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PAL HDTV on Blu-Ray--what frame rate?

post #1 of 6
9/16/08 at 3:11pm
Thread Starter 
I'm a recent Blu-Ray convert, living in North America, and looking to expand my collection (especially since I've been holding off on SD purchases waiting for someone to win the format war). However, before I delve into buying various BBC shows (well, okay, Torchwood) on HD, I had some questions I was hoping someone could answer.

As I understand it, most Blu-Ray discs are authored in 1080/24p. However, shows on BBC HD like Torchwood are shot digitally in 1080/25p and mastered for airing at 1080/50i (for smoother scrolling of credits, etc.). What frame rate are these at on the final discs? My understanding is that the spec allows for 1080/50i, but do they do that or will they framerate-convert it? (Or worse, slow it down?)

The manual for my Blu-Ray player says that it's Region A, and that "PAL discs will not play". But a 1080/50i disc isn't PAL, not really. Is my player, a Samsung BD-P1500, going to be able to play a disc that has 1080/50i material? I know that my HDTV will probably barf on it, but I could hook it up to my computer monitor via DVI.

Also, how heavily has region coding come into play? I know that back when Blu-Ray was first introduced, it wasn't often used (because HD-DVD wasn't region-coded) but has that changed recently?

Thanks for any advice or insight you can provide!
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post #2 of 6
9/16/08 at 4:53pm

Re: PAL HDTV on Blu-Ray--what frame rate?

I know that at least Torchwood was converted to 1080/60i for Blu-ray release in both regions A and B. Yes, the standard includes 1080/50i, but apparently not all players are compatible with it.
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post #3 of 6
9/17/08 at 8:16am

Re: PAL HDTV on Blu-Ray--what frame rate?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATimson
But a 1080/50i disc isn't PAL, not really. Is my player, a Samsung BD-P1500, going to be able to play a disc that has 1080/50i material?

I guess US-players are "60i/NTSC only". So they won´t play 1080/50i-material (all European players support both PAL/NTSC and 50i/60i).

There are some odd European releases that are in 1080i/50i (at least the Spanish-release of "Rec (2007)", German-release of "Copland" and European-releases of "Tiesto Elements of Life World Tour" comes to mind..) and some have extras in PAL or in 50i. But they´re quite rare (some info: http://bluray.liesinc.net/index.php?region=b ).

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATimson
Also, how heavily has region coding come into play? I know that back when Blu-Ray was first introduced, it wasn't often used (because HD-DVD wasn't region-coded) but has that changed recently?

Again, see this site:
Blu-Ray Region Code Info
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post #4 of 6
9/17/08 at 8:37am

Re: PAL HDTV on Blu-Ray--what frame rate?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jari K
I guess US-players are "60i/NTSC only".


I'm a little confused by the above statement.

Isn't "HDTV" only ATSC, not NTSC?
As I understand it, PAL & NTSC are not in the ATSC specifications.

Paul
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post #5 of 6
9/17/08 at 6:52pm
Thread Starter 

Re: PAL HDTV on Blu-Ray--what frame rate?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger_R
I know that at least Torchwood was converted to 1080/60i for Blu-ray release in both regions A and B. Yes, the standard includes 1080/50i, but apparently not all players are compatible with it.
Bad news for quality, potentially, but at least I don't have to deal with importing. Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jari K
There are some odd European releases that are in 1080i/50i (at least the Spanish-release of "Rec (2007)", German-release of "Copland" and European-releases of "Tiesto Elements of Life World Tour" comes to mind..) and some have extras in PAL or in 50i. But they´re quite rare (some info: http://bluray.liesinc.net/index.php?region=b ).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jari K
Again, see this site:
Blu-Ray Region Code Info
Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
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post #6 of 6
9/17/08 at 11:14pm

Re: PAL HDTV on Blu-Ray--what frame rate?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Hillenbrand


I'm a little confused by the above statement.

Isn't "HDTV" only ATSC, not NTSC?
As I understand it, PAL & NTSC are not in the ATSC specifications.

Paul

My point was, that there are some (rare, but still some available - I listed some in the earlier post) European Blu-ray -releases, where the "main feature" is actually in 1080i. Now, this 1080i might be in "1080i/50i" (and not "1080i/60i"). IF it´s in "50i", US-players won´t (at least not in my knowledge) support that frame rate (=since they only support "60i").

I´m not really familiar with "HDTV" (US vs Euro, etc), so this info is based on the Blu-ray-releases and such. I also don´t know much about the "computer based" set-ups.

These issues can be confusing for sure in some cases...
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