Where to get the Platinum Collection in PAL?

[Squigsquasher]

So, I'm looking to actually own the complete NGE series. I've heard that the Platinum Collection is the best choice, but for the life of me I can't find a PAL version anywhere for a decent price. United Publications only has the US version, and the only place I can find selling a PAL version- Amazon- is selling it for ridiculous prices in excess of £300, which it's safe to say is too much.

Does anyone know where I can find a PAL-compatible version of the Platinum Collection for a reasonable price (under £100)? Can my PC play NTSC DVDs? Or am I once again cursed with the overwhelming suck that is living in the UK and basically fucked unless I import a US DVD player or just torrent the fuckers?

[Dataprime]

Is getting a region free dvd player an option for you?

[pwhodges]

Can my PC play NTSC DVDs? Or am I once again cursed with the overwhelming suck that is living in the UK and basically fucked unless I import a US DVD player or just torrent the fuckers?

No you are not fucked. I'm in a rush, but I'll give you various routes later this evening.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

I would honestly just import the NTSC player. Christmas is coming up; ask the fat creeper man in the red suit to bring you something nice.

[Squigsquasher]

fat creeper man in the red suit

My mood is restored.

[Mr. Tines]

Can my PC play NTSC DVDs?

I've played both Region 1 (US) and Region 2 (Japan) NTSC DVDs quite happily on a PC, using VLC.

It should be possible to find the magic button-mashing sequence to unlock any DVD player with a little diligence (though last I heard you could get unlocked ones in Tesco's for under £50); and any recent TV will take NTSC input as well as PAL (playing Japanese DVDs on a friend's home system worked just fine).

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

The problem with players is that PAL reads entirely different than NTSC. Just region-unlocking it isn't enough; the disk itself actually won't read.

[pwhodges]

The PAL / NTSC issue appears to be a problem for many (though not all) US-sold players, but is never a problem for European-sold players; some manufacturers even sell region 2 (or all-region) disks that are NTSC encoded, so NTSC is required alongside PAL! Some players do not have a secret region unlock code, but require a hacked firmware to be installed. Both my UK players (a DVD and a BD/DVD) have hacked firmware and can play any disk. (Just Google your player's model number and "region-free".)

Computer drives are locked to a specific region, but this can be bypassed by some players, or by a program such as Slysoft AnyDVD (not free, but very effective). Alternatively, if your computer has room for two drives, get a second (you can get a good drive for under £20) and set the two players to regions 1 and 2 (note you cannot just keep changing the region setting on a single drive, as the hardware becomes fixed after five settings have been made). This doesn't get round copy-protection mechanisms, though, for which a program like AnyDVD is effective - that's if you want to rip and transcode for another device like an iPad, or copy to a media server, or something.

[Mr. Tines]

Japan, being an American colony used NTSC for analog TV, but got put into region 2 for DVD. Anyone who's bought DVDs from Japan will have experience with this combination -- it was the only way I could find to get films like Oshii's Avalon (in Polish, with English and Japanese subtitles), for example.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

I've done region-breaking to my player as well. As long as it doesn't have to deal with non-NTSC, it can put up with anything that I choose to throw at it.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

PAL has a higher vertical resolution than NTSC, so it's far more technical than telling a system to ignore a pesky restriction code or something. Though one of the early Apex DVD players I owned actually could switch it's resolution settings between NTSC and PAL, so it's not entirely impossible that a player can be switched. It would just depend on whether or not that player has the software capable of rendering a higher vertical resolution than NTSC.

[Mr. Tines]

A hint for all the helpful USAns -- Squig is British, and our analog TV was PAL, rather than Never Twice the Same Color.

Hence the original request for PAL encoded DVDs; and why his compatriots have been assuring him that inferior foreign encodes will still play on his kit.

[pwhodges]

Anyway, the OP is in the UK, so by definition his player will handle both PAL and NTSC.

(Oops - kerbled)

[steve_stevenson]

are you all living in the stone age? modern DVD players use HDMI and can upscale to 1080p, and have done for some time.

[pwhodges]

We're not talking about driving the TV; we're talking about reading the DVD (and possibly what conversion needs to be done - HD formats are still at different frame rates, for instance, in the NTSC and PAL regions).