non game related dvd question

[D]

I should be condemned for posting this here, but I'd like to know how hardware experts view this matter.
I have the ability to watch DVD's from all regions. My dvd player can output NTSC and my tv can also handle NTSC signals I think that the US dvd releases have the best quality right?
Perhaps the PAL dvd have a slightly higher resolution, but if it is just upscaled a bit then I just prefer the US version, right?
Question 2. Do wide screen dvd's exist that are full screen yet also in wide screen? I mean that I would have to stretch out the image to get the proper ratio. This type of dvd would be useless to somebody with a 4:3 tv, unless it had some kind of option to squash the image.
Do these questions make any sense at all?
I'm afraid that if I post this in the off-topic It will not be properly looked at and it is a very technical question.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I should be condemned for posting this here, but I'd like to know how hardware experts view this matter.
I have the ability to watch DVD's from all regions. My dvd player can output NTSC and my tv can also handle NTSC signals I think that the US dvd releases have the best quality right?
Perhaps the PAL dvd have a slightly higher resolution, but if it is just upscaled a bit then I just prefer the US version, right?
Question 2. Do wide screen dvd's exist that are full screen yet also in wide screen? I mean that I would have to stretch out the image to get the proper ratio. This type of dvd would be useless to somebody with a 4:3 tv, unless it had some kind of option to squash the image.
Do these questions make any sense at all?
I'm afraid that if I post this in the off-topic It will not be properly looked at and it is a very technical question.

For D,

I'd have to assume that you have a multi-regional DVD player or a game console that's been modded to all-region DVD player capabilties, am I correct on this? ^_~

No need to apologize...you've come to the right section to ask your techincal questions. ^_~

As for question #2 -- In the USA, there are standard DVDs that have both same movie on both sides -- Side 'A' is 4:3 standard screen aspect ratio (with the ends cut off and has 'Pan and Scan' option) and Side 'B' is Widescreen aspect ratio 16:9 which shows the entire film as the director intended.

Of course, on some standard DVDs, there's the option to display 16:9 aspect ratio format on 4:3 aspect ratio square-shaped TV monitors (black bars would appear on the top and bottom of such 4:3 ratio TV screen setup).

As for question #1, since I don't have such a PAL TV monitor setup nor a PAL DVD player but only Region 1 and 2 NTSC DVD player...I wish I could answer your first question but can't. Perhaps, another fellow shmupper who has the same type of PAL DVD player and PAL TV monitor setup as you could answer that perplexing question..... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[D]

PC Engine Fan X!,
Thansk for answering

For D,
I'd have to assume that you have a multi-regional DVD player or a game console that's been modded to all-region DVD player capabilties, am I correct on this? ^_~

Yes, I have a multi region dvd player that also outputs NTSC as well as PAL signals. I have a tv that can receive PAL and NTSC signals, at least that's what the manuals tell me

As for question #2 -- In the USA, there are standard DVDs that have both same movie on both sides -- Side 'A' is 4:3 standard screen aspect ratio (with the ends cut off and has 'Pan and Scan' option) and Side 'B' is Widescreen aspect ratio 16:9 which shows the entire film as the director intended.
Of course, on some standard DVDs, there's the option to display 16:9 aspect ratio format on 4:3 aspect ratio square-shaped TV monitors (black bars would appear on the top and bottom of such 4:3 ratio TV screen setup).

It's hard to explain. You know those video games that have wide screen modes? When you set it on wide screen everything will very thin and you really have to stretch it out horizintally. Most dvds are wide screen, but the aspect ratio is correct and they can be played back on any tv. I wonder if dvd's exist where the image is squished horizontally, just like a video game when set on wide screen, so I would have to stretch the image. This kind of dvd would be useless for any normal 4:3 display and would not have mass appeal. So therefore I wonder if it even exists. I ask because you'd have better quality, you'd have more horizontal lines of resolution. I think the horizontal stretch option is pretty standard on tv's right? Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass or being anal at the same time

As for question #1, since I don't have such a PAL TV monitor setup nor a PAL DVD player but only Region 1 and 2 NTSC DVD player...I wish I could answer your first question but can't. Perhaps, another fellow shmupper who has the same type of PAL DVD player and PAL TV monitor setup as you could answer that perplexing question..... ^_~
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Anyone? It could also be that PAL dvd release get mastered from the original, resulting in a higher resolution, just like with games.
For games I prefer 60 hz and a little lower res. for the responsiveness and the way the game was made to be played. But for dvd's on the other hand I really just want the best image quality, even though the frames per second will be lower for PAL dvd's.

[D]

I found this:
http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Articles/P ... vsNTSC.asp
What is still not answered is how the PAL dvd's are made.
I can imagine 2 scenarios
1 The NTSC dvd has been released, Now it's time for europe, 2 months later and they take the NTSC dvd and upscale it to a higher resolution.
2 The NTSC dvd has been released, Now it's time for europe, 2 months later and they take the original movie and compress it to a higher resolution PAL dvd.
Which of these 2 options ussually happens? There should be a law against scenario 1. Perhaps nobody even cares. If case 1 is true I want NTSC dvd's. If scenario 2 is true I want PAL dvd's. Is there any way to even tell? Is there anybody who knows. Or is it just for me shut up and buy PAL dvd's while drooling of the thought of blu-ray, whle the NTSC dvd will give a sharper unscaled image. Or is it for our us shmembers, just buy the NTSC dvd and drool of the thought of blu-ray, whle the PAL dvd's will give a higher res. image quality?
Somebody getting screwed over. I want to find out who it is so we can all choose the same side and both be on the winning team.

