Building the Definitive TV on DVD Collection

Rule 1: Region encoding? What region encoding?
Corrolary 1: Computers make the best DVD players. Computer monitors, the best (economy) screens. Get a comfortable computer chair.
Rule 2: PAL is better than NTSC, but know thy shooting format.
Corrolary 2: NTSC material is still NTSC in PAL.
Rule 3: The Australian dollar is even weaker than the Canadian
Corrolary 3: Bad for Australians. Good for Canadians. You still get the good weather mates so spare me the dirty looks.

Dark Angel

I've recently become the happy owner of the region 4 release of the first season of "Dark Angel", and learned a few lessons I wish to share for the good of DVD-buyer-kind. First, the pilot movie looks marvelous -- really, you can see every distinct strand of stubble on Logan's face *happy sigh*. The PAL transfer makes for a greatly improved image quality. For the movie, anyway. The rest of series is obviously still in the FOX's 480p "Enhanced Digital Widescreen" format and the image quality, while good, is no better than the NTSC region 1 "24: Day 1" release or the later widesreen region 1 X-Files releases.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must mention the audio that is clear but higher pitched than I remember it, so Logan occasionally sounds like a chipmunk and Max like a chippette, but maybe it's just me.

The Hornblower Collection

I've been waiting for years for "Horatio Hornblower" to be released in anamorphic widescreen, and thought that the region 2 release would be The One to fully enjoy The Ioan. NOT In the region 2 (and I've learned region 4) releases, the first four parts are in full frame (the f-word of DVD-dom if there is such a thing) and the latter 2 are in letterbox which is even more obscene than full frame. The PAL full frame does, I grant you, look better than the region 1 NTSC full frame, but there are these green flashing artifacts, or something, on the right side of the frame that are particularly, and annoyingly, apparent on the second disc in the PAL version that are not present in the NTSC transfer. I've checked a couple of region 2 sets, and found them in both. I can only conclude that this is a issue with the whole region 2 batch.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel

The first 3 seasons of BtVS and the first season of "Angel" were shot in full frame in North America so there was really no point in getting them in anything other than the region 1 releases. The rest of both shows were shot in widescreen, and since they are released by FOX, I'm gonna make an educated guess and say that they are probably in FOX's NTSC-centric 480p widescreen format (like "Dark Angel"). The only reason to get them in PAL format from either region 2 or 4 would be if they're to be released (as current reports indicate) in full frame only in region 1.

There is an odd PAL-region anomally here -- for some reason the region 4 release of "Angel: Season 2" is in full frame while the region 2 one is on widescreen. Good for Europe. Bad for OZ -- still with the better weather, though, so just put that hairy eyeball away.

Alias

Those mouse bastards at Buena Vista have a lot to learn about releasing TV content on DVD. They couldn't have taken the laughtrack out of the "Sports Night" DVDs But I digress. Early reports have it that they'll be releasing the first season of "Alias" in full frame. Never mind that "Alias" is shot and simulcast in 720p HDTV widescreen Really, I should have expected no less from the studio that still makes full frame only theatrical movie releases. It's all for the best, I suppose. My enjoyment of even an anamorphic widescreen boxset would have been marred by its inferiority to the HDTV broadcasts of the show. I'll just have to wait for the HD-DVD release.

La Femme Nikita

I was pleasantly surprised to read that the first season of LFN would be released in anamorphic widescreen. I wasn't planning on buying it since on Canadian satellite you've got at least 5 channels rerunning LFN daily, but I can't resist seeing SpyBoy in anamorphic widescreen.

The PAL transfer makes for a greatly improved image quality. For the movie, anyway. The rest of series is obviously still in the FOX's 480p "Enhanced Digital Widescreen" format and the image quality, while good, is no better than the NTSC region 1 "24: Day 1" release or the later widesreen region 1 X-Files releases.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must mention the audio that is clear but higher pitched than I remember it, so Logan occasionally sounds like a chipmunk and Max like a chippette, but maybe it's just me.

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Nope, not just you. This is a problem with NTSC to PAL transfers. The big problem between the two is frame rates, and a common solution for solving this is that the PAL versions are actually played back at a different frame rate, thus altering the sound pitch. This is why even though I'm in the UK (region 2), I buy, where possible, US DVD's (well, one of the many reasons, of course).

Ok I'm no audio/videophile YET but I need some help. Should I use the DVD player to fit the B5 anamorphic picture to my 4:3 TV set or should I use the 16:9 zoom function on the TV?
I still haven't figured out what to do with the grahic equaliser on my hifi. It comes with a lot of presets but shouldn't it all be on maximum so you don't suppress any part of the sound spectrum?

