Reg1 NTSC vs. Reg2 PAL

[BubbleGumUK]

As everyone on this site is pretty much in it for the long term and up to speed on multi-regions, systems and what-not, I was wondering what preference viewers went for when deciding between reg 1 or reg 2.

When the studios announced this policy, it was only a matter of time before someone cracked the coding system - meaning the only barrier was still the TV display systems of NTSC and PAL.

I know I'll only go for NTSC when it's available and would rather wait for a film in that format rather than go around the corner to my local retailer and pick up a PAL copy.

Basically, it's down to a variety of things (packaging on US releases don't have to account for several Euro-countries all getting their logos on the sleeve, extras are usually more worthwile). But the main thing for me is that NTSC plays the film back at the original speed the camera shot it in.

Film runs at 24 frame per second, right? Well PAL literally just ups the speed one frame and plays at 25fps. Not a big deal, huh? Well, in fact it has the effect of actually raising the pitch of the film by one whole musical key. Check out the CD soundtracks (at the right speed) with music from PAL films - it won't sync up and is out of key. It can make some voices - especially in some animated films - sound really corny and too young.

Picture wise, running at one frame a second faster means that over an hour of film, the movie has been run 2 minutes faster. Therefore an average film runs four minutes faster and is out of key with the original composer's and director's pacing. Check out the running times between PAL movies (shorter) and NTSC (correct).

Now, although NTSC actually runs faster than PAL (at 30fps) it retains the film speed by dropping in frame fields. Each video frame (NTSC and PAL) is made up of two individual scanning "fields". Therefore 12 fields make up 6 frames. With NTSC, every other frame contains an extra field, so over the 24 frames of film, 12 fields have been added, making up the 6 frame difference between 24 and 30fps. Phew!

Because of this NTSC also gives you a cleaner, more filmic-looking reproduction of film. True the slightly higher 625 lines of PAL resolution (compared to NTSC's 525 line system) could be favoured, except that this results in extra gamma applied to the image, making blacks murky and colors looking a little too rich.

So, IMO, the NTSC format replays the film closer to the original film-maker's intentions - and surely the main reason for buying ANY film on DVD is to see it as best it can be seen.

What do you guys think??

[dyerjp]

i'll buy whoever does the better presentation of the disc, PAL OR NTSC. better extras, better sound, whoever does it better, is who i am going to buy.

[Lenny Nero]

Thanks for the technical comparison for those who might not know.
I, however, buy DVDs from all over the world, basically I of course try for one in R1 US then Canada, if available, I usually compare with any other versions from other countries and if extras or presentation are better I go for the best version.
30% of DVDs in my collection aren't even available in US at all, lots from Australia (Buffy, Angel seasons 1-4, 1-2 respectively, The Dish SE, Friends seasons 1-7), some from UK (Farscape seasons 1-3, Stargate seasons 2-5, Ordinary Decent Criminal, an unreleased in US 2000 Kevin Spacey film, things like that) and some Japanese (Dark Angel Season 1, Total Recall 2070 Complete Series, Avalon, etc) and German only (Fifth Element 2 Disk SE) releases. Some Region 3 releases from Hong Kong, etc.
I don't notice any raise in voices or tone due to PAL speed up and my Malata N996 DVD player has an awesome build in NTSC to Pal and vice versa converter which is the best in the world as agreed by hundreds of people who bought it. The converter is so good it's better than stand-alone $300 versions! With it I can take any DVD in the world, connect to any TV in the world, and enjoy the disk with no problems

[markedouglas]

Thanks BubblegunUK for that comparrison. I always wanted to know how they did that actually.......

But for me, being in Australia, I prefer to wait for the PAL version because of the extra hl-rez and because NTSC doesnt like to be converted to PAL very much when I play it thru my Component Input. I get a funny distortion on my Sony Trinitron.

[orko007]

Also being from a PAL country I do prefer the format. Mainly because my TV has a slight flicker in it with NTSC. But that being the case, anamorphic widescreen & 5.1 is the most important. So Ill give up PAL format for either of those 2 options. Price is a bit of an issue when shipping from England.