US HD vs UK HD

[admin_exported]

First post - "hi everyone"!

Is there a difference between UK and US HD specifications? I know the resolutions are the same, but are the refresh rates the same too?

I'm wondering if my US 40" Samsung LCD TV will work with Sky+HD, UK PAL DVDs, and UK Blurays.

If it does not, then I would like to buy a UK TV that supports the above (of course) *and* US NTSC DVDs and US Blurays? I like the sound of the Sony 40W4500 and the Samsung 40A786 or 40A856 - but I am finding it difficult to know if any / all will support what I need.

Thanks for any advice or experience in this area!

Dan

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Most Us TV's struggle to accept a PAL 50htz signal which all UK TV signals are transmited at if HD or SD, you would also have issues regarding power voltage and need a step-down transformer which more often than not affects picture quality. My advice would be to get a new UK model and not have any worries. A simular problem has been found by US DVD players refusing to play UK PAL DVD's as where UK TV's and DVD players happily accept NTSC.

As for BD software, if it is encoded at 1080p then there is generally NTSC/PAL issue as most are encoded @24fps (not all TV's accept 24fps)tho some are at either 50/60fps. 1080i BD are either 50/60 fps which again a UK HD TV will happily accept.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply - I had a feeling that would be the case. I have the necessary power transformer already. It doesn't seem to be affecting the picture quality - but it is going through a Monster Power strip that does some filtering of the power supply.

I just ordered an Oppo DVD Player Multi Region Player so when that arrives I'll be able to try out some PAL DVDs on my US TV and see what happens - probably not a lot!

Based on some of your other forum posts - you seem to be a fan of Plasma over LCD. The only thing that has me very nervous about Plasma screens is the potential for images to get burnt in (e.g. the little channel logos that are permanently in the bottom-right corner of some stations). You see this all the time in retail stores / banks that show the same video clip over and over again. It happen to me once at a trade-show where we used a giant Plasma screen on a PC. It had a screen-saver enabled (kicking in after 10 minutes of inactivity) - but after 3 days you could see most of the contents of the desktop permanently on the screen!

Is this a problem for modern Plasma screens?

Dan

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Personally on any screen where a Plasma is avalible I would opt for one as I find LCD's over bright and their coulor almost computerised as where a Plasma offers much more natural colours, no lag issues, beter motion handleing and propper blacks whichfor me as a Movie fan is a must. Don't get me wrong I am not saying all LCD's are rubbish but IMHO a good Plasma set up correctly just looks so much better.

As for screen-burn, it is a possibility as you have seen but generally this only happens to screens used comercially as you have noted continually showing the same image or video loop often with a high-contrast logo perminatly in the same position. In a household situation and with modern screens you are preaty safe as to cause perminant image retension would take a lot more than a few hours viewing of say MTV or your DVD on pause for a while. I have 3 Plasma's in my home which are all used for anything for TV to gaming and have no problems with any of them.

 

[Anonymous]

Well your suspicions were correct my US Samsung 40" LCD TV does not like PAL signals.

My Oppo DVD 981HD player arrived yesterday and has a *very* nice feature that I had not seen before ... using the remote control you can toggle the player's output (NTSC or PAL), and using another button you can rotate the HMDI output resolution. So it was very quick and easy to determine that NTSC 480P 60Hz, 720P 60Hz, 1080i 60Hz and 1080P 60Hz all worked ... and ... 576i 50Hz, 480P 50Hz, 720P 50Hz and 1080i 50Hz and 1080P 50Hz all resulted in blank screen.

So, like lots of others posting on this forum .. I need to try and make the difficult decision of what new TV to buy!

I'm looking forward to seeing more reviews of the Samsung A786 (LED Backlighting) as they have been a bit mixed in the (very) few I have read.