Ringmaster

So I've always been aware of PAL vs NTSC with dvds but is Blu-ray affected by this? I want to pick up the UK Alien Blu-ray set and I know it is region free but is it encoded in PAL? NTSC? Or is Blu-ray, in general, something universal where all you have to worry about is region encoding? Any tech differences in audio and video between the U.S. set vs the U.K. one? Any help would be appreciated.

Subgeniusguy

PAL or NTSC does not matter with BD titles except with content that is not hi-def that may be PAL encoded. This is not an issue with the Alien discs. They play fine on a PS3. Technically the Alien discs are not region free but are multiregion encoded. Some Sony players have had issues with the Alien set but this is the case with the US set as well.

manicsounds

The US and UK Alien sets are identical. Same specs, same audio, same subtitle options

Ringmaster

What about the extras? I don't think those are in HD so are they PAL encoded and do they have any tech problems when viewing on an American blu-ray player & TV?

manicsounds

They are NOT PAL encoded. They are exactly the same as the US version with the same specs as I said.

Ringmaster

Thanks Manic. I'm new to blu ray so I just wanted to be sure I avoid any headaches with international blu rays

mythmaker18

You may not have to worry about this with the Alien set, but there are certain titles that will not play on any old US player. Several Region B BluRay releases for shows that originated on British TV are encoded 1080i/50hz (the British HD broadcast specification) which are not compatible with a fair number of US players and/or TV sets (the PS3 included).

A lot of people who imported the BBC's Planet Earth UK release found this out the hard way (as did a fair number of people who bought the import version of the TV show Being Human).

If you're wondering whether your BluRay player supports 1080i/50 or not, this thread may be of some help.

Oh, and player compatibility is only 1/2 of the equation if your player can only output native 50hz material but won't convert it to 60hz. In that case, you also have to own a TV that can cope with a 50hz signal coming in.

d2cheer

You can get this for about $35 USD now. It is on sale for under 20 British pounds.

Surfinhank

Something else to be aware of, if PAL speed-up was ever an issue for you: certain titles have a pitch problem with the audio. Technically it's not PAL speed-up, but it sounds exactly like it. I'm not tech-savy enough to know what causes it, but it's probably an error made during the mastering. Alien probably isn't affected because Fox is a major studio, but the U.K. version of The Fog and the Australian version of Scream do have this problem.