Wing Commander UK DVD

Unforgiven said:
Speeding it up is unfortunately the only way to convert a 24fps master (film/telecine) to 25fps (PAL).

Why not just double every 24th frame? (stupid way to do it). A better way would be to use motion prediction and render 25 frames out of the initial 24. Would blur the image slightly however. I don't know how good the end result would be compared to the 4% speedup however?
 
Doubling every 24th frame will produce a noticable stutter. As for more advanced methods... I doubt it would be worth the added time it takes to do that. It would also most certainly introduce shadowframes (frames that are a combination of two other frames). I can't predict how bad it will be though. I have a friend who works in the film industry (in Holland), I'd ask him but I won't see him for a coupla a weeks (if I'm lucky I might see him next Thursday, but I'm not sure).

The film/telecine to NTSC conversion (which is done via a process called a 3:2 pulldown) is also not very friendly on quality, it on average introduces three shadow frames per second. But on the positive side, the length doesn't change to audio quality is better. So basically you can choose PAL if you want image quality and NTSC if you want sound quality. And if you want both, you'd need to have a projector and buy a filmreel...

I never understood why even today, many many decades after the introduction of TV and film (and might I add also decades after the need to synch TV from the electricity grid has ceased to exist), there's is still not one standard for something as simple as frame rates...
 
Considering that the DVD introduced incompatibility on purpose by the region codes you already have your answer there...
 
I wouldn't say it *introduced* it -- it just a soft emulation of the format differences that made VHSes region specific (PAL/NTSC/SECAM/etc.). A player that lets you watch multiple regions and formats on DVD is a lot cheaper and easier to find.
 
cff said:
Its not exatly legal in most parts of the world however...

I'm not sure it'd actually be illegal anywhere.. probably breaking some sorts of contractual agreements maybe.
 
In Australia a judge has ruled that region encoded DVDs are anti-competitive, and it is therefore legal to create and sell (and for a consumer, buy) region-free DVD players.
I don't know if it's legal or not in the Netherlands, but I do know that nobody seems to care. Most standalone DVD players you buy in stores are region-free OOB. Computer DVD drives typically are region protected, but we probably all know how hard that is to circumvent.

On top of that, most DVD players in PAL countries are capable of converting NTSC to a 60Hz pseudo-PAL signal (I could go into a technical description of how/why that works but won't unless somebody is really interested) so you don't need a TV capable of playing NTSC to do this. Of course you need a TV that can handle 60Hz PAL, but if it can't it is either really old or just weird. ;)
 
There's probably some law that prevents reverse-engineering ordinary DVD players... but region free players are readily available on the ordinary market. It's hard to believe that using them would be breaking the law.
 
ALL PC-DVD drives on the market have to be RPC-2 AFAIK. And there are cracked firmwares for almost all of them. And if not there is always software that doesn't care about the region setting (like for my laptop).
 
finnally got my copy, Picture quality was really good, and the sound was spot on. Packaging isn't bad and the DVD menu is certainly no thrills.

One thing i noticed that was different to my VHS version is that there are no comms chatter from the baker wing fighters before the kilrathi battleship and escorts ambush the tigers claw...

worth the money spent really.
 
Play.com have got it for £9.99 :D

PlayUSA.com (UK Site, but deals with US DVDs) has WCM (R1) for £.6.99
 
I ordered mine from Sendit.com yesterday for £9.99 including free delivery. I'm looking forward to comparing the presentation/quality differences between it and my Region 1 DVD version, while enjoying another viewing of the film.


Cheers,


BrynS
 
Firstly, apologies for revisiting a dormant thread. I received my Wing Commander Region 2 DVD over the weekend and have taken some screenshots from it and the Region 1 version. On the whole, I would agree with everything that's been said about the R2 DVD in this thread so far.


FIRST IMPRESSIONS:


Packaging & Artwork
The R1 (US) and R2 (UK) DVD cover art is identical on the front, however the R2 DVD has a noticeable PG symbol (~1cm squared) in the bottom right hand corner. The backs are essentially the same, with the same three stills and story blurb. The R2 version does not have the image of a Kilrathi Destroyer (which is "inverted" on the R1 back cover) jumping into Sol though. About half-way down the R1 version a brief box lists the Bonus Features. The R2 version does not list any Bonus features, although about two-thirds of the way down the back cover it goes on to list the technical specifications in the typical format, i.e Run Time, Language, Subtitles, etc.

