Canadian DVD's lower video bitrate? (1 Viewer)

[Kai Zas]

I've been ordering my R1 DVD's from DVDBoxOffice (Canada) for quite some time now, since I live in Europe. They make sure there's no taxes awaiting me when the discs arrive. They send 'em as being presents.

Now I've been reading here in this very forum all sorts of things about bitrates and how there's less room for the picture when there are multiple audiotracks.

So... some of the Canadian DVD's have a seperate French audio-track. Does this mean the image quality is lowered for the Canadian version to fit that extra track on the disc? Should I be buying my dvd's in the States to get a better picture quality?

Tnx!

 

[Jeff]

No, there's no difference. You'll probably end up getting a Spanish track instead of the French one if you order from the US.

Jeff

 

[Malcolm R]

Many US discs have some foreign language track(s), too, so it probably would make no difference.

 

[Rob T]

No, there's no difference. You'll probably end up getting a Spanish track instead of the French one if you order from the US.

That's mostly how it is. Sometimes, we get the Spanish track and the French track.

 

[Gui A]

The only studio you should really be worried about is Seville Pictures.

They released a P&S only Run Lola Run at the same time Sony released their PS/WS version.

 

[Jason Whyte]

It depends by title, and if the Canadian company did their own transfer or ported one from the US.
Oh, I wouldn't be worrying about Seville DVD anymore (and I'm sure my buddy Mark McLeod would back me up on this). They are full supporters of anamorphic widescreen transfers where available. The same goes for TVA and Alliance Atlantis.
Now, as for those select Seville full frame discs that they released, well...
Jason

 

[Mark McLeod]

Oh, I wouldn't be worrying about Seville DVD anymore (and I'm sure my buddy Mark McLeod would back me up on this). They are full supporters of anamorphic widescreen transfers where available. The same goes for TVA and Alliance Atlantis.

As Jason said. I wouldn't worry about this anymore. I have a good relationship with one of the higher ups at Seville and recently they've been doing excellent work whenever possible. Some of their catalog titles will remain Full-Frame or non anamorphic widescreen just because the resources aren't there. However they have been putting out some nice discs of late (Lost and Delirious, In the Mood for Love, Thomas in Love) which are all anamorphic and while only Lost is 5.1 my contact has assured me they will be doing more 5.1 in the future. Their next big 'release' is "The Hole" which looks to be a pretty good special edition.

My contact has explained that some of their discs won't live up to expectations and that's because of the elements they are given. Some are simple reissues of US discs but when Seville puts everything together themselves they do a bang up job.

No need to worry about Seville

Reviews of a few of Seville's latest efforts can be found at my website

Mark

 

[Gui A]

Good news are good to hear!

Thanks Jason & Mark.

 

[Kai Zas]

Thanks for putting my mind at ease, people!

 

[Jakob_S]

I think I've read somewhere that the canadian release of "Memento" should look worse than the USA-version. I don't know if this is correct, but who actually cares about these 2 DVD's now? I think we're all waiting for that special edition to be anounced...

 

[Martin Fontaine]

I think I've read somewhere that the canadian release of "Memento" should look worse than the USA-version.

That is correct. The biggest mistake about the Cdn Version of Memento is that it is Single-Layer. If they would have made it Dual-Layered (Or drop the 448kbps French track) it would have looked much better.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Also watch out for anything released by Alliance Atlantic. At least check first if everything is ok.

So far, I've fouled up twice with releases by them - Johnny Mnemonic in p&s only and The Art Of War was broken with aspect ratio problems.

Both were available in good editions on US versions of the discs.

 

[Grant B]

So the rumor the bitrate is related to the US/CDN exchange rate is unfounded???

 

[Mark McLeod]

That is correct. The biggest mistake about the Cdn Version of Memento is that it is Single-Layer. If they would have made it Dual-Layered (Or drop the 448kbps French track) it would have looked much better.

Yeah they totally botched that release. I went off on them in my review of the disc. I'll find the link and post a link a bit later.
Hope this helps

 

[Kai Zas]

Crud, I do have the Canadian Memento. Whish I had known about this forum before I bought it :frowning:
Plus, DVDBoxOffice kinda suckerd me with "Lost Highway". Turns out the Seville release is Pan&Scam. There's no mention of this on the site.
They do have a return policy, but with the cost of getting it from Belgium back to Canada and the re-shelving fee of $4, it's not worth it.