Change TV output from ntsc to pal

Question

Change TV output from ntsc to pal

Can anyone help please.
I bought my macbook while on vacation in the US. I am back in Ireland now.
Our TV's are PAL. I am hooking my macbook into my Sony DVD HD recorder.
I am fairly certain my macbook is broadcasting out in NTSC mode.
Any idea's how I can change all "video" outputs from my macbook to PAL.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Sep 9, 2007 8:21 AM

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Answer 1

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

Sep 9, 2007 2:57 PM in response to once-a-mac-always-a-mac

Your MacBook is not 'broadcasting' anything, merely transferring the source material on your Mac to the recorder.

If the source material is in NTSC it will still be in NTSC when received by your recorder. It cannot convert the source from NTSC to PAL.

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Answer 2

Sep 9, 2007 8:18 PM in response to once-a-mac-always-a-mac

Are you using a mini-DVI to video adapter you bought in the U.S.? That one may be NTSC only if you don't see the option to choose in the Display System Preferences after attaching it. In the past, there has been a separate mini-DVI to video adapter that was identified as "PAL" available in the UK/Ireland online Apple stores. They no longer appear now, though. If the choice isn't available in the Display System Preferences when the adapter is plugged in, you may need a new adapter.

-Doug

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Answer 3

Sep 10, 2007 12:08 PM in response to once-a-mac-always-a-mac

Thanks guys for your help, I actually found some advice from this website
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=101628
Success!

Here is the content below from the site, tricky to find if your a novice like me!;

Indeed there is.
1.First connect the DVI cable, so the Powerbook switches to multiple display.
2. Launch system preferences>display
3. There should now be 3 tabs on the top (Display, Arrangement,Color). Select the 'Arrangement' tab.
4. Check the 'Mirror Displays' box. The Powerbook display will reset to mirror mode.
5. When the display settles, pull out the dvi cable, let it settle and plug it in again.

6. You should now see two dialogs, Color LCD and NTSC/PAL.
7. Select the resolution you want on the Color LCD dialog.
8. Select to bring to front the NTSC/PAL dialog and you will see the Refresh rate drop down list available for 50 Hertz(PAL) selection.

Looks quite bothersome but works for me. Was trying to record game session on a PAL camcorder and stumbled on your discussion while looking for solutions, found it while meddling the Preferences. Thought I'd share it even though it's been some time. Happy New Year.

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Answer 4

Sep 10, 2007 12:59 PM in response to once-a-mac-always-a-mac

Wow. I can now reproduce those exact steps. Something in Mac OS X is not working correctly. I have 10.4.10, myself. I used to be able to simply plug in the adapter and it was recognized immediately and I would be able to see the NTSC/PAL options. You should NOT have to do all that to get the selection to appear!

-Doug

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