It might not be the right thread to post this, but these are the TV shows I'd like to own on DVD eventually:
B5 and Crusade
Farscape
Gummi Bears

Should I use the DVD player to fit the B5 anamorphic picture to my 4:3 TV set or should I use the 16:9 zoom function on the TV?

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If your 4:3 tv does not have a 16:9 mode (where it squashes the image vertically) then you should tell the DVD player that you are using a 4:3 TV so that it can adjust the picture accordingly.

Most people use graphic equalisers to adjust music to sound the way they like to hear it. In that regard it's totally subjective, you set it how you like it to sound.

Some of my choices to own on DVD (other than B5 and Crusade, of course):

Due South
WKRP in Cincinnati

Due South has actually started coming out on DVD, but it's in the same boat with B5: The sales have to be good in order for each next season to be produced.

Thanks, zootle I thought I needed to get my ears checked. I'll just find a way to lower the pitch.

[WARNING: RANT AHEAD]

Obviously, it's generally advisable to get TV series on DVD from the originating region, but sometimes one has to break that rule for the sake of better picture. Some marketing geniuses still believe that American (North American, whatever -- when was the last time Canada actually figured in anyone's major marketing strategy?) consumers "just don't like those black line" while European consumers do. Certain retailers and rental places (like Walmart and Blockbuster) actually only have the full frame versions of dual releases available thus making stupid American consumers (of which there is a frightingly large number) thing that's the only version available and thereby artifically inflating the full frame sales figure.

I swear when the 2 disc release of "The Two Towers" comes out, I'm gonna drag a friend to the nearest Walmart at some busy time and start complaining, LOUDLY and in DETAIL, about the stupidity of full frame transfers, not to mention the fact that those greedylittlebastardsatMiramax will be releasing a better version in a few monthes anyway. I can't deciding which is more loathsome, full frame transfer or multiple issues

Alas, the 2nd season of "Due South" has been delayed according to TV Shows on DVD.

I only purchase DVD's with the widescreen anamorphic transfer (I'm not hip on all the lingo but I hope that is the right one) and if I'm over at a friend's and they have full frame I ask them what they are thinking?? Most reply with the "I hate the black bars" answer. It's frustrating. Sometimes at Hollywood or Blockbuster they will cover up the aspect ratio with their little scan sticker.

Im waiting for The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. to come out on DVD along with MacGyver.

For those complete Muppets, who think that full frame gives them the whole film, here is a perfect and graphic demonstration of why full frame is a rip-off, whereas those transfers that have those "annoying" black bars are, in fact, giving you the full film:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama2.html

You just have to look at the screen grabs there to see how much of a bad deal full frame is. And it is a bad deal, on a 2.35:1 movie you lose, in a full frame presentation, HALF the picture! That's a 50% rip-off! You've been conned out of 50% of the feature! I'd want half of my money back.

Full frame presentations of a widescreen feature sucks.
The pictures speak for themselves. Anyone who doesn't understand and feels ripped off by fullframe presentations needs to be shot. Preferably in the head.

Everytime someone says that, a DVDangel loses its wings. The whole problem is that most people still watch their DVDs on old 4x3 TVs, and they think they're getting less picture, or if they actually give it some thought, lower resolution with the black bands. The first impression is obviously wrong, the second is correct, but, as long as the transfer is anamorphic, once they inevitably upgrade to higher resolution 16x9 HDTV, they'll get more picture AND higher resolution.

That's what the anamorphic widescreen transfer ultimately insures: forward-compatibility with HDTV sets. Anyone who buys the full frame transfer of widescreen content will find themselves buying it again in anamorphic widescreen once they upgrade their TV. Full frame is not about giving consumers what they want, it's about giving the distributors repeat business. All things considered, I'm amazed we even have anamorphic widescreen.

The big problem between the two is frame rates, and a common solution for solving this is that the PAL versions are actually played back at a different frame rate, thus altering the sound pitch.

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This has nothing to do with NTSC to PAL conversion - in fact, most TV shows aren't converted to PAL from NTSC masters - rather new PAL masters are created from the original film elements. (Or original video masters, regardless of format.) The problem in transferring film to video is that sound film has a mechanically determined steady playback rate of 24 fps. (Because there was no synchronized sound, silent films often varied the frame rate during photography, and projectionists could do the same during playback.) Both the major television standards use electronically determined frame rates - 30 fps for NTSC, 25 fps for PAL. 30 fps is so far from 24 fps that a complicated system involving repeated visual frames had to be created to make everything work out with synchronized sound. In the case of PAL the two frame rates were so close to one another that a cheaper and easier solution became standard. The film was simply projected at 25 fps instead of 24 fps when transferred. This produces a perfectly sound synchronized film to video transfer and avoids the artifacts that the "3:2 pull-down" used in NTSC transfers exhibit, but at the price of effectively running the film 4% too fast. As anyone who has ever messed around with a reel-to-reel tape recorder (or, Heaven forbid, a turntable) knows, if you play a tape back at something higher than the recording speed, the pitch of the soundtrack will be shifted higher. So all PAL video material that originates on film carries a subtly distorted soundtrack, including British films and BBC productions that were never mastered for NTSC.

