booby trap

Why is it (in my experience) that region 1 dvd's seem to be of better picture qaulity than region 2. Even in most cases the extra's are better.
I have a copy of 'Half a Sixpence' (not available on region 2) in widescreen and it has even got the original intermission break and with music. I love Julia Foster in that film, and have found memories of my cousin taking me to see it in the school holidays in the 60's.

Steve Crook

The extras are due to the company that produces the DVD. Nothing to do with the region coding or the format.

Generally I'd expect (& find) that a region 1 DVD isn't quite as good picture quality because it has to be converted from the NTSC format on the disc to the PAL format that my TV uses.

Steve

Edward G

Have to agree. My experience is with DVD's is that the region 1 version usually comes out earlier and features more extras than the region 2 equivalent. I always compare the features list, or customer feedback, on Amazon UK and USA before buying. One thing to note is that the region version 1 may be edited differently to suit American sensibilities or tastes. As an extreme example of this, I purchased Region 1 versions of two of the superb animation "Jakers" (set in Ireland) a while back, as they came out well before the European releases. However, the voices of some of the main characters (like the grandchildren) were changed to have American accents and the story also adapted American elements (so that ma Piggley arrived home with groceries in a brown paper bag - USA style!). It lost the authenticity of the original.
A bit of research should prevent surprises like this!

I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!

Aaryk Noctivagus

Nope. NTSC is slightly lower definition in reality. I don't know why they seem to have better picture quality to you, but I'm not doubting your experience.

A big problem I have with NTSC Region 1 is to do with what I call 'NTSC Stutter' which is awfully noticable to me when the camera pans... its because of the difference in frames per second between NTSC and PAL. The TV I have at the moment, handles it better than the one I used to have... but my sensitive Autistic eyes notice it terribly.

I only buy NTSC Region 1 occasionally because of this... and only if a Region 2 PAL DVD isn't available to me.

christoph404

I only started to notice that stutter when you mentioned it in another thread about region coding, so yes that is the downside of a region1 disc, is that to do with the TV screen itself or the player? It has crossed my mind to try and get a DVD player from the USA but as Im not that well informed about the technicalities Im not sure if that is a viable solution or not?....

Aaryk Noctivagus

I think the NTSC to PAL frame rate conversion is carried out in the TV (I may very well be wrong about that, but that is what I gather).

The NTSC frame rate is almost 30 frames per second. PAL is 25 frames per second. I've always thought that the stutter was caused by the conversion down to PAL frames, but movie film apparently plays a part also.

I've just found out that it may be also to do with the conversion from the original film (which is 24 frames per second). With PAL, the film is simply speeded up ever so slightly, from 24 to 25 FPS... hence it still flows smoothly and the increased FPS is imperceptable. (Same with SECAM)

For NTSC the conversion of film's 24 FPS to that of 30 FPS is more complex and, according to Wikipedia (not the most reliable source, but often correct), this is what causes the stutter... which leads me to believe NTSC TVs always behave like that when a movie is played on them... ghastly. This stutter is, apparently, because the 24 FPS of film is slowed down a little and then every 4 frames of film are made into 5 frames of NTSC.

So on an NTSC DVD you have a 24 FPS movie converted up to 30 FPS video, and then back down to 25 FPS for the PAL TV. Plus, of course, the NTSC video is not as high defininition as a PAL screen anyway.

I am a little fuzzy about the process which causes the stutter and the FPS figures I have used have been simplified... NTSC is actually 29.97 FPS!!! However, one or the other, or both of the conversions are basically the cause.

Wolfgang

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marker

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Cheers Marker

Aaryk Noctivagus

See his editing reason... though I've read his original post and disagree with his editing reason... I thought it a good post.

Wolfgang

It was technically wrong though so it had to go. 'Stuttering' gets on my nerves too so I always opt for region 2 PAL except in cases of it being unavailable or censored. I have noticed though that your brain adapts quickly to it - I bought "Who Saw Her Die?" last week and about five minutes into it I thought 'this is unwatchable' but soon grew accustomed to it so that it did not bother me. Even though PAL does have better resolution I have to be honest I can never see any difference. Maybe in some cases NTSC versions have been remastered.

As for stuttering, as Aaryk says it comes from turning 24 frames into 30 frames. I originally said they repeated every fourth frame which was wrong, or very simplified. Basically in PAL each frame is split into 2 fields at 50 fields per second, so you get 25 frames of film which gives you 4% speed-up. With NTSC, frames are split alternately into 2 and 3 fields at 60 fields per second, so obviously alternate frames last fractionally longer and that is where 'stutter' comes from, but you get 24 frames per second. We are probably more subsceptible to stutter because we are not used to it; I wonder if Americans think our PAL moves too fast?

booby trap

I really have never noticed the stutter, I have my Phillips dvd set to all regions, plus auto Pal/ntsc. Plus auto pal/ntsc on tv.
Now i know someones going to reply and say this makes no difference, but i really don't get this stutter problem.

marker

I think some people are more susceptible to it than others, I myself don't notice it very much at all

Cheers Marker

Aaryk Noctivagus

Being Autistic, I have hyper-sensitive sight... some Autistics, like me, have certain hyper and hypo sensitive senses (With me, Hyper is sight, hearing, smell/taste and touch, with one hypo being pain). So I can appreciate that many (though not all) Neurologically Typical people don't notice such things.

christoph404

Hi Aaryck,

thanks for that explanation and apologies for not acknowledging earlier, I went on a long weekend holiday after posting the question and didn't visit the site while I was away so cheers for trying so hard to answer the poser...

christoph404

It has been suggested to me that viewing a region 1 DVD on a more recent 100mhz frequencey TV eliminates the stutter, most TVs are 50mhz.I haven't been able to check if thats true or not.