Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ntsc dvds vs pal dvds

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    ntsc dvds vs pal dvds

    hi all

    as this isnt really related to gaming ill put it here but if it should be in av setups can a mod please move it

    wondering if anyone can either provide me with some information or a site where i can read up on the differences between pal and ntsc dvds.

    i know in gaming ntsc is better as 50hz games run slower and the image is either stretched or bordered to fill out the 576 vertical lines of pal video, but im not sure what the deal is when it comes to dvds.

    im assuming that pal dvds running at 50hz or 25fps or whatever arent actually running slower, just displaying fewer frames per second. so theoretically ntsc wins there but when it comes to resolution im not so sure.

    on the face of it, clearly 576 lines are better than 480. what im not sure about is if on pal dvds the image is just stretched from 480 lines up to 576 which essentially mean there is no difference between the two. if on the other hand the original film is transfered to the dvd at with 576 lines then this becomes the better choice.

    so my question is, which is it?

    i really hope that makes some sort of sense. if not let me know and ill try and clarify

    #2
    Everything from the videogame world carries over mate.
    So, stuff recorded for the US may possibly be recorded at 60i and 480 lines (or whatever it is, about that I think), whereas stuff made for PAL will likely be 50i but higher vertical res (576 I think). Take either one and try to make it player on the other and you'll lose either vertical res or framerate fidelity depending which way you go.

    Comment


      #3
      Stuff shot and produced in PAL - looks better on a PAL DVD.

      Stuff shot and produced in NTSC - looks better on an NTSC DVD.

      Most feature films which are shot at 24 FPS are "sped up" to 25 frames per second for PAL DVDs and often the audio is pitchshifted downwards to compensate.

      On NTSC DVDs most feature films use 2:3 pulldown as the method of framerate conversion. As usual there is more detailed information on Wikipedia.

      Television shows that are converted from one standard to another invariably suffer quality loss - a major player in standards conversion are the Snell and Wilcox / pro Bell machines - but the bottom line is this: PAL shows and feature films by and large look better on a PAL DVD.

      NTSC television shows and film shot for NTSC television (TV movies) look better on a NTSC DVD. Remember also that the video format of the DVD is independent of its region coding!

      Comment


        #4
        thanks for the info. i did think maybe for pal dvds of movies made in the us they would use a higher res transfer from the original film, but i suppose nobody cares about pal land that much.

        so solution, i buy my it crowds and holy grails pal and my big bang theorys and dark knights ntsc. either that or get everything blu ray

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by mekanor View Post
          thanks for the info. i did think maybe for pal dvds of movies made in the us they would use a higher res transfer from the original film, but i suppose nobody cares about pal land that much.
          They do! More often than not for mainstream feature films there is a PAL telecine.

          It's only the really cheap DVDs of older features that use the NTSC Digibeta television transfer to master the PAL DVD. PAL discs of feature films usually look better than their NTSC counterparts if a PAL telecine has been done.

          Comment


            #6
            A little off topic

            for me over the years region 1 dvd have been my choice but only because of:

            1. price
            They are generally cheaper, much so in the early years of dvd, Play or some other importer would be selling the US version for £15 and the high street had it at £20-£25

            2. Release times
            Getting a movie on dvd prior to a UK cinema release was always a bonus

            3. Flippers
            the UK for a while was still using flipper discs when the US had already stopped the practise

            4. Extras
            The US discs generally have more extras and they loved the whole 'unrated' issue, on the US discs the extras never fall into the restriction category but on the UK discs everything had to be vetted by the BBFC, hence no headbut in the movie or in the extras of Fight Club

            5. Size of boxes
            The US loves the lenticular style boxes which makes the who package much smaller and a perfect example of this is the South Park seasons - again earlier stuff

            but obviously things have moved on now and its much better in the UK, but i dont really buy many DVD's any more.

            the 576 or 480 debate really depends on the size of TV and how good your eyes are, personally i cant see the difference between 760p and the normal DVD ratio of 480i

            also because of refresh NTSC vs PAL american movies will ahve a much longer running time, so dont just assume because the NTSC disc is longer that the movie has more stuff in it

            an example would be this movie and i dont think there has ever been a directors cut and the difference is around 6 minutes

            the thing region 1
            the thing region 2
            Last edited by buster_broon; 23-03-2009, 13:45.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Widegoat View Post
              Stuff shot and produced in PAL - looks better on a PAL DVD.

              Stuff shot and produced in NTSC - looks better on an NTSC DVD.
              Originally posted by Widegoat View Post
              NTSC television shows and film shot for NTSC television (TV movies) look better on a NTSC DVD.
              Originally posted by Widegoat View Post
              They do! More often than not for mainstream feature films there is a PAL telecine.

              It's only the really cheap DVDs of older features that use the NTSC Digibeta television transfer to master the PAL DVD. PAL discs of feature films usually look better than their NTSC counterparts if a PAL telecine has been done.
              ok im a bit confused but i think im getting there. so films look better (at least now a days) on pal dvds, but us tv shows look better on ntsc dvds? sorry for my ignorance...

              Originally posted by buster_broon View Post
              A little off topic
              The US discs generally have more extras and they loved the whole 'unrated' issue, on the US discs the extras never fall into the restriction category but on the UK discs everything had to be vetted by the BBFC, hence no headbut in the movie or in the extras of Fight Club
              this is a reason id also go for us dvds but more often than not, i wouldnt know if somethings been cut. are there any good sites or anything that compare us and pal dvds?

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by mekanor View Post
                ok im a bit confused but i think im getting there. so films look better (at least now a days) on pal dvds, but us tv shows look better on ntsc dvds? sorry for my ignorance...
                Yes. Obviously there are loads of exceptions to the rule though (the quality of telecine and grading for DVD can vary wildly from place to place). What buster says about the NTSC option is very true. Many DVDs in my collection are R1 NTSC for the very reasons he cites.

                Comment


                  #9
                  awesome, thanks for that. i think im sorted now

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X