PALplus (without spending a fortune!)

[inaxeon]

Hi

I recently picked up an actual widescreen Philips PM5644 - the PALplus version but I've been stymied by a complete lack of PALplus support in any TV equipment I can presently get my hands on.

Anyone know any inexpensive ways around this? I see there is a very expensive standalone decoder for sale on eBay but I was thinking for example were there VCRs or other standalone terrestrial receivers that are able to decode PALplus?

[patrickgnl]

I think you will struggle in the Uk, because to my knowledge it was never implemented as a standard here. But I am sure the BBC dabbled, I think Channel 4 might have done too. I only remember seeing it on Philips sets but it may have been included on certain European manufacturers sets as well. It was a way of providing a better widescreen picture for terrestrial and satellite. But then came along DVB-T and DVB-S and rendered it obsolete.

I think it may have been implemented more widely on the continent especially Germany. You can search Europe on the ‘bay…

I notice the unit mentions zwei kanalton, the German stereo terrestrial transmission system. We used NICAM…

[cmjones01]

My family had a monster Sony KV-32FD1 CRT television which supported PAL plus. There may be other Sony models around 1999 which support it. I think there were some Channel 4 broadcasts in PAL plus, and I remember it working, but this all dates back about 20 years.

Chris

[Sideband]

Channel 4 were the main users. I remember recording 2001 Space Odyssey when it was shown on C4 and when I played it back, the TV switched to widescreen (rather than me selecting widescreen) which I thought was pretty clever at the time (which was around 1998-99)

It looks like that Philips generator was designed for the continent. As stated above, we only used NICAM for stereo sound.

[paulsherwin]

The UK was an early adopter of DTTV (1998) so broadcasters had little incentive to adopt PALplus. Widescreen analogue TVs were thin on the ground here in the 90s too. I remember being surprised to see retailers' windows showing lots of WS TVs in Spain in the mid 90s.

[inaxeon]

Originally Posted by Sideband

It looks like that Philips generator was designed for the continent. As stated above, we only used NICAM for stereo sound.

The PM5588 wasn't really related to this post - it's just what it's stacked on. But briefly, it may not have been used here but that doesn't mean it's not a fun thing to play with. My TV may not support PALplus but it does support A2 stereo. I lived in Australia for 5 years during the analogue 'telly era, was interested to bring some obsolete tech back to life...

[patrickgnl]

I am sure others will know but wasn’t PalPlus more than just widescreen signalling? Weren't there image enhancements too?

[hamid_1]

When a widescreen programme was shown on traditional analogue TV, it usually had black bars at the top and bottom of the picture. PALplus added extra detail to the picture, invisibly hidden in the black bars. The PALplus decoder reconstructed a true widescreen image with enhanced detail. Normal TVs simply ignored the extra detail, just like black and white TVs ignored the colour information.

Channel 4 in the UK transmitted some films in PALplus but it wasn't widely adopted over here. There were standalone decoders and large widescreen CRT TVs on sale with integrated PALplus decoders. Unfortunately I can't remember specific model numbers. Certainly Philips and Sony offered them. If you could find such a TV, it would be very cheap as widescreen CRT TVs went out of fashion years ago, and are not yet valuable. The problem is that most of them have already gone straight to the dump. At the other extreme, there are a few people who think an obsolete PALplus decoder must be worth a small fortune because it's rare. There's no middle ground. I think you'll have to ask around and keep waiting until something turns up.

[inaxeon]

It sounds rather complicated because not only does the receiver have to make up vertical resolution, but it's also got to interleave detail into the visible lines too.

[Maarten]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

The UK was an early adopter of DTTV (1998) so broadcasters had little incentive to adopt PALplus. Widescreen analogue TVs were thin on the ground here in the 90s too. I remember being surprised to see retailers' windows showing lots of WS TVs in Spain in the mid 90s.

Plenty in The Netherlands as well, 66/67cm being the most popular screen size (for 4:3 sets 59cm was probably the most popular). The first widescreen sets must have been introduced around 1993 and sales must have peaked in the first half of the 00s.

Besides Philips and Sony, I remember seeing Finlux PAL+ sets as well, and it's very likely Loewe and B&O also carried them.

I don't really remember any S-VHS recorder with PAL+ but Philips might have had one or two, not sure though.

EDIT: JVC introduced the HR-S9200 in 1995.

[Tester.]

Yes, even Samsung (back then not in the higher end of the market, remember) got in the PALplus game — with a S-VHS VCR (the SV-260X from 1996), a few compatible TV sets (e.g. WS-2820PP, WS-3220PP) and a handful of partially-enabled VHS decks (capable of recording widescreen transmissions ᴀɴᴅ signallling them accordingly at playback, albeit without the extra detail circuitry). By 1999, only the latter (VHS with "16:9 Function") remained in their catalogue.

[Brigham]

" PALplus added extra detail to the picture, invisibly hidden in the black bars...."

That reminds me of the compatible 405/810 dual-definition system I worked out on a school exchange to Lille, age 15.

I was later told, by someone I hadn't shown it to, that it 'wouldn't work'.

[John123]

Yes the Sony DHR-1000 DV Cam/ MiniDV Editing Recorder sported PALPlus. Nice machines!

[inaxeon]

Originally Posted by John123

Yes the Sony DHR-1000 DV Cam/ MiniDV Editing Recorder sported PALPlus. Nice machines!

Oh and there is even one for sale. But quite a price to just decode a test pattern.

Seriously at this rate I'm going to call up Hugh Grant, see if he'll put it under his arm and start knocking on doors. Surely someone in this town has a PALplus TV.