[MacDV] Using the Mac to Play Commercial DVDs

[Nick Scalise]

On Tuesday, March 29, 2005, at 07:23AM, Steve Robertson <stever at mindspring.com> wrote:

>
>I accidentally learned something interesting yesterday. A while back, I 
>heard about a music DVD produced by a German company and distributed 
>only in Europe. Or, at least, not distributed in the U.S. I got in 
>touch with a European friend and asked him to buy me a copy - if it 
>would play on NTSC DVD players. He thought it would, so he mailed me a 
>copy.
>
>When it arrived, I noticed right away that it was clearly marked PAL, 
>but I hoped that my DVD player might handle both NTSC and PAL. I've 
>heard that some do. But mine doesn't. Just for the fun of it, I stuck 
>the PAL DVD in my Mac, and it worked! The resolution of the video is a 
>little lower than you would expect from a DVD. Looks like they obtained 
>their master by taping the original show off the air! I'm wondering if 
>it might be the PAL format on a U.S. Mac that's causing the low 
>resolution? Or do you think that all Macs handle both NTSC and PAL 
>equally well?

I've seen PAL DVD's on my Mac that were just fine, very clear. 

The player window is bigger to reflect the resolution of PAL vs. NTSC. Also, the picture was just as clear as NTSC DVD's.

Probably the 'garbage in/garbage out' principle was in effect on your DVD. 
--
Nick Scalise
nickscalise at mac.com