PAL/SECAM VHS machine...

[Blue Meanie]

Just recieved my PAL/SECAM VHS machine this week and I still have to buy one more piece to convert the signal. Got the machine for $11 off of ebay...seller was in Florida. Anyway, the reason for getting the machine is that there are VHS Cassettes that were released in the UK and other parts of the world that have never been made available here on VHS or DVD. My question is this: Being that PAL format works at a higher resolution then the VCR's here in the US worked at...does this mean that a VHS Cassette from the UK is better video quality than the ones released here in the US?

Also trying to put together a list of movies/TV shows that weren't made available here in the US or are not out DVD. Been going through Ebay UK and have found a few movies and TV series:

Spitting Image TV series
The Scorcerer's (Karloff Movie) (Didn't do enough research before the auction ended )
The Cockpit (here's the auction I won eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

I know that King Kong UK release was a much lighter version then was released here in the US...but someone told me that the most recent anniversary version was released with the UK print. I've tried a few sites with lists of Movies that haven't been released on DVD yet and they are almost all out of date/haven't been updated. It would be cool/beneficial if we could get a list together of films that haven't been released yet. Just a thought.

[cjefferys]

Wow, good deal. I remember my father buying a multi-format NTSC/PAL/SECAM VHS recorder back in the pre-DVD days, and it cost around $800.00! PAL has more lines of resolution than NTSC, so theoretically the picture would be a bit better, but if the player ends up converting the PAL signal to NTSC, you wouldn't get the extra resolution. If the player can output a straight PAL signal to your TV, and your TV can properly display it, there should be a slight increase in quality. But then you may have to worry about the 4% PAL audio speedup, which your ears might or might not notice. Unfortunately mine do. SECAM (mostly used in France, Russia, eastern Europe and much of the Middle East and Africa) is lower quality than both PAL and NTSC though and more difficult to properly convert.

[Blue Meanie]

Wow, good deal. I remember my father buying a multi-format NTSC/PAL/SECAM VHS recorder back in the pre-DVD days, and it cost around $800.00! PAL has more lines of resolution than NTSC, so theoretically the picture would be a bit better, but if the player ends up converting the PAL signal to NTSC, you wouldn't get the extra resolution. If the player can output a straight PAL signal to your TV, and your TV can properly display it, there should be a slight increase in quality. But then you may have to worry about the 4% PAL audio speedup, which your ears might or might not notice. Unfortunately mine do. SECAM (mostly used in France, Russia, eastern Europe and much of the Middle East and Africa) is lower quality than both PAL and NTSC though and more difficult to properly convert.

There seem to be a couple of converters that give no loss of Video or Audio quality. They are a little expensive...but might be worth it.

Couple of Movies to add to the list. Again, these are LEGAL releases:

Let It Be
Rockshow
Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park
Mindwalk (A movie my uncle wants...Don't feel like paying 15 - 20 bucks for a used VHS of this one. Never heard of the movie)

[SeattleEd]

PAL has low frame rate compared to NTSC but more res.

Been looking for one really cheap to digitize some content for an Australian band.

[wolfie]

The Sorcerers.

Not sure from your post, did you have a problem with this? It is out on dvd here.

[cjefferys]

Couple of Movies to add to the list. Again, these are LEGAL releases:

Let It Be
Rockshow
Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park

These did get US VHS releases, wouldn't those be easier to get than their PAL counterparts? And the 4% speedup would likely be more noticeable with music oriented films like these (everything would have a slightly higher pitch). People vary with their sensitivity regarding this, but it would drive me nuts.

[Blue Meanie]

These did get US VHS releases, wouldn't those be easier to get than their PAL counterparts? And the 4% speedup would likely be more noticeable with music oriented films like these (everything would have a slightly higher pitch). People vary with their sensitivity regarding this, but it would drive me nuts.

Yeah, I already have these on VHS...but I was just putting it out there on a list of "Not Available On DVD" list. I bought my Let It Be used for $25 about 15 years ago...then upgraded to Laserdisc around 10 years ago. Slight laser rot on the 1st LD of Let It Be...not enough to really affect the picture. Then upgraded again with another LD which was slightly better. Rockshow I bought brand new when it came out. I also have a Beta copy of Rockshow which I just got a Beta machine recently for $10 that needs a little tweaking to work better.

Again, I'd like to get a list started of Movies/TV shows that are not available on DVD.

I guess I have to take The Scorcerers off of the list. Looks like it's available or was just made available. There's three listings on Ebay UK. One was for the 1st release of it on DVD.

[Mikey]

Godzilla 1985 the original Japanese version was released on VHS dubbed in English in the UK in 1998 titled THE RETURN OF GODZILLA.

This was never released in the USA or Canada

[wolfie]

I have the sorcerers dvd if you need to know anything about it.

[Blue Meanie]

A little off/sidetrack of this thread...If you have the Star Wars Trilogy Box sets, the original versions, you may want to put them up on ebay. Looks like the original Box sets are going for decent money on Ebay. I guess Lucas' new set on DVD is ticking off a lot of fans and they are looking for the originals:

Star Wars | eBay

[cjefferys]

Yeah, I already have these on VHS...but I was just putting it out there on a list of "Not Available On DVD" list. I bought my Let It Be used for $25 about 15 years ago...then upgraded to Laserdisc around 10 years ago. Slight laser rot on the 1st LD of Let It Be...not enough to really affect the picture. Then upgraded again with another LD which was slightly better. Rockshow I bought brand new when it came out. I also have a Beta copy of Rockshow which I just got a Beta machine recently for $10 that needs a little tweaking to work better.

OK, gotcha. I've been thinking about tracking down an actual Let It Be LD for myself, but the possibility of laser rot has kinda scared me from wanting to spend too much money on one. Glad to see that you got a decent one. Was Rockshow released on LD?