PAL pitch correction - how often? (1 Viewer)

Johan Stensson · Jan 20, 2003

How often is pitch correction done for PAL DVDs? I read somewhere that FOTR had it done, but then again, I've read other reviews stating that FOTR R2 did not have the correction. Can't remember where the reviews were though.

Jeff Kleist · Jan 20, 2003

It's wildly irregular. Stargat SG-1 Season 5 was corrected, 6 is not

Bjorn Olav Nyberg · Jan 20, 2003

Can't remember where the reviews were though.

If you are thinking about the R2 DVD review, I guess it was dvdforum.nu but it was also mentioned in the regional dvd area on this forum.

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James Reader · Jan 20, 2003

I'm not sure if LotR:FotR R2 has been pitch corrected as such - there does seem to be some debate about this.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that EiV - the UK distributor - denied that Pitch correction was done. And this does seem to make sense as I'm sure no other EiV discs have had pitch correction.

However, there is no debate that there is something wrong with the soundtrack - noticeable at several points in the film.

Jeff Kleist · Jan 20, 2003

Every TV series I know of that shoots film shoots at 24fps, except Farscape which shoots at PAL friendly 25fps.

Dave Mack · Oct 5, 2005

LOTR FOTR EE is pitch corrected. Bjoern mentioned it on his site and I got it and can confirm. PQ is MUCH better on FOTR than the NTSC version.

d

Artur Meinild · Oct 5, 2005

Dave, just because you have a quote from a skeleton in your sig doesn't mean you have to show off your necromancing powers. :wink:

But to continue the topic, I don't believe it's a matter of pitch correction anymore. It's just a matter of doing a timestretch *without* affecting the pitch, which is widely available in all audio authoring applications today. So I would be surprised if any recent PAL DVD's are in the wrong pitch - if they are the conversion engineer for sure didn't know what he/she was doing!

Dave Mack · Oct 5, 2005

I will be getting the R2 Titanic, (gotta have the 4 disc version!) and will update. My recent Australian copy of SCREAM had a VERY noticeable pitch shift. Was weird to watch, but anamorphic and dts.

And even my season 7 Buffy set had the noticeably higher sounding voices. Doesn't really bother me though.

Jeff Jacobson · Oct 5, 2005

How recent do you mean by "recent"?

Cees Alons · Oct 5, 2005

For people playing a PAL-tape on a modified player in an NTSC environment, it depends on what the PAL->NTSC converter really does.

If it plays the frames by forcing the normal NTSC 3:2 pull-down, it could also play the audio without PAL speedup, because the film would have its normal duration.

It really depends on the implementation on that player of the conversion. I wonder if we know enough about individual players.

Cees

Artur Meinild · Oct 14, 2005

How recent do you mean by "recent"?

Well, MPEX2 (http://mpex.prosoniq.com) timestretching has been available in Nuendo (and Cubase SX) since 2002 I think and the Waves Sound Shifter (http://www.waves.com/content.asp?id=116) was released in 2003, so anything after that is just silly...

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Dave Mack · Oct 14, 2005

I'm also about to snag the R2 Batman flicks and SW. ROTS for the better PQ. I have the PAL SW TPM which is definitely NOT pitch corrected. Liam sounds a wee bit girlie in it!

d

Mark Lucas · Oct 14, 2005

Another reason why I won't go near PAL dvds.

Dave Mack · Oct 14, 2005

Well I still prefer it as the R1 is an awful edge enhanced mess which on a 92" screen is WAY more distracting than a 1/2 step rise in the pitch.

But that's just me....

d

Mark Lucas · Oct 14, 2005

From what I've seen the EE difference between the R1 and R2 versions of Ep.1 is like going from crap to slightly less crap.

Dave Mack · Oct 14, 2005

True, true. The R2 is far from perfect but it still looks WAY better than the R1.

Marko Berg · Oct 16, 2005

a 1/2 step rise in the pitch

This is incorrect. The 4% pitch difference accounts for about half a semi-tone. This may be nitpicking as far as Dave is concerned, but I just want to set the record straight - a half-tone (half-step) rise would be unbearable.

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Anthony Neilson · Oct 16, 2005

This has always confused me. I understand the 24fps to 25fps thing, but I've never noticed any of these speed-up / pitch change problems on my R2 DVDs. So :

Does the PAL system have this speed-up / pitch change when played back on a PAL system, or only when played back on NTSC ?

Is there a similar or counter issue when playing NTSC on a PAL system ?

Dave Mack · Oct 16, 2005

The 4% pitch difference accounts for about half a semi-tone.

Nope. This is incorrect. It is 1/2 a step. I put on a song that is in C on the NTSC version, (I used "Life's a show..." from the Buffy musical) and I play along on my keyboard in C. I put in the PAL version, (which has a GREAT anamorphic transfer, BTW which the R1 NTSC does NOT have) and wa-la, it is in d-flat. Same when I play along on a guitar. Don't believe me, try it out for yourself.

d

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PhilipG · Oct 16, 2005

Does the PAL system have this speed-up / pitch change when played back on a PAL system, or only when played back on NTSC ?

Yes - it's noticable irrespective of the playback system. You don't notice it probably because you're not overly familiar with soundtrack CDs, or you don't watch a lot of NTSC/24fps material, so you don't know how certain actors should sound in real life.

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