, as people do. They should offer
a service to modify a PS3 if you change regions IMHO. That's my gripe.

[AndyD]

They should offer
a service to modify a PS3 if you change regions IMHO. That's my gripe.

You should contact the SA agents, maybe they do offer this service but just don't advertise it.