Opening the R2 cartridge reveals no additional printed material, however the inside of the front cover contains a list of the various scene selections. The R2 DVD itself has colour artwork in a similar motif to the front cover. The R1 cartridge includes a roughly A4-sized, folded, colour insert with Scene Selections and main character/actor biographies. The DVD however, has no artwork, just a reflective silver finish and black lettering of the film's name.

Menu System & Bonus Features
The R1 DVD includes a suitably styled, interactive menu system with various minimal animations and transitions between menu screens, complemented by sound effects and background music from the film. Each scene is referenced with a thumbnail image and title description. The R1 release includes a brief two-slide image of the main characters/cast, as well as the original theatrical trailer and two tv spots -- all are in 4:3 aspect ratio.

The R2 DVD is more sparsely designed. It includes a simple, but effective static menu system with no animations. The scene selections show a small image thumbnail, but no scene title. The R2 DVD has no bonus material. :(

Visual & Audio Quality
As I only have a standard 60cm 4:3 SD television and fairly basic DVD player with no home theatre setup, I did most of my testing on the PC. Having said that, both releases are very watchable on the tv setup, with no significant differences between them -- pausing and slow-tracking showed clean visuals and the output of both versions was good, however the R1 version is only just slightly less smooth in terms of playback than the R2 version, due to my multi-region DVD player having to convert from NTSC to PAL for playback on the tv. Sound was crisp, even from the tv speakers.

Region 1
When viewing on my PC, the extent of the audio and video quality is more apparent. My destop resolution is 1400 x 1050 (refresh rate 100Hz) and playing the R1 DVD through PowerDVD 6.0 engages a native resolution of 704 x 480 with black lines above and below the picture -- aspect ratio is 2.35:1. At that resolution the transfer seems quite good and sharp detail is evident in many of the brighter scenes. Enlarging to full screen and pausing/slow tracking reveals areas of rather low detail and some blocking, particularly in the darkly lit scenes.

Average bit-rate according to the PowerDVD information overlay is roughly 5 megabits per second (mbps), with much of the film hovering between 4mbps in dark, static scenes to about 6.5 mbps in light and dynamic scenes.

Audio quality on the R1 release is good, the dialogue is clear and the sound effects are conveyed well through my 5.1 speaker system on the pc.

Region 2
The R2 DVD is anamorphic 2.35:1 and starts in a native resolution of 1024 x 576 in PowerDVD. The transfer appears very similar to the R1 release, although more detail is evident upon inspection. This is further visible when enlarging to full screen relative to the R1 release. I could pick out some minor blocking in a few scenes, but this did not seem as extensive as the R1 release, atlhough again both releases offer a decent image quality apparent upon viewing and these disparate compression artifacts are noticeable only upon much closer inspection. So, while I would say that the R2 release does offer better image quality, the difference is generally quite marginal and probably won't be immediately apparent to most viewers.

As Loaf mentioned, an HD version has been broadcast (on Fox? In which case I would assume it to be 720p?) and such a version, hopefully coming soon on HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, would definately offer significantly better quality with higher resolution and simply more definition -- the difference would be very clear.

The average bit-rate for the R2 release, according to the PowerDVD information overlay, is very similar to the R1 version, with an average of about 5 megabits per second (mbps), with much of the film again between 4mbps in low-light, static scenes to about 6.5 mbps in well-lit and dynamic scenes.

The audio quality on the R2 release seemed to be of the same good standard as the R1 release. I couldn't detect any obvious areas where the pitch correction was off or out of sync.

Missed Opportunities
As far as I can tell, the R1 release is a single sided, single-layer DVD, i.e DVD5 (like the R2 version) although I feel that it could have benefitted from a Superbit rendition. I realise that the Superbit term is specific to Columbia Tri-Star IIRC, it just would have been nice if Fox could have released a dual-layer (DVD9) version in either Region with the film essentially utilising the full 8.5GB's, seeing as they decided not to added any significant bonus material. It could have been done on the quiet and we would have had an effective superbit release. However, given the film's running time (96 minutes for R2 and 100 minutes for R1) and the lack of any extras (minimal on R1), the film can be encoded to produce decent quality on just the single layer and I would think that this was ultimately decided on from a business perspective, although I doubt that a dual-layer R2 version would have been anything more than marginally more expensive than the current R2 version. DVD9 disk costs over DVD5 would probably be negligble, I would think that the only extra cost would be the re-authoring/encoding from the digital master.

