This thread is about NTSC PS3 systems (eg. Japan, US) and PAL software (eg. Europe, Australia) and if they work with a particular game release in standard definition (SD). And yes, even if your UK TV has NTSC capabilities, it will affect you, it is a disc / console issue.
Any games will work in an HD modes (as the PAL and NTSC resolutions match, only the frame rate differs). However, the SD modes of games seem to be encoded on disc in either PAL (576i/p), NTSC (480i/p) or as a multi-format disc, essentially supporting both.
While any game bought anywhere in the world will work on any console in HD, the question we are trying to answer here is: "Will a particular PAL release of a game work on an NTSC PS3 in SD mode?"
Note that this does NOT necessarily have to match the question "Will a game I purchased in the US run on my European / Australian PS3".
As soon as you move up to an HDTV, you will not have to bother about this thread anymore.
I further would assume that if you have an NTSC PS3, you will also need a display that has NTSC playback capabilities... I always make sure mine are (large DVD and LD collection), but maybe there are other threads going into more detail on this.
I hope this helps, let me know if you have further questions. Of course we are always looking forward to more contributions

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