Regards,

Joe

Kin of Z., the true, original purpose of a graphic equalizer was to balance the full sound spectrum for the speakers and their enviroment, so that as close to a flat reproduction curve as possible is produced. This takes a professional with test signals, special mikes, and other equipment to do, so only a few audiophiles ever do this. If you happen to have, or can obtain graphs of the output of your speakers, you can use your equalizer to try and balance based on just the speakers' output characteristics, usually turning up the low end and the high end, since speakers tend to drop off at the ends. Another possibility is to get a cd of test tones at various points, say from 20hz to 20khz and of equal db. Sit in your favorite listening spot and listen to the tones. Try to adjust the equalizer so that all the tones seem of equal loudness, if they are audible to you at all. This will actually equalize the sound to your own ears' characteristics. BUT -- if any of that DOESN'T sound good to you, just play with it until it does!

Thanks for the info everyone

The Australian dollar is even weaker than the Canadian

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Thanks for the info. Just when I was despairing that Farscape was too expensive, I found an Aussie site that has the season 1 set for 35% less than Amazon.ca. Unfortunately I've read that the R4 transfer wasn't too good.

Kin of Z., the true, original purpose of a graphic equalizer was to balance the full sound spectrum for the speakers and their enviroment, so that as close to a flat reproduction curve as possible is produced. This takes a professional with test signals, special mikes, and other equipment to do, so only a few audiophiles ever do this.

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Actually test tone discs aren't hard to find or expensive, and Tandy/Radio Shack makes an analog Sound Pressure Level (SPL) meter that retails for around $30 in the U.S.* A couple of different companies make entire Home Theater setup discs that allow you to calibrate your television as well as your sound system, with test patterns and test tones. (The test tones on these discs work much better than the "built-in" tones that some amps and receivers feature.) The DVD HT discs are nice because they take you through the tests with visual as well as audio cues. Given that there are several competing NTSC products for the North American market I can only assume that there are similar offerings for the PAL world. Personally I adjust my video settings a couple of times a year, and break out the old SPL anytime I rearrange add or rearrange furniture. Rebalancing the speakers about once a year is a good idea even if you don't make any changes, to make up for setting "drift" or even changes in your own hearing.

I'm hardly an audiophile, but I find that making these simply adjustments with inexpensive equipment greatly enhances my enjoyment of my HT.

Regards,

Joe

* They also make a digital SPL that sells for two or three times that price and which is no more accurate than the analog model. Don't waste your money.

rather new PAL masters are created from the original film elements.

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Correct me if I'm wrong (and I know you will! ), but most TV shows aren't shot on film, they are shot on video cameras (I believe B5 was an exception here). I'm assuming that shows shot on video cameras are shot at the frame rate of the native TV format. 30fps for the US, 25 for the UK. This is what I was thinking about when I made my earlier post, but something was nagging me as being wrong about it, and of course it was the whole film issue.

Do you use Avia or Video Essentials Joe. I hope Digital Video Essentials won't be too expensive when it comes out.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel

The only reason to get them in PAL format from either region 2 or 4 would be if they're to be released (as current reports indicate) in full frame only in region 1.

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Joss Whedon has said he prefers Buffy in 4:3 and that's the ratio it was composed for, so I'll stick with region 1 for Buffy (doesn't hurt that they are a lot cheaper there either). Angel is a different case. Really hope season 2 onwards is 16:9 in R1.

Joss said he prefers 4x3 for Buffy?! Where'd you hear that? Did he give a reason?
My world is askew.

My inner turmoil aside, "The Dead Zone: Season One" will be released in region 1 in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dobly 5.1 audio. Not sure whether I want it, but it's nice to see a decent anamorphic TV release in region 1.

Joss said he prefers 4x3 for Buffy?! Where'd you hear that? Did he give a reason?

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Did you see the part that said:

and that's the ratio it was composed for

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If he purposely composed the shots to look best in that aspect ration then it makes sense that *that particular show* looks best at that aspect ration. Just like movies composed for wide aspect ratios look best at the ratio for which the shots were composed.