The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.2008  Tuesday, 6 December 2005

From: 		Tanya Gough <
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Date: 		Tuesday, 6 Dec 2005 09:23:12 -0500
Subject: 16.1998 BBC TV Shakespeare Collection
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1998 BBC TV Shakespeare Collection

 >Actually, there are several all-region DVD players now easily available.
 >We just bought one via Amazon.com for only $90.

Just a reminder to those of you considering purchasing an all-region DVD 
player: there are actually two issues you need to consider.  Region 
coding is a programming issue designed (in theory, at least) to keep 
dvds from being bootlegged and transported across international 
boundaries.  But the UK video system still uses PAL video, while North 
America uses NTSC.  This has to do with the picture resolution on your 
screen and has nothing to do with region coding.  Most UK DVDs will be 
PAL video, so if you've got your all-region DVD player plugged into a 
non-digital TV or computer, you're still just going to get mush.   In 
order for this all to work, you're going to need either an all-region 
DVD player that can handle PAL video and transfer it to your NTSC 
television, or you're going to need a digital television or computer 
with a high enough resolution to make it work.

So, to recap:

DVD region coding = the programming language used on the disk, which the 
player must decode in order to play
Video resolution = the density of the video picture. (PAL is the UK 
format. NTSC is the North American format.)

PAL is denser than NTSC, which means that it has more lines per square 
inch. An NTSC television can't read all the lines, so the picture is 
distorted.

Tanya Gough
The Poor Yorick Shakespeare Catalogue
www.bardcentral.com

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