The lack of any bonus material (apart from the trailer and tv spots on the R1 DVD) such as the standard behind the scenes features, commentary tracks, deleted scenes, etc is disappointing, but hopefully this will be remedied in the eventual HD DVD release. I suppose we could also hope for a Director's cut with the traitor sub-plot and other cut scenes inserted. :D


R1 Technical Specifications
  • DVD5 - Single Sided, Single Layer
  • 2.35:1 Non-Anamorphic NTSC
  • English 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 2.0 Dolby Surround
  • Running Time: 100 Minutes
  • Interactive Menus
  • Scene Selection
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Original Television Spots
  • PG-13 Rating

R2 Technical Specifications
  • DVD5 - Single Sided, Single Layer
  • 2.35:1 Anamorphic PAL
  • English 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 2.0 Dolby Surround
  • Subtitles: Dutch & English for the hearing impaired
  • Running Time: 96 Minutes
  • Static Menus
  • Scene Selection
  • PG Rating

Region 1 Screenshots



http://img156.exs.cx/img156/2064/wcmdvdr10029qz.jpg
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/3852/wcmdvdr10185sz.jpg
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/2467/wcmdvdr10287iv.jpg
http://img154.exs.cx/img154/9638/wcmdvdr10293ca.jpg
http://img113.exs.cx/img113/975/wcmdvdr10546yz.jpg
http://img113.exs.cx/img113/2207/wcmdvdr10703pb.jpg
http://img159.exs.cx/img159/6619/wcmdvdr11124ni.jpg
http://img92.exs.cx/img92/9144/wcmdvdr11144vb.jpg
http://img113.exs.cx/img113/7793/wcmdvdr11369fm.jpg


Region 2 Screenshots



http://img137.exs.cx/img137/6244/wcmdvdr20028wi.jpg
http://img52.exs.cx/img52/8225/wcmdvdr20110gp.jpg
http://img155.exs.cx/img155/6526/wcmdvdr20269qm.jpg
http://img46.exs.cx/img46/7531/wcmdvdr20358vz.jpg
http://img46.exs.cx/img46/7486/wcmdvdr20418pr.jpg
http://img147.exs.cx/img147/8990/wcmdvdr20537mo.jpg
http://img78.exs.cx/img78/6645/wcmdvdr20882zx.jpg
http://img78.exs.cx/img78/1149/wcmdvdr21010wh.jpg
http://img147.exs.cx/img147/3425/wcmdvdr21052ka.jpg
http://img129.exs.cx/img129/2786/wcmdvdr21369aa.jpg
http://img8.exs.cx/img8/4337/wcmdvdr21408lx.jpg
http://img39.exs.cx/img39/9766/wcmdvdr21633eg.jpg
http://img126.exs.cx/img126/6978/wcmdvdr21688bf.jpg

I took about 145 screenshots (704 x 480) from the Region 1 DVD and 170 (1024 x 576) from the R2 DVD. Combined size is about 56.5MB (19.1MB for R1 and 37.4MB for R2) @ 100% JPEG Compression. I'll try and upload a zip pack if anybody's interested.

Cheers,


BrynS
 
Nice review! And some of those R2 grabs would make great wallpapers!
 
Just got the Movie for £9.99 from Woolworths. Is it me or did they add some voice overs to the movie. Because I swear they I could hear some extra bits, like Alpha Leader sya that he can see Threee Bogies
 
Bandit LOAF said:
There's probably some law that prevents reverse-engineering ordinary DVD players... but region free players are readily available on the ordinary market. It's hard to believe that using them would be breaking the law.

And there are secret manufactures region unlock code things on some dvd players. To convert mine I just pressed a certian number in (like a cheat code) and I got to choose the region I wanted! Or region free! Very cooll

Ed
 
TopGun said:
Very illegal too

Why? If they wont sell the dvd here ill buy it from the US. If they put extra features on the DVD in Region 1, but not Region 2 then ill get Region 1.

Im paying for the DVD, I should be able to watch it.

Ed
 
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