Eric F

I purchased the Red Dwarf V&VI R2 boxes and was just curious about this.

Since it was sourced from PAL based material it should be fine on my HTPC, correct?

Yocke

It's probably allright either way, since it was shot for tv to begin with. If they shot it on film, they probably shot it at 25 frames per second, and if they shot it on video... well.. then it's 25 frames per second also.

Josh Z

Red Dwarf was shot on PAL video. It will not have speedup. They shot it at the speed it would air in.

PAL speedup happens during the conversion of 24fps film to 25fps PAL video.

Eric F

If a title like Michael Palin's Himalaya was produced for R2 release for Super 16 would it have speed-up?

I'm still a bit confused as far as just what is sped up and what's not, and if it's worth it to save $10 or so and just deal with the speed difference.

Yocke

From what I've heard, programmes that are shot for PAL tv are usually shot in 25 fps, so there will be no speed up.

Eric F

According to IMDB this particular documentary was shot:

Camera
Aaton XTR Prod

Film negative format (mm/video inches)
16 mm

Cinematographic process
Super 16

Isn't Super 16 a film format? As I understand it, isn't film sourced material always sped up on PAL DVDs?

Yocke

Yes, Super 16 is a film format, but you don't have to shoot at 24 frames per second if you don't want to. Hollywood films are always shot in 24 fps, which means they speed them up when they convert them to PAL, but if you shoot a tv series, it's much smarter to simply shoot it in 25 fps to begin with so you don't have any speed up.

Eric F

Cool. So I guess I'll pick it up.

Do most people not care about the speed-up? My PC-DVD player will allow me to slow down 4%, but only if I output 5.1 seperately, meaning I can't use the SPDIF output and let me receiver decode it.

Josh Z

It's a matter of what you grew up with. People who grew up watching PAL are so used to the speedup that they don't even notice it, but are very distracted by the lower resolution of NTSC. People who grew up watching NTSC are more distracted by the speedup and 50hz flicker.

Eric F

Since I use a HTPC, flicker is not an issue. So I guess I will be purchasing more international DVDs in the future.

matome

You might want to take a look at Intervideo's WinDVD6 and 7 players. They have a function called PAL truSpeed that will automatically adjust the playback to NTSC speed. Works great, though you can't use it for DD or DTS tracks though.

compulsive dvd

If you have a PAL feature film transfer with music, it's impossible to not notice the speed up. Try watching the beginning of Pulp Fiction. If you have the soundtrack to something and then watch the film that's been sped up, it's really annoying. On the other hand, while in South America, I was watching movies that were transferred to PAL from NTSC and there was this awful jutter every few seconds when there was a lot of movement. I can do better transfers with the equipment I have at home. I would take the speed up over the bad picture.

digitalfreaknyc

Uhh...then what's the point?

Eric F

I already said I had PowerDVD and allows me to slowdown as well. I can get the whole surround channels if I output each channel discreetly and not use SPDIF.

But I will be selective as far as just what I will purchase in PAL format.

Yocke

That only happens if you convert from NTSC to true PAL. That's not something that you usually have to do though. Most tvs (made after 1990 or so) can cope with a semi conversion. I don't really know the technical details, but the players only convert the color codes or something, and leaves the picture at 50 hz. When you do it this way I think it probably looks as good as if you were watching it on native NTSC equipment.

Rypro 525

I just got around to playing my first PAL disc last night (ong bak 2 disc australlian version) and i didn't hear anything that sounded sped up (although one fight looked sped up, but that might just be the look). Now granted, everyone was speaking in thai, so that may have been the issue. Player is the oppo that is sold at hkflix.com.

eXcentris

PAL speedup = much ado about nothing.

I must have hundreds of PAL discs and I have yet to notice this speedup. I'm not denying that it exists or that some people with super hearing or vision notice it, but the reality is that most normal people don't.

bjackson

The only time I have ever noticed PAL speedup was while viewing the Australian DVD of Jane Campion's THE PIANO. I was very familiar with the film's soundtrack, so I noticed that the music sounded a little "sped up." Otherwise, it has never been an issue for me.

pro-bassoonist

I have stated my opinion before...PAL speed up does exist and certain people are likely to "hear" it. It is most certainly noticeable however if you are viewing a film in your native language. For us it would be English (I assume) and English-spoken productions are the only ones where I have noticed the speed alterations. If your native language is German then it is likely that you would hear the speed up in a German production. I do however challenge anyone to recongnize a PAL speed up in a non-native production (an English speaker recognizing the PAL effect in a Greek-spoken film for example).

With this said I own a very large number of PAL discs and 99% of them are non-English productions. No issues whatsoever!!!

Ciao,
Pro-B

marty888

Agree 100%!

benedict

It's deja vu all over again.

taronga

One thing I never see mentioned is how PAL speed-up affects commentaries. I assume that commentaries are recorded to the PAL transfer and not film, so when a PAL commentary is ported to a R1 release you get NTSC slow-down. Of course you'd have to know the R2 pretty well to hear any difference, but I've noticed it a few times - like Shaun of the Dead where they all sound hung over.

One strange case is Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The commentary is screen-specific but many times it doesn't seem quite aligned with the film. Sometimes it's ahead of the action, sometimes behind. I think they must have inserted gaps rather than slowing it down.

digitalfreaknyc

Oh. It's DEFINITELY there. I'm in the process of slowing down all 5 of my PAL discs at the moment

tacos

How do you do that?

digitalfreaknyc

Can't be discussed here.