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DVD playback speed wrong - is this a PAL 4% speedup issue?

posted 13 years ago by pread99999
5 replies | jump to latest

I purchased this DVD from Amazon.com several years ago - but one thing I noticed when playing this movie DVD is that all the music sounds off-key (about one semitone sharp) [1] [2]. I tried playing it at 95% speed [3], after which all the music sounded about right [4]. Might this be caused by the PAL 4% speedup issue (http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/articles/PALSpeedUp/PALSpeedUp.asp)?

For the record, I live in the U.S. I'm unsure as to which region this DVD is encoded (likely Region 1). Thanks in advance for any discussion.

[1] I seem to have very good relative (almost absolute) pitch. Not that I wish to brag - or that even this is something to brag about, but more like a curse as I can notice quite easily (and sometimes get annoyed) when music sounds "out of key".

[2] As an example, the trombone solo in Mahler's 3rd Symphony (near the beginning of the movie) sounds as if it were played in D# minor instead of D minor. I do realize that some orchestras (including The Concertgebouw performing here) tune sharp, but nowhere near a whole semitone!

[3] I watch DVDs on my computer using software that can speed up or slow down the playback speed of the movie.

[4] Slowing down all pitches one semitone would require a playback speed of 94.387%, but even my ears wouldn't be able to tell the difference in pitch between that and 95%.

[–] publiusdiamond 13 years ago

I think you have answered your own question there! As the only discs available of this film (to my knowledge) are PAL, it is certainly a PAL spped-up issue.

Might I also enquire what the aspect ratio of your DVD was?

[–] pread99999 13 years ago

Aspect ratio = 720/540, or 1.333. Interesting that the IMDb's tech specs page for this title says 1.85. Was this film released theatrically?

[–] publiusdiamond 13 years ago

The DVD is cropped. Unfortunately, no other version is available :(

[–] Hermoine 12 years ago

I don't think the 1:33:1 version is cropped. I suspect they have opened the picture up at the top and bottom.

Why? Because I just purchased the recently released DVD of Mahler and it is in the correct ratio 1:78:1, and when comparing it to the 1:33:1 I noticed that the sides of 1:33:1 have the same as the 1:78:1 but the is more picture at the top and bottom of the 1:33:1 version.

By the way the recently released widescreen from the UK has generally better picture quality that my Region 1 version but some scenes in the recent UK version are a tad grainy.

I think this is the best we are ever likely to get of this great film.

[–] Ian1964 8 years ago

As noted elsewhere on here, there's a Japanese Blu-ray available, released in June 2012: Region A locked, NTSC (and therefore, theoretically at least, immune to PAL speed-up), 1.78:1 aspect ratio, 1080p encoded and with a stereo soundtrack, something the old open-matte US Image DVD had, but the widescreen UK Odeon release doesn't. Optional Japanese subtitles, theatrical trailer and what looks like a bio of Mahler in Japanese.

I haven't had a chance to watch it yet (it's only just arrived), merely sampled a couple of minutes of each chapter. Looks alright to me, if a touch dark in some scenes; no obvious print damage. I can't remember if the soundtrack is lossless or not.

Alas, no 2" metal figure of Gustav that turns into a jet fighter was included. Never mind.