Philips 120 Hz Edge LED from US - Worth it?

[argho]

Can we not set the STB to PAL or NTSC? I though this feature is there in all STBs? I am sure you can set most AVRs to PAL/NTSC.

Cheers

STBs do natively support this feature, but as far as I know, the GUI imposed by the Indian service providers hide this option.

I have 3 Tata Sky STBs. On none of them, is this option exposed. I have searched the net far and wide, but I am yet to find a workaround which allows me to change a TataSky STB to a NTSC output.

Believe me, I have tried - I have a beautiful 42 inch Plasma which I brought back from US. Now, just used to watch DVDs.

I don't know about AVRs. I have a Denon 1910 (bought locally from ProFX). Have not been able to figure out a way to get a NTSC output from it.

I am very interested in hearing from anyone who has a solution to either of the above.

Also to be noted :
- multisystem TVs in US are available only from speciality stores (eg B&H)
- the pricing of such TVs makes them unviable to bring back to India

Have a look :
Multisystem Televisions

 

[gem]

STBs do natively support this feature, but as far as I know, the GUI imposed by the Indian service providers hide this option.

Curious to understand what Indian service providers would gain by hiding this option. BTW, do you have some background info(link) on which the assumption, that STBs natively support NTSC/PAL switching, is based.

I have a Denon 1910 (bought locally from ProFX). Have not been able to figure out a way to get a NTSC output from it.

As the Denon 1910 is not a converter you would not get a NTSC o/p from it unless the i/p is also NTSC. If you have a DVD player/media player that has NTSC o/p, route the signals through the Denon 1910. I am guessing that if it processes it and you see the picture on TV then the AVR is not choking on NTSC signals.

I am very interested in hearing from anyone who has a solution to either of the above.

I have had success watching Tata SKY HD broadcasts using the Atlona HD 560

Amazon.com: Atlona AT-HD560 Pal HDMI to NTSC HDMI Converter 1080p: Electronics

It also upscales(?) the 1080i to 1080p. SD channels also are much better due to it. As this accepts only "HDMI in" you would need an STB (tata sky HD) that has HDMI out instead of component or composite video.

There may be other products HD580 if your STB does not have HDMI o/p.

 

[argho]

Curious to understand what Indian service providers would gain by hiding this option.

My guess - people who have NTSC only TVs are such a small group, that companies do not want to waste programming resources to add this option to the GUI.

BTW, do you have some background info(link) on which the assumption, that STBs natively support NTSC/PAL switching, is based.

The TataSky boxes are made by Humax. When I was trying to find a solution to this problem, 2 years ago, I had found the original specs of the TataSky box. It clearly stated multi-system output capability.

Unable to find the link now. The Humax site is showing only their latest STB designs.

I have had success watching Tata SKY HD broadcasts using the Atlona HD 560

Amazon.com: Atlona AT-HD560 Pal HDMI to NTSC HDMI Converter 1080p: Electronics

It also upscales(?) the 1080i to 1080p. SD channels also are much better due to it. As this accepts only "HDMI in" you would need an STB (tata sky HD) that has HDMI out instead of component or composite video.

There may be other products HD580 if your STB does not have HDMI o/p.

I used an Altona converter for over a year but the output was muddy/unclear. It was a different one, not this HDMI converter.

Finally the box died, and I gave up and bought a new TV.

Gem - how is the quality of the conversion with this box ? Are SD channels clear and sharp ? Are the colours bright ?

My Philips US TV is still lying around, so interested in your response.

 

[hemantwaghe]

I heard people used VCR as NTSC -Pal converter ,any info how it was done and whether it was true?

 

[gem]

Gem - how is the quality of the conversion with this box ? Are SD channels clear and sharp ? Are the colours bright ?

My Philips US TV is still lying around, so interested in your response.

Totally happy. I bought the Atlona converter when I upgraded to Tata Sky HD. The SD channels look better than when I was using the ComWorld converter. I replaced the ComWorld because it could not take HDMI i/ps otherwise it was a good converter too.

For SD channels I could not find any PQ difference comparing my 52" US bought TV (using a converter) with a 32" India bought TV. Both TVs are Sonys.

