Steven Spielberg's Director's Collection (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

You've got the 90 minute theatrical version. The shorter running time is due to PAL speedup.

Hey Mark,

Question, cause I really don't know 'bout these things...
Would there actually be PAL speedup in a country that supports PAL?
Wouldn't it just play real-time, and thus have the accurate running time?I thought speedup only happened when you played PAL on other region players.

Again, I don't know much about this so I'm not challenging your position on this.

 

[Jari K]

All DVDs have the longer version. BD seems to have (also) the original Mono, though.

 

[Worth]

PAL runs at 25 frames-per-second, so your going to get speed-up of 24fps sources no matter where you are.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Worth, appreciate the answer.

Just to continue with this...

So, the people in PAL territories shouldn't be seeing actual speed-up though, right?

There's not going to be squeaky talking and faster movement on screen?

 

[Jari K]

"I thought speedup only happened when you played PAL on other region players."No. All PAL releases have speed-up. And the running time is always shorter vs NTSC time (=no speed-up). C'mon, this was like a lesson 1 when the DVD arrived about zillion years ago.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

No. All PAL releases have speed-up. And the running time is always shorter vs NTSC time (=no speed-up). C'mon, this was like a lesson 1 when the DVD arrived about zillion years ago.

Knew they had speed-up when played HERE, however over there, I thought they
would play in real time and there would be no noticeable speedup.

 

[Mark-P]

Hey Mark,

Question, cause I really don't know 'bout these things...
Would there actually be PAL speedup in a country that supports PAL?
Wouldn't it just play real-time, and thus have the accurate running time?I thought speedup only happened when you played PAL on other region players.

Again, I don't know much about this so I'm not challenging your position on this.

PAL speedup affects everybody, which is why it would really suck to live in a PAL country. It affects any film-based material that is originally shot at 24 fps. Since PAL operates at 25 fps, anything that was natively shot at 24 fps will be sped up. If the material is being video-taped (or filmed) specifically for a PAL presentation, then of course it can be filmed natively at 25 fps but that has the reverse affect of having slowdown when shown at 24 fps!

 

[FoxyMulder]

PAL isn't a problem for 99% of blu ray titles, at least the film portion of the discs but, obviously is for DVD releases.

 

[Jari K]

The disc/transfer has the speed-up with PAL releases. Over here, there, anywhere.But then again PAL has more resolution vs NTSC so many people feel that it's a "tie". I believe the same speed-up issue affects also to 1080i/50 vs 1080i/60. That's one reason why people should demand 1080p/24fps. 1080i is inferior in more ways than one.

 

[FoxyMulder]

But then again PAL has more resolution vs NTSC so many people feel that it's a "tie".

NTSC used to be known as never the same colour twice, with good reason.

Times have changed, many televisions and indeed quality blu ray players can take that 1080i disc and make it look stunning, as someone from a PAL country i have been conditioned to accept speed up, i probably don't hear it and wouldn't notice unless you played portions of the film back with the original that had not been sped up.

Just so that people know, 99% of blu ray discs worldwide play those movies at 23.976hz with no speedup whatsoever.

 

[Jari K]

"99% of blu ray discs worldwide play those movies at 23.976hz with no speedup whatsoever."True dat. PAL speed-up or NeverTheSameColor are not a problem w Blu-ray. Unless some joker decides to release film (originally shot in 24fps) in 1080i.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Unless some joker decides to release film (originally shot in 24fps) in 1080i.

Valhalla Rising, at least the UK edition, no great loss, it's style over substance that one, i wish i had not bought it.

 

[Jari K]

Sadly, 1080i titles are usually released outside North-America. Not sure why, but it happens sometimes.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Sadly, 1080i titles are usually released outside North-America. Not sure why, but it happens sometimes.

It has probably got something to do with television masters.

 

[Jari K]

Could be. They get the "HD master" but sometimes it's in 1080i/50.

 

[David Weicker]

Many BBC shows are 'filmed' at 50i, so for a proper presentation, they should be 1080i/50 on Blu-Ray

 

[Persianimmortal]

You've got the 90 minute theatrical version. The shorter running time is due to PAL speedup.

You're right, I forgot to take into account PAL speedup. But what makes it odd then is why is the theatrical version presented in 1.33:1 on this DVD when I thought it was supposed to be 1.85:1? I suppose this upcoming BD will be an improvement for me then as I'll be getting the same version I'm used to at higher resolution and the correct ratio.

Anyway in regards to the actual speed-up effects of PAL, it's not as bad as it's being made out. Watching any movie on Blu-ray vs. the DVD, I've never noticed the speedup difference. That's because it's only 4% the speed difference. And there are advantages to PAL over NTSC on DVD, given PAL is encoded at 576i instead of 480i, so that's an extra 20% resolution

But yes all completely irrelevant for Blu-ray, as almost all BDs are encoded at 1080p 24FPS fixed with no video pulldown required like interlaced content.

 

[Worth]

You're right, I forgot to take into account PAL speedup. But what makes it odd then is why is the theatrical version presented in 1.33:1 on this DVD when I thought it was supposed to be 1.85:1? I suppose this upcoming BD will be an improvement for me then as I'll be getting the same version I'm used to at higher resolution and the correct ratio.

I wonder if that's not a misprint. I remember reading an interview with Spielberg years ago where he said Duel was composed for 1.33 and that the 1.85 version revealed mistakes that weren't meant to be seen.

 

[Doug Bull]

I never noticed PAL speedup until I started to import US Laserdiscs.

All of a sudden the Music seemed slower, the voices sounded deeper.
I liked what I heard at that time and ever since then I've hated PAL speedup.
It's clear that not everybody notices it, but I can most certainly hear the difference.

Some PAL DVDs have had the pitch altered in order to make them sound better. (the speedup is still there but the performers voices are more accurate)
But buying a PAL DVD is still a gamble for those who can hear the difference.
Certainly the resolution of the PAL image is better than NTSC.

The good news is that Blu-ray has overcome most of these problems.
Most thankfully It's now become a level playing field.

Doug.

 

[Persianimmortal]

I wonder if that's not a misprint. I remember reading an interview with Spielberg years ago where he said Duel was composed for 1.33 and that the 1.85 version revealed mistakes that weren't meant to be seen.

If you mean it's a misprint on the back of my DVD, it's not - I've watched it several times and it's definitely 1.33:1. If you mean the theatrical version should be 1.33:1, and not 1.85:1, I really don't know.

I never noticed PAL speedup until I started to import US Laserdiscs.

All of a sudden the Music seemed slower, the voices sounded deeper.
I liked what I heard at that time and ever since then I've hated PAL speedup.
It's clear that not everybody notices it, but I can most certainly hear the difference.

Some PAL DVDs have had the pitch altered in order to make them sound better. (the speedup is still there but the performers voices are more accurate)
But buying a PAL DVD is still a gamble for those who can hear the difference.
Certainly the resolution of the PAL image is better than NTSC.

The good news is that Blu-ray has overcome most of these problems.
Most thankfully It's now become a level playing field.

Doug.

i have excellent hearing, and I really can't notice it. Playing the exact same movie first on DVD, then on Blu-ray, I just can't detect any real difference in either audio or video. I'm not necessarily saying that you can't tell the difference Doug, but it's hard to imagine that a 4% speed difference, or 25 instead of 24 frames per second, is really something most people could ever notice. There's definitely no "chipmunk effect", that's for sure.