The Wonder Years: UK Set Vs US Set Question (2 Viewers)

[AndyMcKinney]

So this is the American versions rather than the UK?
I would have thought the other way around, since Australia is also PAL.

Yes, Australia is a PAL country, but they sometimes go with an NTSC release if it's 'better' than an available PAL release (or if a PAL release wasn't offered in another country). There was at least one classic Doctor Who release they used the US master for because it had corrected a fault (either an edit or technical fault) that was on the UK version. They also had an NTSC Grace and Favour (Are You Being Served? Again!) as there wasn't a PAL release yet.

Technically, all TVs and playback devices in PAL countries are multi-system compatible (unless they're really old), so NTSC releases sometimes happen, anyway, and Fabulous Films in the UK are one company who do this. Their Automan and Six Million Dollar Man were NTSC (and they were the first country to release Automan).

 

[Ferdinand Hudson]

My Fabulous Films set of Automan is PAL, not NTSC.

As I recall they used an NTSC->PAL converted transfer so the runtimes are about equal to that of the US broadcast but the discs are very much formatted for PAL equipment.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

My Fabulous Films set of Automan is PAL, not NTSC.

As I recall they used an NTSC->PAL converted transfer so the runtimes are about equal to that of the US broadcast but the discs are very much formatted for PAL equipment.

Ah, quite. I must've mistaken something I read about the $6 Million Man set and this one.

EDIT: Now I remember why I bought the PAL Fabulous Films release instead of the US one (the following from an Amazon review of Shout! Factory's US release):

Shout Factory really dropped the ball on this one: They converted this release from the PAL masters/files originally created for the UK release by Fabulous Films.

 

[mark27b]

The R1 USA school locker packaged complete series edition reportedly had four additional bonus DVDs (do note that there is also a slipcase complete series boxed set that only has the twenty-two complete series discs.

It looks like the fabulous set had these but the later USA set doesn't

see

Rewind @ www.dvdcompare.net - Wonder Years (The): Season 6 (TV) (1992-1993)

 

[mark27b]

R1 22 discs
See on Amazon

R1 26 discs
See on Amazon

R2 26 discs
See on Amazon