 

[gem]

I heard people used VCR as NTSC -Pal converter ,any info how it was done and whether it was true?

Offline conversion maybe. Not sure about online conversion(needed for watching TV).

 

[argho]

I heard people used VCR as NTSC -Pal converter ,any info how it was done and whether it was true?

I came across this in the US. There were certain multi-system VCRs which were able to convert a signal from PAL to NTSC and vice-versa. They were priced very high, so never cared to try that method. And anyway, who wants to buy a VCR nowadays.

 

[crashnburn]

My guess - people who have NTSC only TVs are such a small group, that companies do not want to waste programming resources to add this option to the GUI.

The TataSky boxes are made by Humax. When I was trying to find a solution to this problem, 2 years ago, I had found the original specs of the TataSky box. It clearly stated multi-system output capability.

Unable to find the link now. The Humax site is showing only their latest STB designs.

I used an Altona converter for over a year but the output was muddy/unclear. It was a different one, not this HDMI converter.

Finally the box died, and I gave up and bought a new TV.

Gem - how is the quality of the conversion with this box ? Are SD channels clear and sharp ? Are the colours bright ?

My Philips US TV is still lying around, so interested in your response.

I had read that a bunch of people on the R2I forums were able to use a STB with Sharp LC 52D64U. But, it was said that it supported PAL over Composite inputs.

Totally happy. I bought the Atlona converter when I upgraded to Tata Sky HD. The SD channels look better than when I was using the ComWorld converter. I replaced the ComWorld because it could not take HDMI i/ps otherwise it was a good converter too.

For SD channels I could not find any PQ difference comparing my 52" US bought TV (using a converter) with a 32" India bought TV. Both TVs are Sonys.

Which ComWorld Converter did/ were you using? I am trying to decide between buying one of these.. Altona or ComWorld or something else thats on the market.

STBs do natively support this feature, but as far as I know, the GUI imposed by the Indian service providers hide this option.

I have 3 Tata Sky STBs. On none of them, is this option exposed. I have searched the net far and wide, but I am yet to find a workaround which allows me to change a TataSky STB to a NTSC output.

Believe me, I have tried - I have a beautiful 42 inch Plasma which I brought back from US. Now, just used to watch DVDs.

I don't know about AVRs. I have a Denon 1910 (bought locally from ProFX). Have not been able to figure out a way to get a NTSC output from it.

I am very interested in hearing from anyone who has a solution to either of the above.

Also to be noted :
- multisystem TVs in US are available only from speciality stores (eg B&H)
- the pricing of such TVs makes them unviable to bring back to India

Have a look :
Multisystem Televisions

Are you saying that none of the STBs support NTSC output? over.. Component, Composite or HDMI?

Totally wrong. US TVs would not be able to display signals emanating from DTH STBs in India (HDMI or otherwise).

You would then need to attach this device between your STB and the TV

Atlona AT-HD560 Pal HDMI to NTSC HDMI Converter 1080p (search Amazon).

Not worth the hassle getting an US TV

- No warranty
- Voltage converter
- Signal converter

+ Price

Ouch! Not the kind of flavor I experienced on the R2I Club forums.

Curious to understand what Indian service providers would gain by hiding this option. BTW, do you have some background info(link) on which the assumption, that STBs natively support NTSC/PAL switching, is based.

As the Denon 1910 is not a converter you would not get a NTSC o/p from it unless the i/p is also NTSC. If you have a DVD player/media player that has NTSC o/p, route the signals through the Denon 1910. I am guessing that if it processes it and you see the picture on TV then the AVR is not choking on NTSC signals.

I have had success watching Tata SKY HD broadcasts using the Atlona HD 560

Amazon.com: Atlona AT-HD560 Pal HDMI to NTSC HDMI Converter 1080p: Electronics

It also upscales(?) the 1080i to 1080p. SD channels also are much better due to it. As this accepts only "HDMI in" you would need an STB (tata sky HD) that has HDMI out instead of component or composite video.

There may be other products HD580 if your STB does not have HDMI o/p.

Which STBs support such HDMI output?