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Silent films frame rates on Blu-ray?

post #1 of 4
5/31/09 at 8:33pm
Thread Starter 
I was wondering, when silent films start getting released on Blu-ray regularly, what will be of there frame rates? Could players be updated to support frame rates such as 16p and 18p? I've read that There Will Be Blood had a silent short included on its disc as an extra feature, however I could not find any information on its transfer. Does anyone know what format that was in? Maybe this could be a clue on how silent films will be treated in the HD era.
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post #2 of 4
6/1/09 at 8:03am

Re: Silent films frame rates on Blu-ray?

The Metropolis thread may have some info of interest to you:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...ay-2009-a.html

Unfortunately, there is no easy way of getting odd framerates on Blu-ray, as the standard only allows for 24p, 50i and 60i. Even if the players could be updated to handle it there would be a problem of backwards compatibility with the many displays that only accept 60Hz signals. As sad as it is, I don't see any company going through the trouble for such a small audience.

The only other option would be the a frame blending process but that would look all smeary.
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post #3 of 4
6/1/09 at 7:05pm

Re: Silent films frame rates on Blu-ray?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie O.
I was wondering, when silent films start getting released on Blu-ray regularly, what will be of there frame rates? Could players be updated to support frame rates such as 16p and 18p? I've read that There Will Be Blood had a silent short included on its disc as an extra feature, however I could not find any information on its transfer. Does anyone know what format that was in? Maybe this could be a clue on how silent films will be treated in the HD era.

its a common misconception that silent films were shot at 16 or 18 frames per second. The fact of the matter is that there is no real standard for silent films. Edison, for example, recommended that they be shoot at 46 frames per second.

Here is an interesting website on the subject.
Silent Films: What Was the Right Speed?
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post #4 of 4
6/1/09 at 9:38pm

Re: Silent films frame rates on Blu-ray?

Some silents are both 480p and speed corrected on DVD. Fox did this with The Iron Horse and The Lodger. So, I'd guess 1080p wouldn't be difficult. We can expect Metropolis to be 24fps on BluRay, of course.
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