NTSC DVDs in PAL regions?

[Noah Kadner]

Pretty much no issues with this- it would be hard to find a PAL DVD/TV in use that couldn’t play NTSC discs- provided of course you don’t mess with the regions.

Noah

Check out my book: RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera!
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[Alex Reyes]

Thanks Noah.

Do you know if the same applies to PAL Blu-ray players?

Meaning — would a PAL blu-ray player be able to play a 29.97i NTSC blu-ray disc?

Thanks,
Alex

[Noah Kadner]

What’s an ‘NTSC Blu-ray disc?’ Blu-ray is high definition, though it holds NTSC content if you want it to. Bigger question is what are you going to use to author and burn one?

Noah

Check out my book: RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera!
Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Sony EX1 Guidebook, Panasonic HVX200, Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.
Learn DSLR Cinematography.

[Alex Reyes]

Sorry about that, I should be more specific….

When I wrote “NTSC Blu-ray Disc”, I’m referring to a disc that was recorded at 59.94i fields (or 29.97fps interlaced) at resolutions of either 1920×1080 or 1440×1080.

On the other hand, a “PAL Blu-ray Disc” would be a disc that is recorded at 50i fields (or 25fps interlaced). It can also come at resolutions of either 1920×1080 or 1440×1080.

A 24p or a 23.94p Blu-ray disc is universal and can be played on both NTSC and PAL Blu-ray players. Since most films are done in 24p, this is very convenient.

Question:
–What I’m concerned about, is whether an NTSC formatted blu-ray disc, one that was filmed at 1920×1080 at 59.94i (29.97fps) will also play in PAL blu-ray players and tvs?

Thanks for any advice on this.

[Noah Kadner]

NTSC and PAL are standard definition resolutions. Don’t use them to refer to HD material as anyone who knows what they’re talking about will give you a funny look. As for whether 60i/24/25/50i material is cross-compatible across all Blu-ray players- that I don’t know. I do know that Blu-ray discs have a simplified region system that sometimes is used to prevent for example discs sold in Europe from playing in North America, etc.

Noah

Check out my book: RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera!
Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Sony EX1 Guidebook, Panasonic HVX200, Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.
Learn DSLR Cinematography.

[Eric Pautsch]

There are 3 reagion in BD: A,B,C.

Here’s are the framerate specs for BD:

1920x1080x59.94i, 50i (16:9) – 50i in Europe Only
1920x1080x24p, 23.976p (16:9)
1440x1080x59.94i, 50i (16:9) AVC / VC-1 only – 50i in Europe Only
1440x1080x24p, 23.976p (16:9) AVC / VC-1 only
1280x720x59.94p, 50p (16:9) – 50p in Europe Only
1280x720x24p, 23.976p (16:9)
Standard Definition Video
720x480x59.94i (4:3/16:9)
720x576x50i (4:3/16:9) – Europe only

Basically, European players play everything.

[Alex Reyes]

Thank you so much Eric.

I’m planning on making 1920x1080x59.94i blu-ray discs, it’s good to know that these discs will be playable in Europe as well!

What a relief, I’m so happy to know that I won’t need to create separate 50i discs…

Is there anything else I should know? This will be my first time creating blu-ray discs. Some things that I’ve noticed are:

– the color seems to come out very saturated on the blu-ray mpeg2 or mpeg4 encoded files, so I need to create a separate color profile than the original one that I used for the down-converted dvd… why is this, is there a way around this?

– it seems that blu-ray discs only accept 29.97fps interlaced encoded files, so I can no longer create 29.97fps progressive files for bluray.. It’s easier for the mpeg2 & mpeg4 compression algorithms to encode a progressive file, rather than an interlaced one… so the overall quality could have been better if progressive files were acceptable at this frame rate… it’s too bad about the blu-ray specs, I wish there was a way around this.

Thanks again Noah and Eric, any advice that you have to offer is gladly welcomed.

Alex

[Ray Palagy]

When you say Europe are you including England?

I have to convert or create a bluray for England. The source is 1280×720 59.94 HD Footage saved as a Quicktime.

I’m using Encore 4. Do I need to set it to Bluray 50 as opposed to 60 or 59.94? Since it is HD won’t it play back propery off of any modern BD player regardless of region?

Thanks,
Ray P.