A/V Quality of UK discs vs US - Blu-ray Forum

srinivas1015 · 05-11-2011, 01:52 PM

I have been buying BDs from the U.S till now and recently opted to buy a couple of discs from the U.K. I don't know if this is simply a placebo effect but I noticed the dialogue in Wall Street from the U.K to be a little muddy and the picture in The Hangover(U.K) to be a little soft.
Is this simply my imagination or has somebody else also faced this problem? Are the codecs/bitrates etc identical or do certain aspects differ from country to country?
Kindly help me out.

42041 · 05-11-2011, 02:02 PM

No idea about Wall Street, but as far as I know Warner uses the same encodes worldwide.

Bad Sandwich · 05-11-2011, 02:24 PM

It varies on a case by case basis. If a title is released in multiple territories by a single distributor (e.g. both Fox and Warner distribute most of their titles worldwide) then generally every country's release is going to have the same video/audio encode, with variations in terms of additional audio and subtitle tracks and extra such as BD-Live functionality. If a title is owned/distributed by different companies in different territories, then it depends. Often different distributors will feature different encodes, but often one distributor will just license a transfer from another. In the case of Wall Street and The Hangover, both titles have the same distributor worldwide (Fox and Warner respectively), so the video and (main) audio is the same as the U.S. releases.

The muddy dialogue you hear in Wall Street is likely just due to the film's original '80s sound design, and the softness you notice in The Hangover may just be due to the use of DNR and a mediocre bitrate, which Warner is notorious for.

Sky_Captain · 05-11-2011, 03:02 PM

The Hangover has two versions crammed onto the one disc, as opposed to seamless branching, so that doesn't help.

srinivas1015 · 05-11-2011, 04:35 PM

Oh ok. Thanks for the replies. I also noticed that there was low voltage in my house when I was playing these movies. Even though the speakers were working, I wonder if the output quality was affected. Also, it was 'wall street money never sleeps'. I also noticed the same with band of brothers.

Since I'm in India shipping from UK is cheaper, but I don't want it to be at the expense of quality.

I have been having this doubt since the discs are authored in a different country. Also, discs are also cheaper in the uk. Have any of you bought the same movie from both countries? Also, I am mostly talking about newly released movies.thanks.

The Driver · 05-11-2011, 04:55 PM

No difference. You'd need to try 100s of discs on the exact same setups to come up with accurate results.

And those results would all be the same unless there was a disc deffect. The odd release may have different encodes but again it's down to perception and the snowball effect -enough people say there's a difference then it becomes Internet fact.

People imagine (placebo -as you say) all sorts of nonsense. Evidence and opinion are rarely the same thing.

05-11-2011, 01:52 PM	#1
srinivas1015 Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Mar 2010 4K collection:84 Blu-ray collection:578 DVD collection:118 MA collection:33 Digital collection:130 iTunes collection:109 Blu-ray reviews:7 Trading Score:10	A/V Quality of UK discs vs US I have been buying BDs from the U.S till now and recently opted to buy a couple of discs from the U.K. I don't know if this is simply a placebo effect but I noticed the dialogue in Wall Street from the U.K to be a little muddy and the picture in The Hangover(U.K) to be a little soft. Is this simply my imagination or has somebody else also faced this problem? Are the codecs/bitrates etc identical or do certain aspects differ from country to country? Kindly help me out.

05-11-2011, 02:24 PM	#3
Bad Sandwich Special Member Member since:Jan 2011 Trading Score:1	It varies on a case by case basis. If a title is released in multiple territories by a single distributor (e.g. both Fox and Warner distribute most of their titles worldwide) then generally every country's release is going to have the same video/audio encode, with variations in terms of additional audio and subtitle tracks and extra such as BD-Live functionality. If a title is owned/distributed by different companies in different territories, then it depends. Often different distributors will feature different encodes, but often one distributor will just license a transfer from another. In the case of Wall Street and The Hangover, both titles have the same distributor worldwide (Fox and Warner respectively), so the video and (main) audio is the same as the U.S. releases. The muddy dialogue you hear in Wall Street is likely just due to the film's original '80s sound design, and the softness you notice in The Hangover may just be due to the use of DNR and a mediocre bitrate, which Warner is notorious for. Last edited by Bad Sandwich; 05-11-2011 at 02:29 PM.

05-11-2011, 02:02 PM	#2
42041 Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Oct 2008	No idea about Wall Street, but as far as I know Warner uses the same encodes worldwide.

05-11-2011, 03:02 PM	#4
Sky_Captain Blu-ray Duke Top contributor Member since:Jan 2008 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:17	The Hangover has two versions crammed onto the one disc, as opposed to seamless branching, so that doesn't help.

05-11-2011, 04:35 PM	#5
srinivas1015 Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Mar 2010 4K collection:84 Blu-ray collection:578 DVD collection:118 MA collection:33 Digital collection:130 iTunes collection:109 Blu-ray reviews:7 Trading Score:10	Oh ok. Thanks for the replies. I also noticed that there was low voltage in my house when I was playing these movies. Even though the speakers were working, I wonder if the output quality was affected. Also, it was 'wall street money never sleeps'. I also noticed the same with band of brothers. Since I'm in India shipping from UK is cheaper, but I don't want it to be at the expense of quality. I have been having this doubt since the discs are authored in a different country. Also, discs are also cheaper in the uk. Have any of you bought the same movie from both countries? Also, I am mostly talking about newly released movies.thanks.

05-11-2011, 04:55 PM	#6
The Driver Blu-ray Guru Member since:Feb 2009 Location:UK Trading Score:1	No difference. You'd need to try 100s of discs on the exact same setups to come up with accurate results. And those results would all be the same unless there was a disc deffect. The odd release may have different encodes but again it's down to perception and the snowball effect -enough people say there's a difference then it becomes Internet fact. People imagine (placebo -as you say) all sorts of nonsense. Evidence and opinion are rarely the same thing.

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