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Sun 17 Jun, 2007 11:05 am
What's the difference between a movie DVD from the UK and one from the US of the same movie? I just got done watching the American version of "Margaret's Museum" which ran 115 minutes and the UK version is 95 Minutes. Is the UK version minus all the extras on the DVD? Just curious!
IMDb shows this film at 114 min. running time. I'm not sure what you mean about extras? They are always on the menu but not included in the film. It appears the European disc has been edited for some reason or the U.S. version included some footage that was not in the international version. It may be one of the only movies that isn't the running time as cited by the studio for theatrical and DVD release. If you haven't actually time the movie, it could also be a typo on the packaging.
The region codes have to do with playability -- nothing to do with altering the length of a movie.
However, there is a technique to speed up any film or other video programming to shorten the time without much apparent alteration to the picture or sound. It's not used on DVD's to my knowledge but by programmers on broadcast TV where they want to fit a movie into a certain time slot.
I read those pages and it appears that the run time can be affected by which technique is used. Since I am not a
programmer it seems confusing to me what exactly they are talking about so that is why I posted the pages. Someone that
understands the industry should be able to explain it in simpler terms.
The way I read the FAQ section running time can be affected. I don't quite understand it though.
http://www.paradiso-design.net/ntsc_pal_conversion_faq.html
Not sure what DVD player the poster owns and if he's using a converter -- he would almost have to, so that could affect the total time. I think you might be right -- the European version is shorter because of the frame rate and I hadn't taken that into consideration. You'd think they'd offer a computation equation but you could figure it out by percentage of one frame rate against the other. A converter might then show the Region 1 version with 115 min. on the packaging and actually he's watching it in 95 min.
It seems technology changes so fast that as soon as someone understands something, it has already changed.
Thanks Lightwizard because at least what you wrote makes sense.
May I suggest you get yourself a multi-region/universal dvd player,forget about frame-rates and keep an eye open for the best dvd version on
DVD Compare.My latest DVD player,imported from the USA,can play anything I throw at it.It even up-scales normal DVD's to 720 and 1080 i and p to my monitor and projector.
Victor doesn't state where's he's from in his profile but Maryland is mentioned twice so I figure he lives in Maryland. It doesn't appear like he's ever actually had the occasion to play the region DVD he's mentioned I'm guessing he found the time on a British site.
Yep, and here's the movie in question:
http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=5941#overall
It has some info on the UK version nor availability. I don't know if I'd spend the dough myself for an all-region player as UK DVD's are actually higher than most of the sites like DeepDiscount DVD with free shipping. It does quote the UK version at 99 min. Could be they have edited the film or had access to a print that was shorter. It's an old movie.
The Pioneer region-free upscaler DVD player:
http://www.regioncodefreedvd.com/pioneer400.html
Lightwizard wrote:Yep, and here's the movie in question:
http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=5941#overall
It has some info on the UK version nor availability. I don't know if I'd spend the dough myself for an all-region player as UK DVD's are actually higher than most of the sites like DeepDiscount DVD with free shipping.
.
$160 aint that much to spend to spend on a player that plays DVD's from any region.
Once you've got a multi-region player,start looking around at the prices for dvd's on region 3 and 4. I am in region 2 and refuse to pay the exorbitant prices they ask.80% of my discs are region 1,3 and 4.I wonder why :wink:
I bought my copy from Amazon.com about two months ago. It cost me $4.97 .
There are very good brand name DVD upscaler players for under $80.00, about half of the all region players. I can see it being practical and economically saavy to own an all region player in the UK. However, with the constant price wars on CD's and DVD's at various sites -- Amazon, DeepDiscount and Universe the largest, it's not really the same.
I just use my computer to watch all DVD's.
Some of the latest models PC's and Macs can upscale a DVD. They can even produce pixel count beyond 1080p!
Lightwizard wrote:Some of the latest models PC's and Macs can upscale a DVD. They can even produce pixel count beyond 1080p!
I don't have a real good computer but it does the job for the things that I do. I bought it in February of this year. It's an "e machine computer 512 mb memory".
Sounds fine to me -- I think the UK version is also a pan-and-scan full screen 4:3 picture instead of wide screen. It was filmed in wide screen -- is the US version in wide screen?
Lightwizard wrote:Victor doesn't state where's he's from in his profile but Maryland is mentioned twice so I figure he lives in Maryland. It doesn't appear like he's ever actually had the occasion to play the region DVD he's mentioned I'm guessing he found the time on a British site.
I live in Essex Maryland in Baltimore County!
Been to Baltimore but only for one day.
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