Region1 discs playback problem

[efiste2]

Im in the UK but own many REGION 1 dvds, but lately i have purchased 3 dvd boxsets that all have the same problem. the dvds are eighties american action series boxsets as follows...... season one of HARDCSTLE & McCORMICK and the others are seasons 1 & 2 of HUNTER. HERE IS THE PROBLEM, when the action gets going(fast moving things on screen) the subject gets jerky, eg, if a car chase is on screen, the action isnt smooth, it sort of judders between frames..............but when the action slows down and the subjects are sort of still eg dialogue between actors, the picture is ok. My DVD player plays other REGION 1 discs with no problem, it just seems to be these discs. Could the answer be they have been converted to DVD poorly. Anyone got any suggestions

[jman98]

I'm not familiar with these DVDs as these aren't really all that popular in the USA. It could be poorly or improperly encoded. It happens. It could be a variety of problems such as:
1) Wrong field order used to encode
2) Too many episodes (more than 4 episodes at 45 minutes each or more than 8 episodes at 22 minutes each) required a low bit rate to encode, but if that's the case, you would see macroblocks not jerking. I mention this only because some people don't do a very accurate job of describing the problem they see.
3) Incorrect use of the Progressive flag while encoding the video, but this problem is usually described as a "stairstep" problem where you see big jagged lines, not jerks.

You might look for reviews for these shows on the internet and see if video reivew sites have identified problems with these discs. It's not common, but some discs do get botched in the encoding process and I can't rule out a "wrong field order" problem, which does lead to jerkiness as you describe. The only fix for manufacturing problems is for the manufacturer to care enough to fix the problem and put out new discs. If it's really a field order problem, it is possible for you to rip the discs, fix it yourself with MPEGModifier, and re-burn the discs to DVD+R DL discs, but that'a a lot of work to do to fix something that's a manufacturing issue. However, if it is a field order problem and the manufacturer doesn't care about fixing it (these shows aren't very popular and I'm amazed they are even on DVD at all), you may have no other choice.

[guns1inger]

More likely that your PAL player is set to output PAL or pseudo PAL when it plays NTSC material. This can give the results you are seeing. First thing I would do is look at your player manual and find out how to set it to output NTSC for NTSC source, and PAL for PAL source. Of course, for this to work you also need a TV that is capable of playing a native NTSC signal.

[classfour]

Converted to DVD Poorly.

Those titles aren't released to DVD in the USA yet.

I did see them on sell.com.....today

Request a refund, that's what I'd do.

Or wait for the studio to release it.

[ntscuser]

Converted to DVD Poorly.

Those titles aren't released to DVD in the USA yet.

So what is this then?

Or this?

[efiste2]

Heres one of the sets on AMAZON USA, so they are avaialable stateside
http://www.amazon.com/Hunter-Complete-Second-Fred-Dryer/dp/B0007WQGSQ/ref=pd_bbs_3/104...3668503&sr=8-3

Thanks for the info chaps, ill bet its my dvd player, its not meant to pay R1 discs but i have a CD that i put in, that allows me to alter the settings to play R1 discs. so that could be the source of the problem!

[stars]

More likely that your PAL player is set to output PAL or pseudo PAL when it plays NTSC material. This can give the results you are seeing. First thing I would do is look at your player manual and find out how to set it to output NTSC for NTSC source, and PAL for PAL source. Of course, for this to work you also need a TV that is capable of playing a native NTSC signal.

Im with guns1inger....

This is what I do when I have a NTSC movie...
The funny thing is if you setup all your devices to NTSC and
watch a PAL movie you will get the same effect.. There is no work around for this one.

stars...

[ntscuser]

More likely that your PAL player is set to output PAL or pseudo PAL when it plays NTSC material. This can give the results you are seeing. First thing I would do is look at your player manual and find out how to set it to output NTSC for NTSC source, and PAL for PAL source. Of course, for this to work you also need a TV that is capable of playing a native NTSC signal.

Im with guns1inger....

This is what I do when I have a NTSC movie...
The funny thing is if you setup all your devices to NTSC and
watch a PAL movie you will get the same effect..

Not in the UK you won't. Players convert from NTSC to PAL but not PAL to NTSC. TV sets switch automatically between PAL and NTSC.

None of this explains why movies play back correctly and certain TV series don't? I suspect the latter have been made from a 60Hz Canadian rental master without proper 2:3 pulldown removal.

[efiste2]

it plays fine on my PC, but am i right in thinking it will do anyway due to it being on a PC rather than a standalone player

[stars]

Not in the UK you won't. Players convert from NTSC to PAL but not PAL to NTSC. TV sets switch automatically between PAL and NTSC.

well my player dont convert the video (it can do, as you say NTSC -> PAL (PAL 60)) I can choose the output to be NTSC OR PAL or auto (depending on the movie format) and my default setting is auto.

My TV set can change the view mode automatic or manually and my default setting is auto.

So no problem there....

But i was puzzeld about the stuttering movement in the pans and I made som tests..

The biggest problems were the movies that had been processed with a pulldown, they even
played bad on my computer. Some movies were very bad and beond repair.

So I got the best results by setting player and TV set to the same TV format...
In this case player NTSC and Tv set NTSC...

The I did a second test forcing the player to have a NTSC output and view a PAL movie... (no conversion there)
I got the same stuttering as with NTSC movies on a PAL system...

If I am totaly wrong about this please explain it for me, because
I havent found any answer on this board....

regards

stars.....

[ntscuser]

Not in the UK you won't. Players convert from NTSC to PAL but not PAL to NTSC. TV sets switch automatically between PAL and NTSC.

well my player dont convert the video (it can do, as you say NTSC -> PAL (PAL 60)) I can choose the output to be NTSC OR PAL or auto (depending on the movie format) and my default setting is auto.

My TV set can change the view mode automatic or manually and my default setting is auto.

So no problem there....

But i was puzzeld about the stuttering movement in the pans and I made som tests..

The biggest problems were the movies that had been processed with a pulldown, they even
played bad on my computer. Some movies were very bad and beond repair.

So I got the best results by setting player and TV set to the same TV format...
In this case player NTSC and Tv set NTSC...

The I did a second test forcing the player to have a NTSC output and view a PAL movie... (no conversion there)
I got the same stuttering as with NTSC movies on a PAL system...

Let me put it this way, I've never come across a player in the UK which could convert 50Hz PAL discs to 60Hz NTSC (and I've owned a number of system converting DVD players). It's still possible you have one that does, if so it is a very rare occurence. Perhaps you could enlighten the rest of us as to its make and model number?

Also, do you by any chance use a flat screen TV with built in standards conversion?

[stars]

The player is a china made player brand Argon 2005.....

And my TV set is a old "fat tv" 100HZ 32 inch Philips...

stars...

[ntscuser]

The player is a china made player brand Argon 2005.....

And my TV set is a old "fat tv" 100HZ 32 inch Philips...

stars...

It sounds like the player. I'm guessing it wasn't originally intended for the UK market. Still doesn't explain why the original poster can play NTSC movies normally but not NTSC TV programmes.