Austrailian DVD's (1 Viewer)

[Jim Bivins]

First off, is Austrailia NTSC or PAL? I'm considering purchasing some R4 titles and only have a multi-region player (no PAL converter, Malata coming soon though!). Also, where would be a good online store to purchase R4 titles, that would ship over seas?
Thanks
Jim

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Australia is PAL, so is the UK
Check the Regional DVD FAQ I wrote (update coming soon I swear! )

 

[Yee-Ming]

try www.ezydvd.com.au. that's where I buy my R4 stuff from.
I must caution though that R4 might still have some QC issues to sort out -- I have a JFK where the 2nd layer is unplayable (ezydvd have swapped it once, the replacement doesn't work either; I'm trying to play it in other DVD players before I return it again), and I've found that the volume on menus on several DVDs is sometimes mastered too high.
check michaeldvd.com.au for what IMHO is the best R1 v. R4 comparison database.

 

[Nick Sievers]

check michaeldvd.com.au for what IMHO is the best R1 v. R4 comparison database

I haven't visited the site for a long time now but I got annoyed because every single review has "R4 is favourable due to the higher resolution of PAL"

 

[Jeff Kleist]

PAL may be higher resolution, but I avoid it like the plague due to speedup if at all possible.

 

[Angsty]

Yes, Australia is PAL, but you do get some shonky distributers releasing NTSC titles, like $2Warner and the P&S NTSC version of Willy Wonka
I've never noticed the PAL speedup...
(Well, not till Once More With Feeling from Buffy - the mp3s certainly sound better!! Bugger, hope FOX pitch corrects the episode for the DVD release!!!)
Angela

 

[Jim Bivins]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. A friend of mine swore Australia was NTSC, glad I double checked. I'm looking at purchasing the Predator SE, as it appears it won't make an R1 release, as well as the Battlestar Galactica box set...any early word on these, such as quality?
Thanks
Jim

 

[Yee-Ming]

I haven't visited the site for a long time now but I got annoyed because every single review has "R4 is favourable due to the higher resolution of PAL"

if memory serves, not all the reviews say that. older reviews tended to, whilst newer ones dont' I suspect it's some of the older reviewers who hold that opinion, whereas some of the newer ones don't so if the specs are identical they'll say there's nothing to choose between the two.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

As for the Galactica box, rumour has it that they have used older masters that aren't that great. Confirmation probably has to wait until someone has a set in their hands and can report about it.

As for the PAL vs NTSC issue... well, PAL does have higher vertical resolution and is superior to NTSC in other ways as well, being a younger standard. There's a reason people jokingly say NTSC means Never The Same Color (twice)...

Of course, that's no ironclad guaranteed of a better picture, since it depends a lot on how well the transfer was done. Usually R1 has a higher standard there, which among other things is why I buy almost exclusively R1, ie NTSC.

PAL speedup is however real so if you can hear that, you won't enjoy a PAL release of material that used to be 24 fps (ie film) and was speeded up to the 25 fps of PAL. I can't hear the difference, but I've lived in PAL-land my entire life... that may be the reason.

 

[Nicole P]

Here is a link to a good price-crawler for R4 online stores:
http://www.dvdplaza.com.au/
Cheers,
Nicole P.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I'm getting Galactica regardless of quality. The only other time it has EVER been released in its entirety is a very limited Japanese LD box about 10 years ago. I think they only made 3000.

I will also buy a domestic version, you hear me Universal?

 

[Julian Lalor]

According to www.michaeldvd.com.au Battlestar Galactica will indeed be remastered. The site has a cryptic (or not so cryptic) "Swami" who divulges confidential information:
"The Swami returned today, after having done Battle with a Star in a Galactica far far away. The Swami was on a High, saying that the Star that he did Battle with was very clear and well-Defined, and had a New Master."

 

[YANG]

"A friend of mine swore Australia was NTSC..."
Your friend can be partially correct,maybe what he see are the new releases from WARNER AU.
Most of the discs released by other studios are in PAL format.And there are some movies released with DTS surround that is not available in the U.S,such as DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS S.E,13 DAYS,ENEMY AT THE GATES and so on...
There are some titles that you should avoid,as they are originated from the edited/censored UK R2 masters such as MRS DOUBTFIRE,BOND SERIES,PREDATOR and others...especially titles that are released by FOX INTERNATIONAL.Always check out on the updated censorship status at MICHAEL'S DVD website.
More infos can be found at Link Removed

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Oh so much drool, you can't believe the drool
13 days to go! Hope it ships early
I'm going to hug it and kiss it and name it George

 

[Anthony Horan]

I must caution though that R4 might still have some QC issues to sort out -- I have a JFK where the 2nd layer is unplayable (ezydvd have swapped it once, the replacement doesn't work either; I'm trying to play it in other DVD players before I return it again), and I've found that the volume on menus on several DVDs is sometimes mastered too high.

The problems you've been having with JFK may possibly be at the manufacturing plant in Australia that made the R4 disc, but if you're worried about menu audio being too loud (and I agree with you on that!) then blame the disc authors in the UK and the US, because that's where the majority of major-studio R4 DVDs are actually mastered

- Anthony

 

[Cees Alons]

Although PAL output has more horizontal lines (physically), it's not true that this leads automatically to a higher vertical resolution on all PAL discs.

That's because some discs have been authored from the same material as their (original) NTSC counterpart. You could say the PAL-zoom was purely digital in those cases and anyone owning a digital camera knows what that means.

Cees

 

[Jeff Kleist]

We have a DTS issue of Predator in the US, just with no extras. The SE won't be coming for awhile because the DTS version has only been on the market about a year

 

[Brett C]

From all the region 4 DVD's that Ive seen and own and thats quite a few,Warner is the only company that has done transfers downconverted from NTSC. The first batch of discs they released were all downconverted. Some of the titles were Bladerunner,Unforgiven,The Assasin aka Point Of No Return and a few more.If you look at R4 Roadshow discs like 15 Minutes and Thirteen Days The region 1 counterparts of these titles are easily inferior in regards to the higher resolution of the Pal format and how good the transfers are in this particular format,IMO anyway...

 

[Anthony Connor]

My problem with R4 is that most DD tracks are not encoded at the bitrate of 448kbs and are instead 386kbs.
I find this a real pain and appart from missing alot of content that appears on the R1 DVD releases it is the reason I don't by R4 as much as I would like to.

 

[Julian Lalor]

My problem with R4 is that most DD tracks are not encoded at the bitrate of 448kbs and are instead 386kbs.

Actually, most are. Warners encode at 386Kbs, but they do the same in R1. FOX are the other main culperate. Roadshow, Columbia and Universal usually do 448kbs unless there is a DTS track on the DVD as well.