I hate that nobody cares about quality. And nobody finds it odd that this data is not widely available. they could just include this on dvd box:
resolution: 720X388 compressed from 4096X4096 source.
yeah right, they don't do this because lots of consumers will call up and ask: "Operator, what do I do with the resolutions then?"
This is the world, provide little information to raise as few questions as possible to keep costs low and our people dumb and ignorent untill one anal shmember creates a thread that uncovers he's a nagging bitch?

[Ceph]

Another thing to consider is framerate. Theatrical movies are shot at a framerate of 24fps. Since PAL is running at 25fps, usually movies on PAL DVDs are simply played back at 25fps instead of 24, thus speeding them up and making them 4% shorter. Because this also makes the audio play faster, the pitch is then corrected (otherwise PAL DVD movies would sound high-pitched).

Since NTSC runs at ~30fps, running a 24fps movie at 30fps isn't possible, as the speed difference would be way too noticable. Instead, 6 extra frames are inserted every second.

That means that NTSC DVDs are running at 100% movie-theater-speed, wheras PAL DVDs are running at 104%.

[D]

Another thing to consider is framerate. Theatrical movies are shot at a framerate of 24fps. Since PAL is running at 25fps, usually movies on PAL DVDs are simply played back at 25fps instead of 24, thus speeding them up and making them 4% shorter. Because this also makes the audio play faster, the pitch is then corrected (otherwise PAL DVD movies would sound high-pitched).

Since NTSC runs at ~30fps, running a 24fps movie at 30fps isn't possible, as the speed difference would be way too noticable. Instead, 6 extra frames are inserted every second.

That means that NTSC DVDs are running at 100% movie-theater-speed, wheras PAL DVDs are running at 104%.

Damn, indeed. So the PAL virus ensues for dvd's as well?
Hmm, so how are NTSC dvd displayed on ntsc tv's then?
24 frames to 60 frames
The first frame of a second will be shown 2 frames of time
The second frame will be shown 3 frames of time
So 2 frames will be shown 5/60 of a second.
I wonder if all equipment will work this way?
perhaps it will work in another (worst) matter.
So any PAL dvd (from a US movie) will suck?
I love to know all about this technical stuff and how it really works.
Thanks for the replies!

[Ceph]

Another thing to consider is framerate. Theatrical movies are shot at a framerate of 24fps. Since PAL is running at 25fps, usually movies on PAL DVDs are simply played back at 25fps instead of 24, thus speeding them up and making them 4% shorter. Because this also makes the audio play faster, the pitch is then corrected (otherwise PAL DVD movies would sound high-pitched).

Since NTSC runs at ~30fps, running a 24fps movie at 30fps isn't possible, as the speed difference would be way too noticable. Instead, 6 extra frames are inserted every second.

That means that NTSC DVDs are running at 100% movie-theater-speed, wheras PAL DVDs are running at 104%.

Damn, indeed. So the PAL virus ensues for dvd's as well?
Hmm, so how are NTSC dvd displayed on ntsc tv's then?
24 frames to 60 frames
The first frame of a second will be shown 2 frames of time
The second frame will be shown 3 frames of time
So 2 frames will be shown 5/60 of a second.
I wonder if all equipment will work this way?
perhaps it will work in another (worst) matter.
So any PAL dvd (from a US movie) will suck?
I love to know all about this technical stuff and how it really works.
Thanks for the replies!

You are mistaking fields for frames. 1 frame comprises 2 fields. Each field contains half of the lines in a complete frame; the TV picture is interlaced. PAL has 25 frames per second, NTSC has ~30 (It's not exactly 30 but 29.97). So like I wrote above, for NTSC 6 duplicate frames per second are inserted at even intervals.

[D]

NTSC
1,2,3,4,4
5,6,7,8,8
9,10,11,12,12
13,14,15,16,16
17,18,19,20,20
21,22,23,24,24

PAL
1-2424
or
1-2425
26-4950
(this would make it run 4% faster)

Here's an idea: Why can't tv display 48 Hz then? then no frames would have to be repeated! can I mod a dvd player to adjust the sync to 48 Hz?
I know I got all the terms wrong, but you catch my drift.

[ED-057]

Why can't tv display 48 Hz then?

I'm sure a lot of them can. But 50hz is bad enough already, isn't it?

can I mod a dvd player to adjust the sync to 48 Hz?

No.

I wonder if dvd's exist where the image is squished horizontally

Yeah they exist, I'm not sure how common it is. I have some Japanese DVDs that are 16:9 and the image is still encoded as 720x480 on the disc. I play them on my PC with a hardware MPEG2 decoder card and I have the option of shrinking the image vertically (to preserve the aspect ratio on my 4:3 screen) or displaying it full screen (which looks wrong on 4:3 but would look right on a widescreen display).